386 ARDEID.E. 



Goisakius melanolophus, Raffl. 



936&W. Butler. Deccan ; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 435. 

 THE MALAYAN TIGER BITTERN. 



Length, 17 to 19'62 ; expanse, 29'5 to 37 ; wing, 9'12 to 10'37 ; 

 tarsus, 2'3 to 2'69 ; bill at front, 1'8 ; bill from gape, 2'4. 



Bare skin at base of bill green ; bill horny-brown, greenish- 

 horny beneath ; irides greenish-yellow ; legs and feet greenish- 

 olive. 



Crown of head and nape black ; the feathers of the occiput 

 lengthened into a full crest, and each irregularly marked with a 

 white spot across its centre, and a smaller white tip ; the feathers 

 of the forehead and above the eyes black, with ochreous instead 

 of white spots, forming an obscure bar above the eye ; cheeks 

 and sides of throat pale ochreous, with narrow zigzag lines of 

 black across the feathers ; the mantle chesnut, freckled and 

 irregularly barred with narrow zigzag lines of black ; upper tail- 

 coverts dull black, with white dots. 



Tail, above, dark slaty or bluish-black ; quills black, tipped 

 with white ; the base of the white tinged with chesnut and 

 mottled with black ; greater-coverts of first three primaries black, 

 broadly tipped white ; the base of the white on the outer webs 

 tinged with chesnut, which is closely freckled with black 

 blotches and spots, and replaced at the extreme tip by white 

 less densely freckled ; two or three small feathers at the angle 

 of the wing pure white. 



Under primary-coverts pale ochreous, closely barred with black, 

 and the larger feathers broadly tipped white ; rest of under wing- 

 coverts barred black and white. 



Chin and throat white, faintly tinged with ochreous, and with 

 an obscure central streak- of black dots ; throat rich chesnut, 

 minutely banded with black bars ; centre of the breast like the 

 throat, with two lateral streaks of ochreous (one on either side) 

 formed by some of the feathers continuously being paler chesnut 

 and free from all black but a few dots. 



Abdominal feathers pale ochreous-chesnut, with small dots and 

 obscure bars of black, but mostly with a white central streak ; 

 elongated feathers of the abdominal train paler ochreous, very 

 faintly and sparsely dotted with black, and with the central 

 streak of white more apparent ; coverts of tibia ochreous, mottled 

 with dull black ; under tail-coverts white, tinged on their outer 

 margins with ochreous and speckled with black dots. T. W. 

 Bourdillon, Stray Feathers, Vol. VII, p. 525. 



The Malayan Tiger Bittern is extremely rare ; the only speci- 

 men recorded from our district was obtained by Mr. Laird in 

 the forests west of Belgaum. 



GENUS, Nycticorax, Steph. 



Bill short, stout; culmen curved; wings with third quill 



