344 BIRDS OCCURRING IN INDIA NOT DESCRIBED 



brownish black ; the head and nape are dark brown ; the base 

 of all the feathers on the upper parts is white ; on the hind 

 neck and foreparts of the back that colour, tinged with yellow- 

 ish brown, prevails, a lanceolate or obovate deep brown spot 

 being on each feather towards the end ; on the middle of the 

 back the brown prevails, on the hind part white, and the rump 

 and upper tail-coverts are light brown, tipped with darker ; the 

 scapulars are dark brown, with a purplish tinge ; the wing- 

 coverts dark brown at the end, but most of the larger pale 

 brown in the greater part of their extent; the quills black, with 

 a purplish grey tinge ; the secondaries gradually becoming more 

 brown, and all faintly variegated with light grey and brown on 

 the inner webs ; the tail is brownish black, with a tinge of grey, 

 and more or less finely mottled with whitish ; the lower parts 

 may be described as brownish white, longitudinally streaked 

 with dark brown, there being a lanceolate patch of the latter on 

 each feather ; the lower wing-coverts and feathers of the legs 

 dark brown ; the lower surface of the quills bluish grey ; the 

 lower tail-coverts white, tipped with brown ; the down on the 

 breast pure white. 



" Remarks. — In this species the bill and iris change from 

 dusky brown to pale yellow, and the plumage at first white at 

 the base, and dark brown at the end, gradually loses its white, 

 while the dark parts become paler and more extended, the final 

 colouring being more uniform. 



" The tail forms no exception, for its basal white also dimi- 

 nishes ; but the white, which is gradually substituted for the 

 brownish black, spreads from near the end to the" base/' — Hume, 

 " Rough Notes." 



56 tfwatf.— -Milvus migrans, Bodd. 



Adult Male. — Crown, sides of the head, and nape white ; the 

 forehead narrowly, and the other parts broadly, striped with 

 blackish brown ; upper parts dark hair brown, with a metallic 

 gloss on the back ; the feathers on the hind neck with dark 

 central stripes; those of the wing-coverts and a few of the 

 scapulars with lighter edges ; primaries black, excepting some 

 of the inner ones, which are deep brown ; secondaries blackish 

 brown; the inner ones assimilating in colour to the back; tail 

 like the back, but slightly duller and a trifle grey in tinge, 

 and with scarcely perceptible darker bars, being also but 

 slightly forked ; throat dull white, striped with blackish brown ; 

 breast clove-brown with blackish stripes ; rest of the under parts 



