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RHYTIDOCEROS NARCONDAMI 



NARCONDAM ISLAND WIEATHED HOBNBILL. 





Rhyticeros narcondami, Hume, Str. Feath. vol. i. (1873) p. 411, vol. ii. (1874) pp. 108, 110. 

 Hab. Island of Narcondam, Bay of Bengal. 



This species was described by Mr. Hume (I. c.) from specimens procured in bis expedition to 

 the islands in the Bay of Bengal. The colour of its plumage is precisely like that of R. plicatus, 

 Forst. ; but in all its dimensions the present is a much smaller bird. Mr. Hume states (in litt.) 

 that " I entertain no doubt of the distinctness of this species. I can tell you nothing further 

 about the bird " (beyond what is recorded in ' Stray Feathers ') ; " scarcely any one else has ever 

 landed on the island ; all I can say is that they were in great numbers, keeping everywhere to the 

 tops of the trees, from the water's edge to the very summit of the island, and that most certainly 

 nothing like them occurs anywhere in any of the Nicobars, Andamans, Cocos, Preparis, Barren 

 Island, Pegu, or Tenasserim, nor, as far as we yet know, in the Mergui archipelago, where 

 R. widulatus is very common ; but we have not yet explored this archipelago so as to be able 

 to assert that narcondami occurs nowhere on any of the other odd thousand islands. 



" I have no specimen of ruficollis (plicatus, Forst.) ; but with both undulatus and subrufi- 

 collis before me certain differences immediately strike the eye. In the first place narcondami is 

 not one third the bulk of subruficollis : an ordinary male of the latter weighs 3*75 lb. ; our male 

 narcondami, an adult, weighed 1 lb. 3 oz. There is much less bare gular skin ; and this ends 

 square across the throat, and not in a curve as in the two species above named. The head and 

 neck in the male are a bright chestnut, the upper part of the throat only being bufly, changing 

 to chestnut. The bill is straighter and not so much curved as in undulatus even, and a fortiori 

 not so much as in subruficollis. The casque projects proportionally more on either side of the 

 mandible than in either of those two species. The metallic reflections of the black of the mantle 

 are pure green ; in both the other species there is a decided blue tinge in some lights, though not 

 m others, whereas narcondami in any light that does not show it pure green is a bronze-green." 



Narcondam Island, the abode of this species, is almost inaccessible; for, according to Mr. Hume, 

 not only no vessels ever visit it, but for at least 340 days out of the year it is impossible to land 

 on account of the heavy surf that breaks around its shores. For this reason it is most probable 

 that R. narcondami will always be a great rarity in collections. Two specimens, I believe, were 

 all that were obtained ; and these are now in Mr. Hume's magnificent museum. 



In both sexes the irides are pale red, legs and feet brown ; bill pale horny yellow, brownish 

 red at base of both mandibles ; posterior plate of casque reddish brown, margin horny yellow, 



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