FURREEDPORE, EASTERN BENGAL. 251 



Very common, but during the cold season only. The last bird 

 of the season seen by me was a young brown one on the 20th 

 April ; that night there tvas a heavy fall of rain, and not a bird 

 was seen afterwards. When killed they have a rank offensive 

 smell like that of a cockroach, especially the females, and the 

 effluvia remains in the skin* for ever so long afterwards. The cry 

 is very Harrier-like. The adults I have found very wary, 

 but the young brown ones are easily shot ; frogs, lizards and 

 grasshoppers are their food ; in this district, with the excep- 

 tion of the patches of tree jungle, they are found everywhere, 

 hawking over grass and paddy fields, as well as over plains aud 

 swamps. 



55.— Haliastur in&ns, Bodd. 



30th November 1877, Immature Female. — Length, 18"0; ex- 

 panse, 43'0 ; wing, 14'50 ; tail from vent, 8" 25 ; tarsus, 2*12; 

 bill from gape, 133 ; closed wings equal end of tail. Irides wood 

 brown, with the outer edge paler ; bill bluish at base ; rest 

 horny ; tarsus dingy yellow ; claws black. 



26th May 1878, Mate.— Length, 18'0 ; expanse, 50*0; wing, 

 16'50 ; tail from vent, 8*50; tarsus, 2*0; bill from gape, 1'44; 

 bill at front, including cere, 1*33 ; closed wings exceed end 

 of tail, 0*75. Irides bright brown ; cere pale yellow ; legs pale 

 yellow; claws black ; eyelids light yellow; orbits clothed with 

 white down ; bill below light blue, tip whitish, above pale green, 

 paling to a white tip ; gape pea green. 



5th June 1871, Female, — rLength, 19'25; expanse, 49 # 0; 

 wing, 1675; tail from vent, 9-50; tarsus, 2*08; bill from 

 gape, l - 56; bill at front, including cere, 1*37 ; closed wings 

 exceed end of tail, 0*75. Cere pale yellow ; bill pea green, tip 

 whitish ; gape pea green ; legs light yellow ; claws dusky yellow ; 

 irides bright, brown ; mouth inside bluish, tinged with fleshy. 

 This bird was not skinned till 12 hours after death and had got 

 very stiff, hence the difference in the measurements of the 

 expanse with the male. 



Neither Dr. Jerdon nor Mr. Hume make any mention of the 

 dusky bars on the inner webs of the secondaries in this species. 

 The male bird, too, is of a much darker chestnut ; the lower tail- 

 coverts in both specimens have no trace of rufous white as 

 mentioned in " Rough Notes/' page 317. This species is not 

 so very common as the next ; it is a permanent resident. On 

 the 27th February 1878, I took two partly-incubated eggs 

 from a nest built in amongst the leafy branches and near the 

 top of a Ficus religiosa tree, some 35 feet off the ground. 



* Precisely the same is the case with Baza lopliotes, which always has this rank 

 froggy smell. — Ei>. 



