FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 39 



Note. — The specimens sent to Mr. Hume from Kelshi and 

 Khed in the north of the district were, I thought, referable to 

 G. radiation. Mr. Hume, however, pointed out that they 

 were intermediate in form between radiatum and malaba- 

 ricum, but nearer to the latter, though almost as close to radia- 

 tum. I have not been able to detect any marked and constant 

 differences between these skins and others subsequently obtain- 

 ed to the south of the district, or again between these and 

 other skins in Dr. Armstrong's and Mr. Crawford's collections. 

 Individuals certainly vary a little. The light bars on the back 

 and rump in some pale to a dingy white, while in others they 

 retain a tinge of fulvous. In some the tarsal plumes are creamy 

 yellow, unbarred in front, and with a few dusky spots at the 

 sides ; in others they are strongly barred with dusky and pale 

 rufous. In some the tips of all the tail-feathers and the outer 

 webs of the outer feathers are sullied with faint rufous, while 

 in others they are pure white. Similarly the rufous tint on 

 the head, neck, breast, and hind neck varies in warmth and 

 intensity in individuals, but it would, I think, be quite impos- 

 sible to separate any of the skins in my present collection from 

 north to south. Comparing the Ratnagiri skins as a body 

 with a specimen sent me by Mr. Hume from Raipur as a 

 typical radiatum, the former are certainly more warmly tinted 

 throughout. The transverse bars of the head, nape, and hind 

 neck are slightly narrower, and more rufous than in radia- 

 tum ; there is less white about the scapulars in the Ratnagiri 

 skins ; the black bars of the tail-feathers are, as a rule, deci- 

 dedly deeper in hue, contrasting more strongly with the white 

 ones ; the primaries also are more distinctly marked and 

 barred than in radiatum, the rufous being richer in hue 

 and the dark parts a shade deeper ; the throat and breast are 

 also more rufous, and the barring of the abdomen and lower 

 parts is narrower, and more regular than in radiatum. 

 These are all the distinctions I can make out. In size they 

 are identical. In fact, the radiatum looks like a washed out 

 and faded copy of our Ratnagiri birds. Mr. Hume, in his Scrap 

 Book (p. 411), notes the difference in tint between radiatum 

 from the north, and the same species from the south of India, 

 the northern birds being more rufous, and the southern more 

 grey. I cannot help thinking that ultimately it will be found 

 that malabaricum is inseparable from radiatum as a species, 

 the warmer tints of the former being due to climatic causes 

 only. A humid climate, such as the Konkans and Malabar has, 

 as will I think be admitted, a general tendency to darken 

 and impart a deeper hue to the plumage of birds, the fur of 

 auimals, and even the pigment which underlies the human 



