macheirampiius alcinus, Westerman. 271 



appears to me that at present the only certain permanent dif- 

 ferences are the greater size of the present species (wing, 

 14 - 62 in a male, against 13*91 in a female of Anderssoni) 

 its larger and more sharply carinated bill, and its excessively 

 inconspicuous black cere. The specimen, now before me, au 

 adult male, measured in the flesh as follows : — 



Length, 180 ; expanse, 46'0 ; tail, from vent, 7*37 ; wing, 

 14*62 ; tarsus, 2*5 ; bill, from gape, 1*8 ; straight from edge 

 of cere to point, 0*75 ; mid toe, to root of claw, T87 ; its claw, 

 straight from root to point, 0*68 ; outer toe, 1*37 ; its claw, - 55 ; 

 inner toe, 0*86 ; its claw, 0'83 ; hind toe, 0-7 ; its claw, 0'87 ; 

 width of gape, 1*45 ; greatest height of upper mandible, 0*4 ; 

 weight, T25 lbs. 



The irides were bright yellow, the bill and claws black, and 

 the legs and feet pale plumbeous ; the cere, which is barely 

 traceable, has not been separately noted, but seems to have been 

 black; in Anderssoni it is plumbeous, but it cannot have been 

 so in this species, for Davison, who received the specimen 

 in the flesh, remarks "the cere appears to be wanting," so that 

 it cannot have differed in colour from the bill. The bird 

 had not quite completed its moult; the great majority of the fea- 

 thers are sooty black, in one light, blackish brown in another, but 

 in the wings, tail, and abdomen are a few old feathers which are 

 a dull dark Buzzard brown. A broad stripe of pure white, 1£ 

 inches in width, occupies the whole throat and front of the 

 neck, marked with a black diamond-shaped patch on the chin, 

 continued as a line of black spots down the centre of the throat; 

 a very irregularly-shaped snow-white patch in the middle of 

 the breast. A pure white eyelid band, |th of an inch wide, 

 above and below the eye, very nearly meeting at the posterior 

 angle, but not meeting in front by about jth of an inch. The 

 whole of the rest of the plumage the dark colour already 

 referred to. The crest I have already described. The shafts 

 of both quills and tail-feathers are brownish white on their 

 lower surfaces. 



This remarkable genus differs, I believe, from all other known 

 Raptorial forms in its sharply carinated culmen. Looking to 

 its general form, its densely feathered lores, the shape and 

 position of its nostrils, its feet and legs, specially the scutel- 

 lation of the tarsi, its long crest, and central throat stripe, I 

 have no doubt that it is intermediate between Pernis and Baza, 

 but it has many lateral affinities, the kite-like tail, the slender 

 hawk-like middle toe, the huge owl-like eyes, ana looking to its 

 broad flat skull, huge gape, and NyctibusAikB hooked and cari- 

 nated bill, I think we must accept it as what Swainson would 

 have desiguated the Fissirostral type amongst the Raptores. 



A. O. R, 



