486 APPENDIX. 



Vol. Ill, p. 396. Genus Aster. A new species lias just been described. 

 1244. Astur butleri. The Nicobar Short -toed Hawk. 



Astur butleri. J. If. Gurney. Bull. B. O. C. vol. vii. p. xxvii (January. 



1898). 



" Adult male. Whole of the upper parts bluish grey, lightest on the 

 head ; breast pink, finely barred with white, one indistinct bar at the 

 end of the tail. No bars on the primaries, secondaries, or under wing- 

 coverts, which are quite white ; in this respect, and in its plain tail, 

 greatly differing from Astitr poliopsis {Hume) (a form of No. 1244. 

 A. badms), which has all the feathers barred except the middle ones. 

 Iris bright orange. Feet yellow. Length 11 '7 inches, wing 6*7, tail 5'3, 

 tarsus 1*9. 



" Immature male. Whole of the upper parts dark chestnut, darker on 

 the nape, each feather haying a dark centre. Tail cinnamon -red, with 

 two dark brown bars. Breast and sides reddish brown, blotched with 

 buff. Belly whitish buff, blotched with rufous. Throat buff, with a thin 

 median streak of chestnut. Underside of wing cinnamon. Primaries 

 and secondaries indistinctly barred. Under wing-coverts barred with 

 rufous. Iris greyish white. Feet pale lemon. Hll black, base bluish. 

 Cere pale green. Eyelid preenish. 



" These Hawks, and two others said to be exactly like them, were shot 

 in September 1897 on the island of Car Nicobar,' in the Bay of Bengal, 

 by Mr. A. L. Butler." 



Vol. IV, p. 80. In the 'Ibis,' just published, for January 1898, p. 124. 

 Gates has distinguished the Pheasant of the Shan States east of 

 the Irrawaddy from typical Phasianvs ( Calophasis] humice of Mani- 

 pur, and has described the former as CALOPHASIS BURMANNICUH. 

 The principal differences are the broader white margins to the 

 feathers of the lower back and rump, and the imperfect black 

 wing-bar, part of the black being replaced by chestnut. Moreover 

 the black of the neck does not extend to the upper back, and 

 there is more chestnut on the bars of the tail-feathers, and on the 

 concealed parts of the feathers forming the posterior white winp- 

 bar. Some of the distinctions had been noted by Mr. F. Finn (J. A. 

 S. B. Ixvi, pt. 2, p. 623), and the feathers cf the lower back of both 

 forms figured. I am doubtful whether the differences mentioned, 

 with the possible exception of the white on the lower back and 

 rump, are likely to be constant. There is much variation even 

 in the few specimens (three from Manipur and two from North- 

 eastern Burma) availab'e for examination. I am inclined to class 

 the Shan States form as a race or subspecies of P. humice, but 

 many ornithologists would regard it as a distinct species. 

 Vol. IV, p. 116. No. 1356, Cotnmi.r coromandelica has been recorded 

 from Colombo, Ceylon, bv Mr. A. L. Butler, Jour. Bom. N. II. 

 Soc. x, p. 284. 



Vol. IV, p. 169. Mr. Bntler writes to me that No. 1397, Rallina 

 carmimgi, is common in the Andaman Islands, but very shy : the 

 principal breeding season is January to April. The nestling is 

 clad in chestnut down, and the immature bird has the lower parts 

 dull blackish grey, narrowly barred with dirty white. 

 Vol. IV, p. 190. The Burmese Sarus Crane, NO. 1410, Grus sharpii, has 

 been observed in flocks by Mr. Davis, whose notes are printed in 

 Hume and Marshall's ' Game Birds.' 



