THE ISLANDS OF THE BAT OF BENGAL. 151 



one of the smartest skippers sailing from the port of Calcutta °, 

 but his knowledge of birds- is, as he would have been the first 

 to admit, of the most limited character. 



This species may occur in the islands, but I cannot admit it into 

 the list on such evidence, and there is absolutely none other. 



74 — Ephialtes pennatus, Hodg. (1.) 



A single specimen of this was procured for me at Camorta 

 Nicobars by Mr. Ellis. It does not exactly correspond with 

 any of my numerous Indian specimens ; but it is so close, in most 

 respects to pennatus, that I must await the receipt of other 

 specimens before thinking of separating it. 



74. quat.— Ephialtes Balli, Hume (1.) 



This fine species is fully described, Stray Feathers, 1873, 

 p. 407. No second adult specimen has yet been obtained, but we 

 have received a nestling, which I have no doubt belongs to this 

 species. It was obtained at Port Blair on the 12th August. 



The whole upper surface is a dull bay color; the occiput 

 and the upper back show traces of narrow bandings of dusky and 

 a paler rufous than the rest of the back ; all the feathers show 

 here and there dim traces of speckling, and spotting with dusky. 

 The quills are duskier on their inner webs, and the primaries 

 have their outer webs broadly barred with rufescent white ; 

 the whole of the face and entire lower parts a rather pale rufous 

 buff; many of the feathers of the breast and abdomen whitish 

 at the tips, and there freckled and speckled with darkish brown. 

 In this nestling nearly the terminal half of the tarsus bare ; is 

 the tarsus is about 1*04 long, and 0'45 of this is bare. The 

 wing is 5*5 inches, and the total length, I suppose, about 7*75 

 inches As in the adult, so in the young bird, the tint of coloring 

 is quite unlike that which 1 have seen in any stage of pennatus. 



75 quint. — Ephialtes lempigi, Horsf. (0.) 



Tytler says : — " A specimen of this species was caught alive 

 and brought to me.' J He either did not preserve this bird, or it 

 had been lost, I could not find it in his museum, and Colonel 

 Tytler himself told me that he knew nothing about this group, 

 so that it is very probable that his supposed lempigi was nothing 

 but Balli. I do not therefore at present include the former in 

 our list, no other specimen having since been obtained. 



81.— Ninox liirsutus, Cuv. et Ternm. (1.) 



I cannot myself discover any sufficient difference between 

 Indian and Nicobar birds to warrant their separation. It is true 



