Notes. 313 



pure white ; the leofs are long, the tarsi thickly clothed with 

 white feathers j the crown of the head and nape yellowish brown, 

 mixed witli umber brown; from the occiput spring- six or eig-ht 

 elong-ated dark brown feathers, foi-ming a pendant crest ; the whole 

 of the upper parts of the l3ody are of a dark umber-brown 

 each feather with a paler margin ; the ridge of the wings is 

 white ; the tail is long, of a deep clove-brown colour, with seven 

 narrow black bars, the tip white ; the feet are yellow, the 

 toes i-eticulated as far as the last phalange, and armed with, 

 powerful sharp and crooked claws, particularly those of the in- 

 terior and hind toes. Length about twenty inches; the wings, 

 when closed, appear to reach about one-half the length of the 

 tail ; the first quill is narrow and short, the fourth and fifth 

 the longest in the wing. 



A. O. H. 



lot^s. 



Four eggs of the NICOBAR MEGAPODE, recently sent 

 me, are long cylindrical ovals, in shape recalling the eggs of sand 

 grouse. They measure from 3 'IS to 3-4 in length and from 2-05 

 to 2"1 in breadth. One previously sent me, by Mr. Ball, mea- 

 sured 3-33 by 2-12. 



At first sight they remind one somewhat of large turtle eggs. 

 The shell is very stout and coarse and the eggs look much as if 

 they were carved out of fine sandstone. All the eggs I have seen 

 varied in colour from a pale slightly pinky brown stone colour, 

 to a moderately warm pink-stone colour. The eggs are of course 

 utterly devoid of gloss, as they are also of all markings, but in 

 some of the eggs, numerous little depressions are filled with a 

 white chalky film, giving them the appearance of being spotted 

 with white. 



Amongst birds recently sent me for identification by L. Man- 

 delli, Esq., of Lebong, is a beautiful specimen of indicator xan- 

 THONOTUS. I already possess this species from Huzara in the 

 far west, so that rare as it has hitherto been considered, the 

 yellow-backed honeyguide has a range in the Himalayas, 

 at aii^ rate from the borders of Afghanistan to those of Bhotan. 



Dr. Jerdon must, I think, have described either an immature 

 bird or a female. The wing, which he gives at 3"38, has varied in 

 the specimens I have seen from 3-6 to 3'8 j and the bill at front 

 which he notes as 0*25, has in no one of the three specimens I have 



