BIRDS OF TENASSERIM. 47 



[Temminck's Spine Tail appears to be rare in Tenasserim, 

 Occurring apparently only in the extreme south. I obtained 

 only one specimen shot at Malewoon, and this is the only one 

 I have seen to identify, though there might have been birds of 

 this species among the other Spine Tails that I saw, but did not 

 shoot. One cannot always bag these Spine Tails. — W. D.] 



Lord Tweeddale (B. of B., p. 84) gives this species from 

 Tonghoo*, but as he adds " G. indica, Hume, is synonymous/' 

 •which is not the fact, in my opinion, and shows that he is 

 unable to discriminate the two species, it is doubtful whether 

 Major Lloyd's bird belonged to the present or last species. 



100 bis.— Cypselus subfurcatus, Blyth. (7). Descr. 

 S. F , IL, 524. 



Choungthapee ; Malewoon. 



Very rare and confined to the southernmost portions of 

 the province. 



[On one occasion only did I meet with this Swift in the Tenas- 

 serim Provinces, and this was at a small Siamese village called 

 Choungthapee, about half way between Mergui and Malewoon. 

 There were a good number, fifty I should say, flying rapidly to 

 and fro over a stream, picking insects off the surface. I shot 

 more than a dozen, but unfortunately we had a very long march 

 to do (we did not get to the end of it till about 9 r. if.,' and our 

 men, and amongst them the man with the birds, did not arrive 

 till some time after midnight, others not till morning) and the 

 weather was un propitious ; consequently when I came to 

 measure and skin the birds, out of all the Swifts I had shot 

 only five were worth the skinning. Some of our people later 

 shot a couple of specimens at Malewoon. — W. D.] 



The following are the dimensions of two males and two 

 females recorded in the flesh : — 



Males.— Length, 57 to 6-0 ; expanse, 13*25 to 13*5 ; tail from 

 vent, 2-12 to 2'25 ; wing, 5*5 to 5-65; tarsus, 0-4; bill from 

 gape, 07 to 075 ; weight, 1 oz. 



Females.— Length, 5 75 ; expanse, 1275 to 13; tail from 

 vent, 2-0 to 2*12 ; wing, 5-25 to 575 ; tarsus, 0*35 to 0*4 ; bill 

 from gape, 07 to 0*8; weight, 1-0 to 1*25 oz. 



The legs and feet varied a good deal ; in one male and one 

 female, these parts were fleshy, tinged on toes and claws with 

 dark brown ; in the other male and female they were purplish 

 black j bill black ; irides dark brown. 



* Ramsay points out that the bird sent by Major Lloyd really came from the locality 

 cited above, and not as Lord T. supposed Tonghoo. 



