BIRDS OF TENASSERIM. Ill 



identify it, he says, with perfect certainty, though he failed to 

 procure any specimen. 



146 Ms. — Rhyticeros undulatus, Shaw. (38). 



Zadee ; Mergui ; Ckoungtkanoung ; Pakckan i Bankasoon ; Victoria Point. 



Confined entirely apparently to those portions of the province 

 south of Amherst,and only abundant in the southern half of these. 



[This is the common species of South Tenasserim. It is very 

 numerous in the forests about the Pakchan, and on the islands 

 of the Mergui Archipelago ; it becomes much less numerous as 

 one proceeds north, the nearly-allied subruflcollis taking its place. 

 All that I have said about the habits, voice, and food of R. 

 subruficollis will apply equally well to this. — W. D.] 



I may, however, here perhaps repeat that, besides the differ- 

 ence in size which distinguishes the present species, and the very 

 nearly allied subruficollis, there is another mark of distinction 

 which appears to be quite constant. In. plicatus, in both sexes, 

 the naked gular skin has a dark band about half an inch wide, 

 broken in the middle, stretching across it just below the base of 

 the lower mandible ; this band appears to be always wanting- in 

 subruficollis. Moreover, there is a very marked difference in the 

 shape of the wings, the primaries in the closed wing being 

 equalled or very nearly so* in length, in all specimens of 'undula- 

 tus from the extreme south of the Tenasserim provinces, by the 

 longest tertiaries and secondaries, whereas in subruficollis they 

 exceed these latter by fully three inches. 



It is worthy of note that specimens of undulatus from Cachar 

 and Sylhet have larger bills that the largest of our extensive 

 South Tenasserim series, and are altogether somewhat larger 

 birds, — a fine male having the wing 20'8 against 19'5 in the 

 largest of our South Tenasserim specimens. Moreover, in the 

 Cachar specimens the primaries exceed the secondaries and 

 tertiaries almost as much as in subruficollis. It is curious, and 

 may be accidental, that our solitary specimen from Zadee 

 Central Tenasserim has a larger bill than any of the South 

 Tenasserim specimens ; in fact almost the same size as those 

 from Cachar, while in this bird also the longest primaries 

 exceed the longest secondaries and tertiaries in the closed wing 

 by some two inches. 



The following are the dimensions of fine adults of South 

 Tenasserim specimens :— 



Males. — Length, 39 - to 41*5; expanse, 58'0 to 64'75 ; tail, 

 12 to 13-0 ; wing, 18-75 to 195 ; tarsus, 2*38 to 2-62 ; bill from 



* la two out of thirty-seven .South Tenasserim specimens the longest primaries 

 exceed the longest secondaries and tertiaries by about 1 inch ; in all the rest they only 

 equal them. In one single Central Tenasserim specimen, they exceed them by 

 nearly 2 inches. 



