Contributions to the Ornithology of India, ^c. 287 



I could judge, precisely similar to the specimens obtained. 

 They were very carefully measured in the flesh, and the following- 

 are the results : 



Males, length, excluding elongated central tail feathers, 

 16'85 to 17*8 ; central tail feathers project beyond the rest of 

 the tail, 3 to 5*9 ; expanse, 37 to 39'5 ; tail from vent, including 

 central tail feathers, 7 "5 to 10-3; wing, 10-75 to 11'8 ; bill at 

 front, 2*2 to 2"45 ; tarsus, 1 to 1"13 j mid toe and claw, 1"55 

 to l-8j weight, lib 1 oz to lib 4 oz. 



The female was 18-05 long, exclusive of the lengthened 

 tail feathers, which projected 4, beyond the other feathers ; 

 expanse, 39 ; tail from vent, including central tail feathers, 9 ; 

 wing, 11-7 ; bill, at front, 2*4; tarsus, 1 ; weight, 1 lb 6 oz. 



Irides, deep brown j legs and hallux and its web, and basal 

 -joint of other toes, white, tinged bluish and creamy yellow ; rest 

 of feet and claws black ; in some the bluish was replaced by a 

 livid fleshy tinge, and one was slightly yellower on the tarsus ; 

 bill, dull orange red ; margins of both mandibles, nostrils, and 

 tips dusky ; in some the bills were slightly paler than in the 

 others. 



Flumage. — A broad, conspicuous black crescent in front of 

 the eye, and a narrow black line from the gape to nostrils and 

 nostrils to culmen, dividing the feathers from bill ; the whole 

 forehead and the front part of the crown, ear coverts, and entire 

 lower parts including wing lining, and axillaries, pure white, 

 the lower parts of the body glistening like white satin ; a black 

 line from the posterior angle of the eye, running round the 

 back of the nape, where it forms a more or less conspicuous 

 half collar. The hinder portion of the crown and nape inside 

 the half collar, white, each feather with a triangular black bar 

 near the tips, in a great measure concealed by the overlapping 

 of the tips of the feathers; the carpal joint of the wing, the 

 four or five posterior primaries, the whole of the secondaries, 

 the primary coverts except those of the first five quills, the 

 secondary greater and median coverts, pure white ; the winglet the 

 greater coverts of the first five primaries, the outer webs of 

 the first five primaries, together with a narrow stripe along the 

 shaft on the inner web, black; the extreme tips and the inner 

 webs of these feathers white ; the tertials and their greater 

 coverts black, narrowly margined on the exterior webs and tipped 

 with white ; the lesser secondary coverts similar ; the entire 

 back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail coverts white, regularly 

 and closely barred with black ; the bars being slightly cuspidate 

 on the upper back, and the longest scapulars being almost 

 devoid of barring, though this is not seen till the feathers are 



