474 Novelties. — Carcinetites amabilis. 



of Coimbatore.) I saw one or two spine tails passing* over, and 

 by 7-15, flocks commenced to pass from S. E. to N. W., probably 

 a point or two South of S. E. This would give a line passing' 

 from the sea over the Anamully Hills (6,000 to 8,000 feet high) 

 crossing the gap formed by the Palghaut Valley and going 

 straight for the Neilgherry Hills. I have often noted these 

 swifts taking exactly this course, for except in June and July 

 they never " hawk '' nor remain about Coimbatore. 



" I was badly prepared, having only a few re-loaded cartridges 

 of No. 8 shot to kill quail. I should not like to say how many 

 I missed, but some idea of their rate of speed may be formed 

 when I say that in seeing one coming towards me and turning 

 sharp round, by the time I sighted, it was too far. This happened 

 several times. The two I got I killed passing over me, making 

 great allowance, and firing far in front ; one, although quite dead 

 when I came up to it, had managed to clutch a stone which 

 remained tight in its claws. I once shot one which whilst fall- 

 ing through a tree caught a branch, and I had to send a man up 

 the tree. The spine tails came in flocks of some hundreds about 

 every five minutes for half an hour, then a flock of Alpine swifts 

 came, they seemed to fly like owls after the arrow-like speed of 

 the spine tails. 



" From what I could judge, the Spine tails were scattered over 

 some two miles in width during their flight, and did not stop to 

 hawk, but all flew in the same direction, some high, some low." 



Oarcineutes amabilis, iSjp. ISov. 



Similar to G. pulchellus, hut the males entirely want thd rufous collar on 

 the najpe, and the females have the upper surface ochraceous, compara- 

 tively narrowly banded with blach. 



The birds sent me by Mr. Oates, from the eastern Pegu Hills 

 in the latitude of Thayetmyo as C. pulchellus, appear to me to 

 be a new and distinct species. They are much the same size as 

 pulchellus, but the male differs conspicuously in entirely wanting 

 the red collar on the nape, and the female differs still more 

 conspicuously, in that, instead of being black, banded with ochra- 

 ceous, and very narrowly so on the head, as Malaccan birds are, 

 it is really ochraceous, comparatively narrowly banded with black. 

 Placing the female of the Pegu bird against females from Ma- 

 lacca and Singapore, the diffierence is very conspicuous. The 

 absence of the red colhir in the male is notau accident due to bad 



