128 BIRDS OP TENASSEBIM. 



buff ' markings s properly so called, on either forehead or crown. 

 Mere specks are not marking's, and these are all we have ever 

 seen on the heads of adult males and in the young- males, as 

 the buffy head becomes black, beginning at the forehead, the buff 

 speckles show out there. Either Ramsay's specimens belong 

 to a distinct race, or they are altogether abnormal. 



The following are dimensions, &c, recorded of this species : — 



Males. — Length, 6*35 to 6-5; expanse, 12*75 to 13*0; tail from 

 vent, 1-75 to 2'12 • wing, 3"8 to 3*9; tarsus, 075 • bill from 

 gape, 10 to 1*15 ; weight, 175 oz. 



Females. — Length, 5-62 to 6*37 * expanse, 11*45 to 12*55 • tail 

 from vent, 1*5 to 1*82 ; wing, 3*45 to 3*75 ■ tarsus, 0*62 to 07 ; 

 bill from gape, 0*82 to 0*92 • weight, 1*25 to 1*5 oz. 



Legs and feet very dark green, sometimes so dark as to appear 

 black ; bill black, bluish at gape ; irides dark reddish brown. 



165 bis A.— Hemicercus sordidus, Eyton. (1). 



Bankasoon. 



Only a straggler to the extreme south of the province. 



Ornithologists are not by any means agreed as to the num- 

 ber of species of this genus inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, 

 Java, Sumatra, and Borneo. 



Count Salvadori (Uccelli di Borneo, 46) gives the following 

 diagnosis of the four species which he admits : — 



i. H. concretus, Tern. 



Male. — Crest in front reddish yellowish brown, behind red. 



ii. H. hartlaubi, Math. 



Male. — Crest entirely red, uniformly colored. 



iii. H. sordidus, Eyton. 



Male. — Crest in front red, behind ashy ; rump and under 

 tail-coverts isabelline. 



iv. H. brookeanus, Salvad. 



Male. — Like sordidus, but rump and lower tail-coverts lemon 

 yellow. 



The Marquis of Tweeddale, Ibis, 1877, 291, unites sordidus 

 and brookeanus and concretus as defined by Salvadori, while he 

 unites hartlaubi with the true concretus, ex Java of the PI. 

 Col., and remarks that the occurrence of true concretus beyond 

 Java rests on no good authority. 



There is no doubt as to the identity of brookeanus and sor- 

 didus. Freshly-moulted specimens, shot in the Malay Peninsula, 

 often have a more or less bright lemon yellow tinge on rump 

 and lower tail coverts, and in some of our specimens this tinge 

 pervades all the paler portions of the plumage. 



There is also no doubt that hartlaubi is Javan. Mr. Gould 

 figures an unmistakeable specimen of hartlaubi, Birds of Asia, 



