STEATOENlNiE. 189 



105. Batrachostomus moniliger, Blyth. 



Blyth, J. A. S. xvii, 806. — Podargus Javanensis, apudJERDON, 

 2nd SuppL, Cat. 253 bis. 



The Wynaad Frog-mouth. 



Descr. — Above, with the throat and breast, bright bay or ches- 

 nut ; breast with a torque of white spots, edged black, on the upper 

 part of the breast, and another below it ; belly, and lower tail- 

 coverts, pale isabelline, with similar but smaller spots ; flanks 

 mottled with dusky ; coronal feathers long ; occipital feathers tip- 

 ped white, edged black, forming a nuchal ring continuous with 

 the pectoral collar ; a pale rufescent supercilimn ; the lengthened 

 loral plumes tipped black and white ; wing-coverts tipped white, 

 edged black ; tertiaries pale mottled dusky, with a minute terminal 

 black and white spot; primaries black ; the scapulars like the terti- 

 aries ; tail mottled, and obscurely banded, each band ending in a 

 series of white spots, successsively more developed in each outer 

 feather ; the lateral halves of the tail separated into two distinct 

 lobes, the tail thus appearing forked. 



Length 10 inches ; wing, 4| ; tail, 4;^ . 



I imagine there is little doubt that this is the species of Southern 

 India which I considered to be Pod. Javanensis, and inserted in 

 the 2nd. Supplement to my Catalogue, on the authority of Captain 

 Eoberts, of the 36th N. I. He obtained it on the Peria Pass, lead- 

 ing from Malabar into Wynaad. I have never procured it myself. 

 Whilst on the banks of the Indrawutty river in the South-East of 

 the Nagpore country, I saw a Night-jar about dusk, flying about 

 over the sandy and shingly bed of that river, and uttering a peculiar 

 clear cry, quite unlike that of any of the Caprimulgi that I know. 

 This was very probably the present species, but owing to the 

 darkness, I failed in procuring a specimen, and did not again 

 observe it. Very little is known of the habits of any of this 

 genus. 



Blyth's B. affinis from Malacca is much smaller than Javanensis 

 and certainly distinct, and it may be the B. parvulus, Tem. (Bonap. 

 Conspectus). It is a miniature of B. javanensis. 



