144 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF INDIA. 



on the 31st December. It is comparatively rare, and I 

 had not many opportunities of observing its habits ; but it 

 appears to prefer forests skirting the cleared land, over which 

 it may be seen taking short, irregular, circular flights, and 

 occasionally sitting on a high stump or tree, standing well out 

 in the clearing, but on the least sign of danger, making at 

 once for the forest. This bird is called Arung-udda by the 

 Andamanese in the vicinity of Port Blair, but I am unable to 

 say if it is only applied to this species, or is used for all birds 

 of the hawk tribe. I never saw it except in the neighbourhood 

 of Port Blair." 



We observed a pair at the Great Coco, circling round and 

 round just out of shot over the tops of the trees ; we watched 

 them off and on during the greater part of the day, but failed 

 to secure either. 



39 ter.— Spilornis Elgini. Tytkr. (13.) 



We only obtained nine specimens of this species, but four 

 were subsequently sent us. The type specimens are described 

 at page 231, et seq, of My Scrap Book. The males and females, 

 as our specimens carefully sexed and measured in the flesh 

 show, do not differ greatly in dimensions. Some males are 

 smaller than any female ; but some again are as large as the 

 smaller females. The dimensions of this species are as follows : — 



Length, 21 to 22 ; expanse, 45 to 48 ; wing, 14 to 15 ; tail, 

 from vent, 9 to 10; tarsus, 3 to 3'4 ; bill, from gape, 1*6 

 to 1-75. 



Although the sexes do not differ very materially in linear 

 dimensions, they vary very greatly in bulk. The males weigh- 

 ing from 1-75 to 2*25 lbs., and the females from 2 - 25 to 2*75 lbs. 



The legs and feet vary from pale lemon to pretty bright 

 yellow. The bill is pale bluish pink, pale horny, bluish horny 

 or fleshy ; the upper mandible, from the tip along the culmen, 

 darker, sometimes horny brown, and sometimes plumbeous ; 

 the cere, lores, and orbital region bright or lemon yellow as the 

 case may be. The irides are always bright yellow, or golden 

 yellow. 



Lord Walden has recently described a specimen, Ibis, 1873y 

 page 299, which was a nearly but not quite adult bird. The 

 type specimens described by Tytler in My Scrap Book were 

 considerably younger still. The plumage of the perfect adult 

 is as follows : — 



The loi'es and cheeks are almost entirely bare, only sparsely 

 dotted with tiny bristle-like feathers. There is a very narrow 



