434 TALCONID^E. 



Distribution. Upper Assam, the Daphla and other hills to the 

 northward, and the Naga hills to the southward. A specimen was 

 obtained by Godwin- Austen from Lukhipur, Cachar, but none 

 was seen by Hume in Manipur. 



1269. Microhierax fringillarius. The Black-legged Falconet. 



Falco fringillarius, Drap. Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat. vi, p. 412, pi. v 



(1824). 

 Hierax cserulescens (L.), apud Vigors, Zool Jour, i, p. 339 (1824) ;- 



Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii, p. 180* ; Horsf. fy M. Cat. i, p. 15 j Sclater, 



P. Z. S. 1863, p. 206. 

 Hierax fringillarius, Blyth, Cat. p. 17 ; id. Ibis, 1863, p. 11 ; Stol- 



iczka, J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 281 ; Walden, Ibis, 1871, p. 161 ; 



Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burm. p. 60. 

 Microhierax fringillarius, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 367 ; Davison,. 



S. F. v, p. 80 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 5 j Hume, Cat. no. 20 



ter ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 212; id. in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, 



p. 183. 



Coloration. Upper parts, wings, and tail black, glossed with 

 metallic green ; no white collar ; frontal and superciliary bands 

 white, but much narrower than in M. eutolmus, and the black band 

 from the eye broader; quills and all tail-feathers, except the 

 middle pair, with white spots on the inner webs; lower parts white,- 

 more or less tinged with ferruginous red ; flanks and thigh-coverts 

 black. 



Bill, legs, and feet black; irides wood-brown; orbital skin* 

 plumbeous (Davison). 



Length of female 6'5 ; tail 2*25 ; wing 4 ; tarsus '75 ; bill 

 from gape *55 : a male measures- length 6, wing 3'7. 



Distribution. The southern portion of Tenasserim as far north- 

 as 14 N. lat. ; also the Malay Peninsula, Cochin China, Sumatra, 

 Borneo, and Java. 



Habits, fyc. Similar to those of other species, but this, although 

 smaller, is said to feed more on birds. It also lays white eggs 

 in holes in trees. 



M. latifrons, Sharpe (Ibis, 1879, p. 237, pL vii), which is very 

 similar to M. fringillarius, but is distinguished by having the crown 

 white, and a black line through the eye to the nape separating the 

 white crown from the white sides of the head, is said to have been 

 Obtained from the Mcobars, the types being from Borneo. Although 

 the Nicobar locality rests on fairly good authority (see S. F. viii, 

 p. 496, and Ibis, 1881, p. 274), the name of the discoverer is not 

 known, and as the evidence is at second-hand, I do not think it 

 wise to admit the species without clearer proof. 



Genus POLIOHIERAX, Kaup, 1847. 



Plumage very soft. Bill small, strongly toothed; tarsus naked, 

 almost throughout covered with rather large polygonal scales in 

 front, and smaller behind ; toes weak and short, claws very little 



