36 6 



The characters which most readily distinguish this Spider-hunter from its allies are the bare 

 cheeks, the eyebrow and the lower half of the ear-coverts being bright yellow. In the colouring 

 of the sides of the head it somewhat resembles Arachnoraphis flavigastra ; but in that bird the 

 yellow feathers entirely surround the eye ; and it is further distinguished by its much longer and 

 far more slender bill as well as by the culmen being raised in a sharp edge between the nostrils, 

 a character which separates Arachnpthera from Arachnoraphis. 



The following notes have been kindly sent to me by Messrs. Hume and Davison : — " The 

 Lesser Yellow-eared Spider-hunter ranges northward at least as far as Mergui. It is not uncom- 

 mon in many localities down to the extreme southern point of the Malay peninsula. It affects 

 gardens more than any of the other species ; in fact all our specimens were obtained in gardens, 

 and none about the cocoa-nut groves and forest-trees, though, of course, it must occasionally 

 occur about these also. 



" There does not seem to be very much difference in the size of the sexes in this species. 

 A male measured in the flesh — length 7 inches, expanse 10*82, tail from vent T7, wing 3"5, 

 tarsus 0-75, bill from gape T65. 



" Several females measured — length 6 - 75, expanse 10 to 10 - 25, tail from vent T5 to TG2, 

 wing 3T2 to 3-25, tarsus 0-7 to 0-75, bill from gape 1-62 to 1-65; weight 075 ounce. 



" Specimens killed in November had the legs and feet fleshy white ; the bill dark horny 

 blown, with the edges of both mandibles to within - 6 of the tip dirty yellow ; gape fleshy white ; 

 irides brown. 



" We do not think that in either this species or in A. flavigastra there is any seasonal 

 change in the colours of the soft parts." 



From Sumatra it was first recorded by Sir Stamford Raffles ; and it is known there by the 

 native name " Siap Jantung." Mr. E. C. Buxton also procured specimens in the Lampong district ; 

 and it is probably a common species on the island. The short-billed specimen in the illustration 

 is in my own collection from Sumatra: it is apparently not quite fully adult; but the shortness 

 of the bill is chiefly due to some injury it has sustained, which has also somewhat altered the 

 form of the gonys, which is lengthened out and terminates in a sharp angle. 



The type specimens of this species were collected for Temminck by Kuhl and Von Hasselt 

 on the island of Java, in the wild and wooded district of Bantam ; and, according to Dr. Horsfield, 

 it is the " Prit Audun " of the natives. 



In Borneo it appears to be a common species. It was first recorded from that island by 

 S. Miiller from Bejadjoe. Dr. Beccari procured several specimens from the neighbourhood of 

 Sarawak ; and Messrs. Alfred and Henry Everett have collected it at different places in the north- 

 west of the island. One of these, a female from Bintulu, I have above figured and described as 

 a typical specimen, as I can detect no local varieties amongst those which I have examined from 

 the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. 



