493 AddiUons to the Avifauna of Ceyton. 



lig-Iit colored tarsi serve to identify salma at once. The bill ig} 

 as a g"eneral rule, decidedly more compressed tlian tliat of vminta, 

 but I have not observed that it is long-er. I have but two speci- 

 mens (males) at present to hand, the bills of which measure 

 at front respectively, 0*7 and 0* 73 inches. In a winter plumaged 

 example, shot in December, the tarsi are yellowish g-reen with 

 darkish joints and toes ; further on in the season they become 

 duskier, being then of a sickly olive green. 



With regard to m'mnhi, the bills of my specimens vary from 

 0*69 in a male to 0'78 in ?, female, the latter being a much stout- 

 er bird than any of the others with a wing of 3'9 against 3" 7, 

 ^•8, and 3*85, and with the forehead and face with more white. 

 Is this T. albescens of Tern mi nek ? 



The legs of miniita ,?k.s, found in Ceylon, are not black. They vary 

 in colour from the obscure dark greenish tarsi with dusky leaden 

 feet and joints of December specimens to the sombre olive green 

 (but never with the yellowish tint of salina) of March examples. 

 Birds procured last year in the latter month had already signs of 

 summer garb about them, the tertials and lowermost scapulars 

 being deeply bordered with rufous. 



h\t%. 



I HAVE lately received, from Mr. Mandelli of Darjeeling, three 

 specimens of that remarkable lark Melanocorijpha maxima, Gould, 

 figured in Fart XIX. of the Birds of Asia. They were obtained 

 somewhere on the borders of native Sikim and Thibet. All the 

 specimens sent are young birds. ♦■ 



This species is characterized by its great size, its long and, for 

 a melanocoryplia, slender and curved bill ; by the conspicuous 

 white margin to the first two primaries (narrower on the second), 

 the conspicuous white tips to the secondaries (which Mr, Gould 

 does not mention in his description, though he shews it in his 

 figure,) by its white tipped tail, and external tail feather almost 

 wholly white, by its short and very stout tarsi and toes, and by 

 its perfectly straight hind claw which, in some specimens, exceeds 

 an inch in length. 



The following are the dimensions, (taken from the dried skin,) 

 of my three specimens: 



Length, 8-5 to 9 ; wing, 5-8 to 6; bill, from gape, 1-06 to 

 l-lo; bill, affront, 0-87 to 0-97 ; tail, from vent, 3-3 to 3-7; 

 tarsus, 1-1 to 1-2; hind toe and claw, I'l to 1-5; claw only, 

 0-7o to IT. 



