398 CAPRIMULGID^E. 



feathers tipped white and edged black, forming a nuchal ring continuous -with 

 the pectoral collar ; supercilium pale rufescent ; loral plumes tipped black 

 and white; wing coverts tipped white and edged black; tertiaries pale, 

 mottled dusky, with a minute terminal black and white spot; primaries black; 

 scapulars like the tertiaries ; tail mottled and obscurely banded, each band 

 ending in a series of white spots, successively more developed on each outer 

 feather, the lateral halves of the tail separated into two distinct lobes. (Jcrd.) 

 Bill black ; irides hazel. 



Length. 10 inches; tail 4*25; wing 475; tarsus 07; bill from gape 

 1-2; width at gape ri. 



fJab. The Malabar Coast, Wynaad, Coorg, Travancore and the Central 

 Provinces. Very little is known of its habits or of that of any other species 

 of the genus, being a nocturnal bird. Mr. Bourdillon, however, says that, if 

 he is not mistaken, the habits of this species is very shy and retiring, for it 

 never appears to venture into the open, and only commences calling in the 

 breeding season some considerable time after dark, and lives entirely in dense 

 jungle. He adds that it is a very difficult bird to secure. 



972. Batrachostomus aflftnis, Biyth.J. A. S.B.xvi.p. n8o; 



id., J. A. S. B. xviii. p. 806 ; Hume, Str.F. ii.p. 351 ; iv. p. 376; Tweeddale, 

 P. Z. S. 1877, p. 426, pi. 45 ; Hume and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p. 53; Hume, 

 Sir. F. viii. p. 85; Bingham, Str. F. ix. p. 149; Gates, B. Br. Burm. 

 ii. p. 15. Otothrix Hodgsoni, G. R. Gray, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 101, pi. clii. ; 

 Jerd., B. Ind. i. p. 190, No. 106 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. p. 93 ; id., 

 Str. F. ii. p. 348. Batrachostomus Hodgsoni, Blyth and Wald., B. Burm. 

 p. 83; Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 53; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 85. 

 HODGSON'S FROGMOUTH. 



Crown and nape black, barred with rufous white ; back and wing coverts 

 barred and spotted with black and rufous ; scapulars with large white blotches ; 

 primaries, secondaries and tertiaries brownish black, the primaries with rufous 

 bars on the outer webs, and the secondaries with the same on both webs ; tail 

 ferruginous, with black specks and oblique bands of rufous white ; beneath 

 whitish, barred with rufous and tipped with black. Bill light madder ; legs 

 the same, tinged with violet ; iris marbled buff. (Wardlaw-Ramsay.) 



Length. 7 to 8 inches ; tail 5-4 to 5-5 ; wing 5-1 to 5-3 ; tarsus 07; bill 

 from gape T2 ; width of gape I. 



Hab. Malacca, Sikkim and Tenasserim. 



Very little is known of the habits and distribution of this species. From 

 Hume's Nests and Eggs Ind. B., I learn that Mr. Hodgson has figured a 

 young bird of this species with remarks on the reverse of the plate, that the 

 female with young and nest were obtained on the 2Oth May 1856, behind 

 Darjeeling, towards the Great Runjeet, at an elevation of between 3,000 and 

 4,000 feet ; nest nearly flat ; a soft mass of lichen and moss overlaid with a 

 soft downy vegetable substance blended into a felt-like mass. 



