THE ISLANDS OF THE BAY OF BENGAL. 165 



stump in a garden, or other comparatively open place, from 

 which post it takes short flights, occasionally alighting on the 

 ground to capture an insect. I have on several occasions seen 

 it rise into the air and go through a regular series of fantastic 

 evolutions, sometimes keeping up for nearly three minutes. 

 Its note is anything but musical, but fortunately it is rather a 

 silent bird." 



None of us observed this anywhere except in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Port Blair. I do not know whether this is a 

 permanent resident, but suppose it must be so ; we obtained it 

 from December to ApriL, and specimens have been sent killed 

 in September. 



127 Us.— Pelargopsis burmanica, Sharpe. (2.) 



Specimens from the Andamans agree absolutely with others 

 from Thyet Myo and Rangoon. The bird really varies very 

 little in color, and I am unable to say that either Mr. Sharpens 

 figure or description sufficiently accurately represent any speci- 

 mens that I have seen of the bird. In the figure the cap is 

 too dark, the neck is too rufescent, and the wings, scapulars, 

 and tail, much too green. 



The following are the dimensions and description of a fine 

 female which I shot on Bird Island, Macpherson's Straits : — 



Length, 14*75 ; expanse, 22 ; tail, from vent, 3*5 ; wing, 5*75; 

 tarsus, 0*8 ; greatest length of foot, 2*25 ; bill, from gape, 3*8 ; 

 bill, at front, 3-2 ; wings, when closed, reach to within 2 # 5 of 

 end of tail; weight, 8 "5 ozs. 



The legs and feet are intense coral red, as are also the orbital 

 ring and the bill, the latter dusky at tips ; the irides brown. 



The whole of the top of the head, lores, cheeks, ear-coverts, 

 and nape, pale whitey brown ; the entire lower parts, wing linino-, 

 axillaries, lower tail coverts, sides of base of lower mandible, 

 sides of neck, and back of the neck, ochreous buff, varying doubt- 

 less somewhat in intensity in different specimens, but always 

 palest on chin and throat, and deepest on the breast, abdomen, and 

 flanks. The upper back and shorter scapulars pale brown, suffused 

 with a dull greenish blue. Middle and lower back very brio-ht 

 and light greenish blue, as if the feathers were white, and had been 

 tinged with this color. Quills, hair brown, the second to the 

 fifth or sixth primaries greenish blue on the outer webs above 

 the emargination ; the rest of the quills this color on the whole 

 of the outer webs, and the tertiaries and the later secondaries, 

 more or less overlaid with this color on the inner webs towards 

 the tips. The tail feathers much the same color on both webs 



