120 A FIRST LIST OF THE 



the nullahs. It is very tame and slow in its movements. A 

 female that I shot measured — 



" Length, 5*6 ; expanse, 7*2 ; tail, from vent, 1*9 ; wing, 2*22 ; 

 bill, from gape, 0*79; tarsus, T02. 



" The bill is dusky above, pale fleshy beneath ; the inside of the 

 mouth, yellow ; irides, reddish brown ; eyelids, greenish fleshy ; 

 legs, fleshy white ; toes, of a slightly paler color ." 



399 sextua. — Pellorneum minor, Mume, ? P. sub- 

 ochraceum, Swmh. 



Mr. Oates sends an unmistakable specimen of this species, 

 and says : "This bird appears to feed on the ground in pairs. I 

 have met with it very rarely, and always in thick brushwood on 

 the ground. A pair I shot measured as follows : — 



"Male. — Length, 6*65; expanse, 8 - 6; tail, from vent, 2*65 ; 

 wing, 2*62; -bill, from gape, 0*82; tarsus, 1*05. 



"Female. — Length, 6*4; expanse, 8; tail, from vent, 2*7 (?) ; 

 wing, 2*5; bill, from gape, 0*79; tarsus, 1'0. 



' ' Primaries. — Fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, sub-equal and 

 longest; fourth, 0*05; third, 035 ; second, 0*6; and first, 1'0, 

 shorter than the longest." 



I described this bird (Stray Feathers, 1873, p. 298) from 

 a very indifferent specimen, which must have been a female. 

 The type specimen agrees well with a specimen sent by Mr. Oates, 

 except that the latter is rather more fulvous below. The 

 proportions of the primaries, as given by Mr. Oates, agree very 

 well with those of the type specimen. Mr. Oates has sent 

 another specimen which, though it has a somewhat longer 

 wing, belongs also, I think, to this same species; but the bill 

 is broken, and the specimen otherwise so indifferent that I 

 cannot be quite certain. Of this Mr. Oates, who seems inclined 

 to consider it as distinct, remarks — 



" This is far from common. I have met with only two specimens. 

 One measured: Length, 6'5; tail, from vent, 2*7; wing, 2*75; 

 bill, from gape, 0*82; tarsus, 1. The irides were reddish 

 chocolate; the upper mandible, dark horny, slightly paler 

 towards the tip ; the anterior half of lower mandible, very pale 

 horny ; the basal one-half, light yellowish ; legs, feet, and claws, 

 fleshy." ^ 



The bird is very close to both rnficeps and nipalensis, but it has 

 a much shorter bill than the former and a much slenderer one than 

 the latter. The spotting on the breast is paler-colored, less 

 in extent and less conspicuous altogether than in either 

 species. 



I have recently obtained a series of more than twenty of 

 this species, a considerable number of which were measured in 



