ContrihiUons to the OrnitFiology of India, 8fC. 243 



and may not improbably occur in the Nicobars, even if it does 

 not extend to the Andamans^"^ Southern India, and Ceylon. 



The two main points of distinction are these : In mimda, the 

 shafts of the primaries are mostly white, in damacensis, as in Te?n^ 

 mi'iicki, with the exception of that of the first primary, the rest 

 of the shafts are brown, and while in Temmincki the first shaft is 

 nearly entirely white, in damacensis it is decidedly tino-ed with 

 brown. The second distinction consists in the much greater 

 leng-th of the mid toe. T. minuta is doubtless very variable in di- 

 mensions; but mid toe and nail included,, no specimen of 

 minuta ever exceeds, I believe, 0*8 in length, while in damacensis 

 the mid toe and nail together, measm-e a full inch ; the bill also 

 in damacensis measures about 0-75 ; in no specimen of minuta 

 that I have examined, including the larger race known as albescens, 

 does it exceed 0-73, and in some specimens, both English and 

 Indian, it does not exceed 0'65. M, Schlegel, I observe^ gives the 

 bill of some of his specimens of minuta from Australia, Timor 

 and Java, all of which doubtless belong to the variety albescens, 

 at 9 French lines, which is about 0'83 English, but I have 

 examined a great number of specimens without meeting with 

 any such elongated bills, and possibly we do not measure exactly 

 in the same way. 



I do not think that any other constant distinctions can be 

 established between damacensis and minuta. Mr. Blyth remarks 

 that minuta has a broader bill j but this certainly does not hold 

 good when several birds of each species are compared ; as a rule 

 I should fancy that subminuta was somewhat smaller than 

 minuta. 



As regards the variation in size of mimda, Schlegel gives the 

 wings of European specimens, as from about 3-76 to 3-93 ; of 

 African specimens, as from 3-83 to 3-93; Formosan specimens, 

 as from 4 to 4-11 ; Chinese, 4-2 to 4-38 ; Javan, from 4 to 4-2; 

 Moluccan, 3-93 to 4-2; new Giunea, 4-11 j Australia, 3-83. 

 Macgillivray gives the wing at 4-08 with the remark that, that 

 of the female is slightly larger ; but Yarrell gives the wing at 

 3-75, and this latter dimension corresponds exactly with my 

 English specimens. Amongst all my Indian killed specimens, 

 male and female in winter and in summer plumage, only one 

 has a wing above 3-9 ; in the vast majority the wings are be- 

 tween 3*7 and 3 '8, and in a few specimens the wings range be- 

 tween 3*6 and 3-7, and again in a very few, between 3-8 and 3-9. 

 All the birds obtained in Sindh were in winter plumage, one only, 

 killed in the middle of February, exhibits a single feather of the 

 rufous summer plumage near the shoulder of the wing. 



* Whence, however, I have true minuta. 



