OF NEW OR LITTLE KNOWN BIRDS. 339 



ishj with black stripes on the neck and breast^ and bands 

 on the flanks and body : tail and its covers black, banded 

 with ferruginous lines. 



Inhabits South Africa ? Mus. Nost. 



Total length 6^ inches ; bill, gape i ; front 55 ; wings 2^ • 

 tarsus ^ ; middle toe and claw ^. Lateral toes nearly equal. 

 The whole plumage above is variegated with light fulvous, or 

 Isabella brown, which assumes the appearance of stripes on the 

 head and neck, and then of undulated bands on all the re- 

 maining parts : the quills alone are free from spots, and are 

 light sepia brown : the tail covers are long, silky, and are of 

 the same colour and texture as the true tail feathers ; these 

 latter being placed edgeways, like those of a hen ; and this, 

 no doubt, is the true structure of the type, which obviously 

 represents Megctpodius. The chin is pure white, and the bill 

 and feet pale. 



173. Tachydromus Orientalis. 



Total length 9i inches. Upper part of the head^ neck, 

 throat, breast, and body, rufous, terminating in a black 

 point in the middle of the body : upper tail covers 

 white : wings 6 inches, and longer than the tail. 



Inhabits India. In the Collection of the Countess of 

 Dalhousie. Zool. Mus. 



Total length 9^ inches ; bill, front f^, ; gape l^L; wings 6", 

 projecting i inch beyond the tail ; tarsus 2^2_ - middle toe 

 and claw 1^; naked space above the knee 1. I have consi- 

 dered this as distinct from the T. Asiaticus of Temminck * (the 

 Coromandeliciis of Lichensteinf ), solely on the presumption 

 that these two ornithologists are correct in stating that their 

 species measures only 8 inches in total length, whereas this is 

 9i. It is only the upper tail covers, and not the rump also, 

 which are white in this bird : the rufous of the breast goes on 

 gradually contracting, and then terminates at the end of the 

 abdomen in a black spot, leaving the sides of the body and the 

 flanks of the same light drab brown as the back. If the above 

 measurements of MM. Temminck and Lichenstein arc in- 

 correct, then I see no difference between their descriptions, 

 Dr. Latham's \, and the bird before me, sufficiently strong to 

 separate it from Asiaticus. Such brief descriptions, without 

 measurements of all the parts, rather tend to confusion than to 

 elucidation. 



* Manuel, 2 ed. ii. p. 514. % Berlin Catal. p. 72. 



f Hist, of Birds, ix. S53. 



