NOTES ON SOME BURMESE BIRDS. 349 



Common as the bird is, I find I have the measurements of 

 one specimen only — a male shot on the 14th March. It is still 

 in winter plumage. The length is 10*8 ; tail, 35 ; wing, 9 - S ; 

 tarsus, - 87; bill from gape, 1*75; the tail is forked to the 

 extent of half an inch ; the bill is dark blood-brown ; the 

 inside of the mouth, flesh color ; iris, dark brown ; legs and toes 

 dark blood red ; claws dark brown. 



988.— Sternula minuta, L. 



The present bird is quite as common as the preceding in the 

 Sittang River and adjacent streams, and is a permanent 

 resident. 



The following are dimensions of three specimens, two being 

 males and the third not sexed : — Length, 8"6 to 8'9 ; expanse, 

 19-5 to 20; tail, 2*25 to 2-8; wing, 6-6 to 7-1 ; tarsus, '7 to 

 •75 ; bill from gape, 1*6 to 1*72; middle toe and claw, "79 to 

 '8 ; the tail forked to the extent of from *6 to 1. 



The coloration of the soft parts varies a good deal. Two 

 birds shot on the 15th April, and still in winter plumage, have the 

 whole bill dark brown changing to a darker shade at the tip ; the 

 irides are very dark brown ; the eyelids greenish, plumbeous ; 

 tarsus and toes, reddish brown ; the claws black. Another bird 

 shot on the same day, in summer plumage, has the bill yellow, 

 with a quarter of an inch of its tip black ; the legs and toes pale 

 orange and the other parts as above. Numerous specimens 

 shot later on, in June, vary a great deal, specially in the color 

 of the bill. 



1005.— Graculus carbo, L t 



The Large Cormorant is very abundant all the year through 

 in the streams of the Pegu plain, not however frequenting 

 either the Pegu or the Sittang Rivers. I have seen the bird in 

 no other part of Burmah. 



I was never familiar with the bird in Europe, but I 

 always thought that the white spot on the flanks was, accord- 

 ing to all authors, a distinguishing characteristic of this 

 bird. Now I shoot dozens of these birds on each of my 

 marches (for my boatmen and followers think them excellent 

 eating) and I have never seen a bird with a white spot till very 

 lately. Whatever may be the case elsewhere, here certainly 

 it is my impression,* that the white spot is donned at the 

 commencement of the breeding season, say about the 1st of 



* Surely this is a well-known and universally acknowledged fact.— Er>. ; S. F. 



