THE ISLANDS OF THE BAY OF BENGAL. 229 



this sub-division of the orioles. The following are the dimensions 

 recorded in the flesh from a large series of adults of both sexes. 

 These latter I may mention do not differ constantly in size, 

 though individuals differ a good deal in each sex : — 



Length, 11 to 12; expanse, 17'5 to 18*75 ; wing, 5*75 to 

 6*12; tail, from vent, 4'75 to 5*4; tarsus, 1-0 to l'l ; bill, 

 from gape, 1*5 to 1*7; bill, at front, 1*12 to 1*3; wings, when 

 closed, reach to within from 2'4 to 2'6 of end of tail. The legs 

 and feet plumbeous ; claws dark honry ; the bill carneous ; 

 the irides carmine ; in the young dull red brown. The bills of 

 these latter dull fleshy, but nothing like so dark as in the young 

 of andamenensis. 



The coloring is precisely the same as in the preceding, but the 

 black occipital and nuchal band is much broader. The tippings 

 to the primary greater coverts are broader; the triangular 

 spots at the tips of the tertiaries are scarcely ever present in the 

 males ; the third to the fifth primaries are very distinctly mar- 

 gined on the outer webs with white, or excessively pale yellow. 

 There is much more yellow on the tail, the pair next the centre 

 almost always very conspicuously tipped with yellow ; the two 

 external laterals on either side almost wholly yellow. These 

 remarks apply equally to both sexes which, in all other respects, 

 agree with andamanensis , and the same may be said of the young. 



Davison says : — tl Occurs only in the Nicobars where it is very 

 numerous, frequenting the forest, cocoanut palms, secondary 

 jungle and gardens, and is even met with in trees standing quite 

 alone, and some distance from the forest ; it is a somewhat larger, 

 and I fancy brighter colored bird than 0. andamanensis, and like 

 this last is usually met with in pairs. When it is found in 

 small parties these usually consist of the parent birds and the 

 young ; but on one occasion I shot eight in succession off a small 

 tree that was covered with a fruit like red currants, and to which 

 these birds, as well as Hypsipetes nicobariensis, seemed particularly 

 partial." 



We met with this species in abundance on every single island 

 of the Nicobar group but nowhere else. Everywhere in the Nico- 

 bars it seemed to me to be very abundant, and in no way separ- 

 able, so far as flight, habits, and voice are concerned, from our 

 continental 0. indicus. What is really remarkable is, that, 

 both to the north and south, in the Andamans and at Acheen, this 

 species is entirely replaced by others. Andamanensis in the 

 former, hippocrepis, (Stray Feathers, 1873, p. 457) in the 

 latter, and this, although the northern and southern islands of the 

 Nicobar groups are much further apart, then these are distant 



B 1 



