362 NOTES ON CEYLONESE ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY, 



saw it on the cliffs of this Fort in October 1872, (Stray Fea- 

 thers, Vol. L, p. 486.) The present example equals North-world 

 birds in size, having a wing of 14-6 ; tail, 7*8 ; tarsus, 2 ; mid 

 toe from joint, 2'3 ; its claws straight, from above, 0'83. It is 

 evidently fully adult, though perhaps not very old ; there are 

 faint fulvous edgings across the back of the neck ; the throat 

 and foreneck quite unmarked ; the mesial drops present on the 

 chest, at the side of which the feathers are tinged with isabelline ; 

 the spottings down the centre of the breast are arrow shaped, and 

 the barrings of the thigh and under tail-coverts pointed at their 

 centres. 



18. — Cerchneis amurensis, Badde, (4 bis.) 



Erythropus Vespertinus, Stray Feathers, Vol. I., p. 487. 

 The Redfooted Falcon which I spoke of loc cit, must, lam sure, 

 be referable to this species. The specific characteristics are in 

 accordance with those pointed out by Mr. Gurney {Ibis, 1868), 

 and the plumage is similar to that described by Mr. Sharpe, 

 Cat. Accipitres, p. 445, as belonging to the young. Its occur- 

 rence so far south as this is very interesting, and it may 

 not, therefore, be out of place to give the measurement 

 and general description of the example in question, shot at 

 Trincomalie, as noted, loc cit on the 6th December 1872. ? Juv. 

 Length, 122; wing, "9; tail, 4*75; tarsus, 1-2; mid-toe, 

 1- ; claw, 0"4 ; bill from gape straight, 0*8. Iris deep brown; 

 cere and basal half of bill, with eyelid and anti-orbital skin 

 orano-e, apical portion brownish leaden ; legs and feet orange ; 

 lores and cheeks, a narrow supercilium, widening out behind 

 the eye, and short moustachial streak blackish brown, paling 

 somewhat on the ear-coverts ; above cinereous brown, darkest on 

 the hind neck, paling on the rump into ashy brown ; the feathers 

 mostly with conspicuous pale edgings, which are ashy on the 

 latter part, giving it a grey appearance ; quills dark brown, the 

 secondaries and inner primaries with whitish tips and margins, 

 and the whole with broad transverse bar-like spots not 

 reaching to the edge, on the inner webs ; tail grey, darkening 

 towards the tip and with twelve narrow brownish bars ; beneath, 

 the chin and throat and side of the neck, reaching up beyond 

 the ear-coverts, pure white ; chest, breast and flanks whitish, 

 with laro-e central drops of dark brown almost covering the 

 feather on the chest and changing into bars on the lower flank ; 

 abdomen, thigh, and under tail-coverts almost white, a faint 

 tinge of rufous scarcely perceptible. 



41.— Polioaetus iclithysetus, Horsf. (15). 



The Fish Eagle of Ceylon deserves, I thiuk, special notice, 

 inasmuch as though it has been assimilated with the Indian 



