434 PH^TONIN^E. 



neck ; lores dark brown, with a narrow white line dividing this 

 from the hue of the head, which at times appears to assume a 

 delicate purplish-ash color as far as the crown, gradually shading 

 into the brown of the occiput ; lower parts slightly lighter than 

 above. 



The young bird has the feathers blackish, edged with white. 



The Noddy occurs on the Sind and Mekran Coasts. 



GENUS, Rhynchops, Lin. 



Bill with the upper mandible much shorter than the lower one, 

 exceedingly compressed, long, straight ; the tip of both mandibles 

 truncated ; wings long ; feet short ; webs excised. 



Rhynchops albicollis, Sws. 



995. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 847 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 



Stray Feathers, Vol. IY, p. 32 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 



IX, p, 441 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 327. 

 THE INDIAN SKIMMER. 



Length, 16'5 ; expanse, 44; wing, 16; tail, 475 ; tarsus, 1/25 ; 

 bill, upper mandible, 2'9 ; lower mandible, 3*75. 



Bill deep orange, yellowish at tip ; irides brown ; legs bright 

 vermilion-red. 



Crown of the head, back and scapulars, rump and the two 

 central tail-feathers, sooty-brown or black ; the quills somewhat 

 darker, edges of the secondaries and tertials white; forehead, 

 face to the eyes, the back of the neck, and the whole lower parts, 

 with the sides of the lower back and rump, and the lateral tail- 

 feathers, white ; wing beneath glossy-cinereous. 



The young bird has the feathers edged with creamy- white, and 

 the bill and legs dusky-yellow. 



The Scissors-bill or Skimmer is very common on the Indus, and 

 occurs, but more rarely, in Guzerat, the Deccan and Central 

 India. 



It affects the larger rivers, rarely visiting tanks or jheels. The 

 only one I obtained in Central India was hawking over the sur- 

 face of a tank during the rains, but this is most exception able, 



FAMILY, Phsetonidse. 

 SUB-FAMILY, Phsetoninae, J. E. Or. 



Bill as long as the head, sharp, and gently curved above ; mar- 

 gins finely serrated ; two central feathers of tail long and narrow ; 

 tarsus short. 



GENUS, Phaeton, Lin. 



The characters are the same as those of the sub-family. 



Phaeton indicus, Hume. 



9966k Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 327. 



