BIRDS OF TENASSERIM. 395 



Continental Indian form affinis of Hay. Birds ofthis species vary 

 a good deal in tint, according I think to season, but it may be 

 according to age, some being considerably brighter than the 

 others, and if a bright Malaccan specimen is placed beside a dull 

 Tipperah one, the difference is considerable ; but I have several 

 specimens from Tipperah not only as bright as the brightest 

 Malaccan specimens, but also as bright as specimens from 

 Acheen in Sumatra. This perfect similarity of color was 

 admitted by Blvth, when he originally described affinis (J. A. S. 

 B., XV., 36., 1846;. He said : "Plumage of the two species 

 absolutely similar at all ages and glossed as brightly in fine 

 specimens of either. The only difference he accepted between 

 the species was that of size. He said : " This differs from the 

 Malayan C. cantor in its larger size ; wing, 4 inches to 4*25 

 instead of 3| to 3f". 



Now, as a matter of fact, these latter dimensions for the 

 Malayan race are totally wrong. Davison preserved thirty speci- 

 mens which he shot in Singapore Island, in the neighbourhood 

 of Malacca, and at Pulo Seban, about 22 miles from Malacca, and 

 the following were the dimensions recorded in the flesh of these 

 birds : — 



Males. — Length, 775 to 85; expanse, 12 to 13; tail, 29 

 to 31 ; wing, 38 to 4*25, (the majority exceeding 4*0) ; bill 

 from gape, 105 to 1*1; weight, 1'75 to 225 ozs. 



females. — Length, 7 - 62 to 8'25; expanse, 12*25 to 12'5; tail, 

 2-5 to 30; wing, 3*82 to 4; tarsus, 075 toO'85; bill from gape, 

 10 to 1-05; weight, 1*75 to 2-25 ozs. 



We have unfortunately no specimens measured in the flesh of 

 the Continental Indian bird, but the following are the dimensions 

 of the wings of ten specimens taken at random : — 

 Cachar, ad. 43, 4-15 ; Juv. 3"9, 385. 

 Tipperah, ad. 4-1, 4-3; 4-1, 4*2 ; 4-2. 

 Dacca, ad. 4*3. 



It will be seen that there is no difference in the dimensions 

 of the Singapore, Malaccan, and Continental Indian birds, 

 though doubtless native-prepared Malaccan skins, of which we 

 also have several, are screwed up so as to look very much smaller, 

 but when really large series are examined, there is no differ- 

 ence between the birds from the south and north. 



In Tenasserim we did not meet with the species anywhere 

 north of Yea, and I do not know of its occurrence in Pegu, but 

 it occurs in Arracan, Chittagong, Tipperah, Cachar, and Dacca. 

 The birds occurring in this last set of localities are, therefore, 

 apparently isolated by a wide break from their fellows in South- 

 ern Tenasserim and the Malayan Peninsula, and it would there- 

 fore, prima facie, have appeared likely that they should have 

 differed in some way, but after a careful study of certainly the 



