BIRDS NESTING ON THE EASTERN NARRA. 277 



Later again, to judge from another young bird, a sup- 

 posed male purchased at Malacca, as the chestnut begins to 

 creep over the abdomen, the rich yellow tinting fades away, 

 the forehead becomes black, and the stripo over the eye almost 

 disappears. 



There seem, therefore, to be four recognizable stages : — 



(1.) As it leaves the nest; uniform, snow white below, 

 rather light hair brown above, every feather conspicuously, 

 though narro\vl} r , tipped white, or brownish, or fawny white. 



(2.) Change anterior to first moult ; similar, but a creamy 

 tinge often pervading the white of the lower surface, the brown 

 of the upper surface darker,* and the whitish tippings wanting 1 , 

 or obsolete, or nearly so. 



(3.) First moult ; upper surface intense blackish brown or 

 almost black, but the bases of the feathers of the crown, occiput 

 and nape, and the entire lower surface rich creamy yellow, 

 and a few of the feathers of the breast and sides of the abdo- 

 men with black linear lanceolate shaft spots. 



(4.) Change interior to second moult; upper surface similar, 

 but a good deal withered in places ; the rich yellow tinge 

 everywhere disappearing or having entirely disappeared ; the 

 linear lanceolate shaft spots having increased in number and 

 size, and a chestnut similar to that of the adult plumage, but 

 duller (beginning on the lower tail-coverts, tibial plumes and 

 axillaries,) creeping over the lower surface. 



A. 0. H. 



iirds ftesttnig on the (fatern jtarra. 



Additions and Alterations. 



By S. B. Doig. 



Since my paper on the above subject appeared in your jour- 

 nal, I have had a letter from my friend Captain E. A. Butler, 

 in which he makes certain remarks on my Tentative List there- 

 in given. Among others he says : " Surely most, if not all, of the 

 following birds breed on the Narra, viz., Bubo bengalensis, Scops 

 baklcamoena, Taccocua sirlcee, &c, &c." I have specimens of 



* This change also appears to occur in the feather itself. First the webs grow 

 a little Harker on either sicb of the shaft near the point; then the feather becomes 

 distinctly sub-terminally darker centred; at the same time, in some birds at any 

 rate, a creamy tinge creeps over the white everywhere ; then the dark centres spread 

 and grow darker still. But it is not until the first moult that they put on the 

 intense black brown above or the full yellow below, and both these fade before the 

 second uVmlt. when the complete adult plumage is assumed- Whether the loss of white 

 on throat and breast, in apparent adults, referred to at the commencement of the 

 above article, indicates a third moult, or is an individual difference, I do not know 



