34 A FIRST LIST OF THE 



" The basal half of the bill, as far back as the cere, bluish ; 

 anterior half, black ; eyelids, well clothed ; iris, bright yellow ; 

 leg's, orange yellow ; claws, homy.'" 



From a large series of some thirty adult males from Raipoor, 

 Sumbulpore, Sonepore, Madras, Dacca, Tipperah, Purneah, and 

 Sikhim, I find that in this species the wing in this sex varies 

 from 13-5 to 14'5, and the tarsus from 2*9 to 3*1. 



In the young males they are smaller. The only really adult 

 female that I possess (and this is in the spilonotus plumage) has 

 the wing 15*1 ; the tarsus 3 - 35. 



In regard to the females, young birds approaching the sjpilo- 

 notus plumage, Mr. Oates gives the total length as 18*5, and 

 18" 7 5 ; and I find that the wings measure 14" 5, and the tarsi 

 3 - 15, and comparing this with the adult, it would seem that this 

 species varies a good deal in size according to age. Looking, 

 however, to the very large series I now possess of this bird, I am 

 prepared to admit that spilonotus (with the following dimensions, 

 length, 22 to 23*75; wing, 17-25 to 1775 ; tarsus, 3-37 ; mid 

 toe and claw, 2 - 75) must be a distinct bird; but what I am in- 

 clined to believe is, that the adult male has not yet been obtained, 

 and that it will prove to be a large black and white bird much 

 like melanoleucus. Anyhow, the young and the females, as figured, 

 are precisely identical, so far as plumage goes, with those of 

 melanoleucus. 



Jerdon mentions (Ibis, 1871, p. 342) that Gould " has a specimen 

 of a very large supposed male C. melanoleucus from Assam, wing 

 15*5, tarsus, 3* 5 . The pale grey color extends more over the carpal 

 joint than in ordinary specimens, so that the whole shoulder 

 appears white. It corresponds nearly in size with true spilonotus ; 

 but has the tarsus somewhat more slender, and the foot smaller 

 than in specimens of that bird, otherwise it might have been 

 considered the fully adult state." 



The slenderness of the tarsi and the smallness of the foot are, 

 I apprehend, characteristics of the male. The same difference 

 is observable between the adult males and females of melanoleucus. 

 My only difficulty is, that the tarsus seems too long; in melanoleucus 

 the adult females, as already mentioned, have considerably 

 longer tarsi than the males. 



It must not be, however, supposed that the peculiar coloration 

 about the shoulder of the wing is anything more than an 

 individual peculiarity. One of the males sent by Captain Feilden 

 has the wing 14 and the tarsus S'l". It is only remarkable 

 in having the whole shoulder of the wing white. In most 

 specimens a broad black band runs from the shoulder of the 

 wing down to the black median coverts, dividing the broad white 

 band consisting of all the lesser coverts along the ulna, from 

 the white feathers beyond the carpal joint; in this bird the whole 



