FURRGEDPORE, EASTERN BENGAL. 309 



Irides 3 r ellow ; lores bright yellow ; orbital skin greenish yel- 

 low ; legspalegreen ; soles bright yellow; claws horny ; mouth, 

 inside fleshy ; bill, below pale yellow ; edges dusky ; 

 upper maudible dusky. On dissection the testes were found to 

 be slightly enlarged. 



Rather rare ; frequents swamps and paddy fields. An awful 

 skulk, not rising till a person is within a few feet of it. Breeds 

 in the district in July-August, but I failed to find the nest. 



937.— Nycticorax griseus, Linn. 



12th April 1878, Female. — Expanse, 36*0 ; wing, 11*0 ; tail, 

 3*75 ; tarsus, 2*75 ; bill from gape, 3*82 ; at front, 2*75. Irides 

 purplish red ; legs greenish yellow ; bill, above and tips black ; 

 rest greenish ; lores and orbital skin verdigris green. 



12th April 1878, Young Female. — Expanse, 36*0 ; wing, 

 10*50 ; tail, 3*16 ; tarsus, 2*75 ; bill from gape, 3*64 ; at front, 

 2*70. Legs light green ; irides brick red ; lores and orbital skin 

 dusky green. 



Very common ; they have certain trees (generally tamarind) 

 for roosting, where during the day they may be seen in 

 dozens, and on a shot being fired the flock take wing and 

 keep whirling about overhead until all signs of danger are 

 gone. Their flight is slow and laboured. In two villages near the 

 factory I saw them roosting on tamarind trees that were right 

 in the centre of the villages. They breed on these trees in August, 

 and according to the villagers use the same nest after some slight 

 repairs, year after year. Their food is frogs, fish, and aquatic 

 insects. 



938.— Tantalus leucocephalus, Gmel. 



8th April 1878, Male.— Length, 41*80 ; expanse, 71-0 ; 

 wing, 20-0 ; tail, 6*25 • tarsus, 8*10 • bill from gape, 10*08 ; 

 at front, 10*08 ; closed wings exceed end of tail, 1*0. Irides 

 light brown; legs fleshy red ; orbits and gularskin dirty yellow; 

 bill orange yellow. 



By no means common. A rainy season visitant. The south- 

 eastern corner of the Mymensingh district is one huge swamp 

 covered with scrub and long grass, and on the large trees about 

 these birds lay in the cold Aveather ; the half-fledged birds have 

 been brought to me in the second week of December. I once 

 kept a pair of young ones which became perfectly tame ; they 

 used to eat small fish and would come up to the boy who gave 

 them their food on being called. When being fed they would 

 clatter the mandibles, shaking the head from side to side all 

 the while, and uttering a hoarse croaking noise. On reaching 



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