408 RECENTLY-DESCRIBED SPECIES. 



Drymoipus fufescens, Hume. {Ibis, 1872, p. 110, S. 

 F , I., 437. ; II., 453. 



This species is much larger than most of our Indian Bnjmoipi, 

 some specimens of males falling little short of 725. The adults 

 are nearly as dark as the Southern Indian bird, but are much 

 more rufous, quite as rufous as longicaudat a, hut not so strongly 

 tinged with buff beneath. The following are dimensions of seven 

 males : — Length, 645 to 7*20 ; expanse, 7*1 to 8 ; the tail from 

 3-3 to 3'9 ; the wing from 2'3 to 262 ; tarsus about 09 to 0-95 ; 

 bill at front, 0'5 to 0*53. One female measured in the flesh: — 

 Length, 6'7 ; expanse, 67*5 ; tail from vent, 2*6 ; bill at front, 

 0-47 ; wing, 021 ; tarsus, 0-85. 



Description. — Legs and feet fleshy, light fleshy, or reddish 

 brown ; claws dusky ; irides brown, light brown, brownish and 

 deep yellow ; bill blackish or dusky horny, fleshy or greyish at 

 base of lower mandible. Plumage. — Whole upper surface, inclu- 

 ding tail, and greater median coverts, tertiaries, and outer webs 

 of primaries, and secondaries, rich rufous brown in full plumage, 

 dull, or earthy brown, more or less tinged or overlaid with rufous 

 in young birds ; tail very distinctly, and finely but obsoletely 

 barred, much less distinctly however in some specimens than 

 in others ; all the feathers except the central ones narrowly 

 tipped with fulvous white, with a more or less distinct penulti- 

 mate dusky bar ; the young birds with a good deal of white on 

 the inner webs of the lateral feathers, which is entirely wanting 

 in adults ; thus assimilating them to the young of insignis, from 

 which they are scarcely separable, except by the smaller bill, 

 and by the colour of the lower mandible, which in the young of 

 this species is horny white, in that of insignis almost entirely 

 black. I may note that in some of the adults also, the dark 

 subterminal bar becomes almost obsolete ; lores, and a stripe 

 over the eye fulvous white ; ear-coverts, sides of neck, and 

 breast, and sometimes some of the lesser wing-coverts about 

 the carpal joint, a greenish or greyish brown ; the ear-coverts 

 at times more of less mottled with fulvous white ; lower parts 

 pale fulvous, or buffy, albescent on the chin and throat and 

 middle of abdomen, tinged at times on the breast with grey, 

 more purely buff on lower tail-coverts, and wing lining, 

 and more rufescent on tibial plumes ; inner webs of primaries 

 and secondaries hair brown. The young birds are much paler 

 and more albescent on the lower surface. 



This is a very distinct species, widely spread over the 

 country. I have it from Mount Aboo, G-urhwal, and Kumaon 

 from Niher, Mahableshwar, from Raipoor, Bundarah, Sumbul- 

 poor, and Nagpoor, from Etawah and two or three other locali- 

 ties. The birds vary very much in size, the young being consider- 



