184 A FIRST LIST OF THE 



utters when disturbed, stretching" its head and neck out to their 

 full length ; the Burmans call it ( Bee ' in imitation of its call. 



" I do not think that the changes of plumage of this bird are 

 well understood. I may state — {1st), the black plumage is that 

 of the adult, and once assumed it is never changed ; black birds 

 out-number very considerably the yellow ones in the winter 

 months; (2?id), black birds are within small limits always of 

 the same size, showing conclusively that they are full-grown and 

 adult; (3rd) , yellow birds are in every particular smaller than 

 black ones, and inter se vary also very much in size ; whence I 

 conclude that yellow birds are the young, and that broods of 

 two years are to be found together; (4/ 1 /), that in the summer 

 months the number of yellow birds is much reduced, showing, I 

 think, that the elder brood must have moulted into black 

 plumage during the preceding spring (Jerdon states that, to his 

 certain knowledge, they moult in the spring) . I infer that the 

 bird assumes the black plumage the second spring after birth, 

 and that there is no seasonal change of plumage in adults/'' 



So far as regards moulting in the spring, I find that specimens 

 shot on the 4th May in the Central Provinces have not quite 

 completed the moult, still showing a few red feathers on the 

 head, a few rufous feathers on the nape, and a few white feathers 

 about the breast and abdomen. As to the difference in size, 

 I can say that sex for sex the yellow birds are very perceptibly 

 smaller than the adult ; but the males always run veiy much 

 smaller than the females, and of course, if young yellow males 

 are compared with the adult females, the difference is very great. 

 Mr. Oates gives dimensions as follows : — 



" Adult females : Length, 123 to 12-4, expanse, 24'3 to 24*7; 

 tail, from vent, 2 to 2*2; wing, 7'1 to 7*2; bill, from gape, 1 # 38 

 to 1*42; tarsus, 2 - 9 to 3'2; hind toe and claw, 3*5 to 3 - 75. 



" Young females : Length, 12; expanse, 24; tail, from vent, 2 ; 

 wing, 7*15; bill, from gape, 1*4; tarsus, 2*9; hind toe and claw, 

 3-65. 



" Two young yellow males: Length, 10*2 to 10*8; expanse, 20 

 to 21 ; tail, from vent, 1*5 to 1*7 ; wing, 6*15 to 6*2 ; bill, from 

 gape, 1*26 ; tarsus, 2*5 to 265 ; hind toe and claw, 2 •2." 



To this I may add the dimensions of an adult male : Length, 

 11*5; expanse, 20- 75; tail, from vent, T75; wing, 6*2; bill, 

 from gape, 1*35 ; tarsus, 25 ; hind toe and claw, 3*1. 



Mr. Oates adds : " The legs are olive green ; the claws, horny, 

 transparent at the edges ; the irides, brown ; the eyelids, densely 

 clothed with white feathers, their edges with black ones; shield and 

 basal half of upper mandible, dull livid ; the edges, greenish-white ; 

 and a spot at the base of the upper mandible fine rose-color; ter- 

 minal half of upper mandible and the whole lower, a fine pale green, 

 somewhat dusky at the centre and yellowish towards the base." 



