36 



A FIRST LIST OF THE 



thick jungle, far away from houses. At Thayetmyo it goes away 

 for about three months, leaving (in 1872) about the 20th June, 

 and returning about the 15th September; during this interval 

 not one was to be seen. Wings of males, 16*4, 16*8; wing of a 

 female, 17*3. 



" An old monk accounted for the disappearance of the Kites 

 from Thayetmyo in the rains, by saying that they went to the 

 hills to worship Gaudama. 



" The Kites begin building as early as the end of November. A 

 female was found sitting on her eggs on the 23rd March. The 

 top of a Toddy Palm is a favorite site for the nest." 



According to Captain Feilden, there are two species in Thayet- 

 myo, the common govinda, and this, the Malayan Kite ; but I 

 have as yet seen no specimens of govinda from this locality. 



57 bis. — Pernis brachypterus, Blyth. 



Mr. Blyth at one time described a specimen of a Crested 

 Honey Buzzard from Mergui, under the name of Pernis brachy- 

 pterus in the following terms : " Color, dark hair-brown above ; 

 crest, simple, broad, 2^ inches long; the feathers composing it, 

 white-tipped, as are also those adjacent. Lower parts, white, 

 with dark central streaks or tears on the breast and flanks." 



Now, although the Honey Buzzards sent by Captain Feilden 

 from Thayetmyo have as yet no marked crests, neither of them 

 being old birds, I am pretty certain that they belong to this 

 species. One female measured in the flesh : Length, 23 - 25 ; the 

 other was smaller, but the measurement was not recorded ; the 

 wings measure 15' 6 and 148. Now in cristalus, the females 

 vary in length from 26 to 28 ; the smallest wing of any female 

 I have met with was 15*75, and I have one before me now 

 with the wing full 18; both specimens have a very marked 

 black streak running down from below the gape, and encircling 

 irregularly the chin and throat. The plumage is precisely 

 similar to that of cristatus, of which they appear to be only 

 ■ a somewhat smaller race with, when fully adult, a more 

 defined crest. 



A third specimen sent by Mr. Oates, also a female, and quite 

 an adult, answers precisely to Blyth's description, except that the 

 crest is only 1*5 inch long ; of this, Mr. Oates gives the following 

 dimensions and particulars : " Length, 23 - 7; expanse, 505; wing, 

 16-0; tail, from vent, 11 -3; bill, from gape, 1*5; tarsus, 2" 1 ; 

 cere, 0*5. 



" Upper, and tip of lower, mandible and cere, black ; base of 

 lower mandible, gape, and region of nostrils, bluish. Inside of 

 mouth, dusky blue ; iris, bright yellow ; eyelids, grey ; feet, 

 dirty yellow ; claws, dark horny. This species seems to be very 

 rare." 



