464 



Asiatic Society. 



[No. 125. 



character of that genus, the loral feathers resembling those of most other Falconidce : 

 beak also distinctly, though feebly, toothed ; and the cere much less developed than in 

 Pernis : talons very feeble, and the anterior tarsal scales but semi -reticulate. Rest as 

 in Pernis, and the medial occipital feathers elongated, as in P. cristatus, Cuv., v. 

 Falco ptilorhynckus, Tern., — as also in the genera Hyptiopus, Hodgson, v. Lopkotes, 

 Lesson (pre-oecupied in Icthyology), v. Lepidogenys, Gray, and Spizcetus, Vieillot, 

 v. Niscstus, Hodgson. 



*P. Jerdoni, Nobis : adult and young. Length about eighteen inches or nearly 

 so, of wing twelve inches and a half, and tail nine inches; bill, over forehead, including 

 cere, an inch and a half, and from point of upper mandible to gape an inch five-eighths ; 

 greatest vertical depth about five-eighths of an inch, and arcuation (as in Pernis) very 

 moderate ; tarse anteriorly one inch and three-quarters, having the upper half feathered ; 

 middle toe and claw two inches, the latter barely exceeding three-eighths of an inch, and 

 hind claw little more than half an inch. Lengthened occipital feathers of a spatuiate form, 

 and two inches and a quarter long in both specimens. Plumage of the adult, on the 

 upper-parts, of a hair-brown colour, each feather broadly terminated with dusky-brown, 

 having a fine reddish- purple gloss, which terminal portion is alone externally visible 

 on the back and scapularies ; primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries, crossed with a few 

 bars of the same, and the latter edged at the tip with whitish ; tail light hair-brown, 

 with a broad subterminal dusky band, and three successively smaller ones, likewise 

 successively less distant to the base ; its extreme tip whitish : beneath, the wings and 

 tail are whitish-grey, with only the terminal bands as much developed as above. 

 Lengthened occipital plumes dull black ; and the nape and sides of the neck rufous- 

 brown, with a medial dusky streak to each feather, more or less developed. Lower-parts 

 whitish, somewhat broadly banded across below the breast with rufous-brown; the sides 

 of the breast rufous ; and a mesial line on the throat, fore-neck, and breast, composed 

 of feathers which on the throat are almost wholly blackish, becoming less deep and 

 mingled with rufous on the fore-neck and breast, where laterally margined with white. 

 Beak horn-coloured, with a pale cere; and legs have probably been yellow. The 

 young merely differs in having each feather of the upper-parts slightly margined with 

 whitish, and those of the lower-parts are analogous to the immature plumage of the 

 genus Accipiter ; the mesial dark streak flanked with whitish may be traced almost 

 to the vent, and this is merely the same, further developed, as exists upon the throat 

 of a common Indian species of Accipiter, viz. A. Dussumieri, v. Dukhunensis of 

 Sykes. I dedicate this handsome species to a naturalist to whose persevering re- 

 searches students of Ornithology in this country are deeply indebted, and whose in- 

 vestigations, I am happy to say, now extend throughout the series of the animal 

 kingdom, and may be expected to add considerably to our information on the Zoology 

 of India. 



Picus leucogaster, apud Horsfield, Catalogue of Javanese Birds prefixed to 

 ' Zoological Researches in Java' : P. Javensis, Horsfield, Lin. Trans. XIII. 175; but 

 not P. leucogaster, Reinwardt, apud Bory, Diet. Class, d' Hist. Nat. XIII. 507, if 

 the size be there correctly stated; the breast, too, is described as " noire, rayee de 

 roussatre," but this may be the case in some specimens, as a few of the pectoral 

 feathers of a female in the Society's Museum have slight rufous-white edgings, and 

 the colouring of the female bird is otherwise correctly enough described by M. Bory. 



