270 macheiramphus alcinus, Westerman. 



very small and inconspicuous. The nostrils are long, oblique, 

 pierced near the margin of the cere, and partly overhung by 

 a membraneous shelf. The eyes are very large and almost 

 certainly indicate crepuscular habits. The entire lores are 

 densely feathered, reminding us so far of Pernis, but the 

 feathers are soft and velvet-like, and not scaled as in Pernis. 

 From the centre of the base of the occiput springs a moderately 

 broad graduated crest of pointed lanceolate feathers, consist- 

 ing, in my specimen, of 16 feathers, of which the four longest 

 ai*e 3'2, 2*8 and 2 - 6 inches long. The wings have the 2nd and 

 3rd quills equal and longest; the 1st and 5th are equal and 

 2 inches shorter than the 2nd and 3rd. In the 1st quill the 

 inner web is suddenly reduced at about 3 inches from the 

 tip to less than one-half its previous breadth; a similar less 

 conspicuous notch iu the 2nd, and a trace of the same in the 3rd. 

 The tertials are broad and rather elongated, being a little longer 

 than the 6th primary. A faint sinuation is observable on the 

 outer webs of the 2nd and 3rd quills. The tail (of 12 fea- 

 thers) is decidedly Milvine in its character, the feathers broad, 

 and the tail as a whole slightly forked ; the outermost tail- 

 feathers nearly half an inch longer than the central ones, and 

 the intermediate ones graduated, so that when pulled out to its 

 full width the tail is square ended. The tarsi are moderately 

 stout, feathered in front for about three-fourths of an inch only, 

 reticulate, but exhibiting a tendency to form an inconspicuous 

 row of small hexagonal scales, on both the front and back of 

 the tarsi, from -^th to -ftb up them reckoning from the foot. 

 The mid toe is long, slender, and accipitrine in the character 

 of its pads. The outer and inner toes, together with their 

 nails, are almost exactly the same length, but the outer toe 

 is much longer and slenderer, and has a very much smaller claw, 

 Avhile the inner toe is much shorter and stouter and has a huge 

 claw very nearly as big as that of the hind toe — in this respect 

 recalling Neopus, and many of the owls. 



The claws are well curved and sharp, more or less compress- 

 ed, except that of the mid toe, which has the inner side dilated 

 into a knife-like edge, as in many other genera. 



This species has been supposed to be distinguished from 

 M. Anderssoni by (amongst other points) the want of a dis- 

 tinct supercilium ; but this can be no longer maintained, my 

 present specimen having the snow-white band over and below the 

 feye, absolutely and precisely as in Mr. Wolf's splendid figure of 

 M. Anderssoni (l. c). Other differences are the short incon- 

 spicuous crest, the much paler general tint, and the Avhite 

 lower abdomen and lower tail-coverts of this latter species. 

 All these may prove good points, but on the other hand it is 

 easy to see that they may all be marks of nonnge, and it 



