10 BIRDS OF TENASSERIM, 



Mr. Sharpe, it will be remembered, separates his genus Astur 

 from his genus Aecipiter with reference to the relation between 

 the length of the mid toe and the culmen from the margin of 

 the cere ; where twice the culmen from the margin of the cere 

 exceeds the mid toe there we have an Astur, where it falls short 

 of the mid toe there we have an Aecipiter. 



Tested by this criterion, our Aecipiter virgatus is a true Aeci- 

 piter, bat the present bird is neither an Astur nor an Aecipiter, 

 as twice the culmen exactly equals mid toe without claw. 1 have 

 made the measurements several times over with great care, and 

 there is no doubt that this result accurately represents the fact. 



Mr. Sharpe thus describes the adult. Cat. I., 115 : — 



" Adult. — The adult plumage appears to be gained by a gradual 

 mersion (?) of the rufous stripes on the breast. Above light 

 bluish grey, some of the feathers margined with darker grey ; 

 sides of face and neck grey, like the head, but a little more 

 dingy ; under surface of the body pale buffy vinous ; the throat, 

 flanks and thighs, as well as the under wing and tail-coverts, 

 white, with a slight greyish shade on the sides of the breast % 

 quills black externally, shaded with ashy grey ; under surface 

 white at base of inner web, but having no distinct bars above or 

 below; tail dull bluish, grey above, ashy-white beneath, with 

 four or five indistinct cross bands of dark brown, a little plain- 

 er underneath, but these not strictly continuous ; cere yellow ; 

 gape and orbits yellowish; bill black, lead-colour at base; feet 

 yellow; iris yellow. Total length, 1 1 "8 inches ; culmen, 075; 

 wing, 7 - 9 ; tail, 5"4; tarsus, 1'9. 



" Observations. — A specimen from the Philippines, nearly 

 adult in every respect, is much deeper slate-colour above, and 

 far more ruddy and vinous below than the one described, " 



24. — Aecipiter nisus, Lin. (l). 



(Tonghoo, Earns.) Mooleyit. 



An extremely rare straggler. 



[The only specimen of this species that I have ever seen in 

 Tenasserim I killed at an elevation of over 6,000 feet. — W. D.] 



25. — Aecipiter virgatus, Eeinw. in Tern. (1). 



Thatone. 



Mr. Blyth (B. of B., p. 62) notes this species as common in 

 Arrakan and Tenasserim. It does occur, but it is certainly 

 extremely rare in Tenasserim, where Davison never once 

 saw it. 



A single specimen, however, sexed a male, was procured for us 

 by Mr. Davis at Thatone on the 15th August. In the dried 



