312 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF INDIA. 



chong. This was an adult female and measured : — Length, 

 15*25 ; expanse, 19*25 ; tail, from vent, 1*8; wing, 5'3; tarsus, 

 1*87 ; bare portion of tibia, 0*12 ; bill, from gape, 2-75 : at front, 

 2* 25 ; the closed wings reached to the end of the tail ; weight, 

 6 ozs. 



Legs and feet dingy yellow, greenish on joints, soles bright 

 yellow ; orbital skin greenish ; cheeks and sides of the bill at base, 

 greenish yellow ; lower mandible and sides of upper mandible 

 yellowish horny ; culmen brown ; irides golden yellow. 



Davison says : — " I only saw four of these little yellow 

 bitterns during my stay at the Andamans, of which I was fortu- 

 nate enough to secure three. The first I obtained was one I 

 flushed out of a paddy field while beating for snipe, and the 

 other two were beaten out of a patch of sugar-cane. All three 

 specimens were shot at Aberdeen, South Andaman/' 



936 bis.— Goisakius melanoloplius, Baffles. 

 (3.) 



We only met with this species in the Nicobars, but even here 

 it is apparently rare. We only procured three specimens, one at 

 Tillangchong and the others at Camorta. This species was origi- 

 nally described from Sumatra, and has been found in Japan, the 

 Philippines and Pelew Islands, but the only other place within 

 our limits where it has been observed is Ceylon, where a few 

 specimens have at rare intervals been obtained on* the west 

 coast near Columbo, at Arippo, &c. This species, though well 

 defined by its short neck and short and powerful bill, varies 

 very much in plumage. Raffles' original description was as 

 follows: — "Has a shorter thicker neck; is of a chesnut color 

 mottled with black ; tail and crest black ; bill rather short ; 

 belly variegated with white, black, and brown. It is about 

 eighteen inches long." 



Temminck's description PL Col., 582, runs as follows : — "The 

 adult bird is one-third less than the European bittern. The top 

 of the head, the occiput and nape are clothed with wide 

 elongated feathers which form a full occipital tuft, these feathers, 

 as also those of the forehead, are a fine reddish purple ; the 

 cheeks are rusty red ; the nape dull red, the whole without spots 

 or streaks. The throat and the front of the neck are whitish- 

 ashy, and these parts exhibit wide, longitudinal red, black, and 

 white streaks, the black occupying the middle of the feathers, 

 while either the rufous or the white cover the sides ; the chest, 

 and the whole of the rest of the lower parts are similarly adorned 

 with the same colors, but broad white streaks occupy the centres 



