

"Specimens exhibiting intermediate colouring are often procured. A bird killed on the 

 17th December had the legs and feet pale plumbeous, mottled with dull yellow; another, killed 

 two days later, had the legs pale lavender and the feet dull yellow ; another, killed about the 

 same time, had the entire legs and feet pale lavender, — the colours of the bills being similarly 

 intermixed." 



Mr. Oates writes to me : — " I have procured A. longirostra and seen a few other specimens 

 in Lower Pegu, but look upon the bird as uncommon." 



In the Andaman Islands it has been seen, according to Messrs. Tytler and Beavan (Ibis, 

 1867, p. 322); but we are not aware of any specimen having been captured there. 



In Sumatra it was procured by Sir S. Raffles ; and the Marquis of Tweeddale has again 

 recently received it from that island. In Java, according to Dr. Horsfield, it is known to the 

 natives as " Prit Andun ;" and he observes that on comparing specimens from that island with 

 A. pusilla, Blyth, he found them to be larger and brighter. Java specimens in the Marquis 

 of Tweeddale's and in Mr. Swinhoe's collections are of large size, but are not brighter than 

 specimens which I have examined from Malacca and Borneo. 



In the latter island, where the species appears to be very abundant, the two races are to be 

 met with, the smaller of which, however, appears to be by far the commonest. In the south of 

 the island it has been collected at Banjermassing by Schierbrand, at Sarawak by Low, Doria, and 

 Beccari ; and from the north-west coast, opposite Labuan, Mr. Low has sent home an abundant 

 supply of specimens, all belonging to the smaller race. 



I have been unable to examine a specimen from Celebes, but believe that there is little 

 doubt that the one species of Spider-hunter found in that island should be referred to the 

 present species. 



A description of the nest and eggs of this bird is given by Bernstein (J. f. O. 1859, p. 280), 

 from which I make the following extract: — "The nest is of an oval form, about six or seven 

 inches long by three or four wide, and is attached to the under surface of a large leaf, which 

 thus forms the back wall of the nest. It is attached to the leaf by wool and fibres in the same 

 manner as the nests of Prinia familiaris, Horsf., and Orthotomus sepium, Horsf. The inside is 

 lined with soft leaves and fibres and a few fine blades of grass, while the outer portion is of the 

 same, but rather rougher, materials, consisting principally of skeleton leaves. The two eggs 

 contained in the nest measured 07 by - 5 inch ; they were white, with a narrow zone of closely 

 situated reddish brown spots and streaks towards the blunt end." 



The accompanying illustration represents the two races : the larger one is taken from a Java 

 specimen in Mr. Swinhoe's collection, the smaller from a specimen collected by Mr. Low in 

 North-western Borneo. They are the most extreme forms I have met with ; and, from the absence 

 of pectoral tufts, both appear to be females. They measure respectively 6 - 2 and 4'8 inches in 

 length, culmen 1-7 and 14, wing 2-65 and 2'4, tail 1-9 and 1*7, tarsus 0-7 and 0-65. 



Two intermediate forms I have described above — the adult male being from Malacca and 

 the adult female from the Malabar coast, both of them being in the Marquis of Tweeddale's 

 cabinet. 



In this latter collection I have also examined specimens from the North Cachar hills and 

 Dabroo, as well as Lieut. Wardlaw Ramsay's specimens from the Tonghoo hills. 



