374 Notes on the Fauna of the Nicobar Islands. [No. 173. 



marine species of Tern, which I have obtained in the Bengal Soonder- 

 buns.* 



Phaeton cethereus. The only Tropic-bird, (or " Bo'sw'n-bird,") I have 

 seen from the Bay of Bengal. Ph. candidus abounds near the Mauritius, 

 and Ph. phanicurus towards Australia. 



Pelicanus philippensis. The smaller Indian Pelican, which seems to 

 be the predominating species throughout the Malay countries. 



It thus appears, that of thirty-two ascertained species of birds, procur- 

 ed either upon, or in the immediate vicinity of the Islands, (which number 

 includes Bulaca seloputo, Dicrurus balicassius, and Phaeton cethereus,) as 

 many as eight are peculiar to the locality, — so far, of course, as has been 

 hitherto ascertained ; for it is likely that most of them inhabit also the 

 northern part of Sumatra, and perhaps the Andamans, and the province 

 of Mergui and its vicinity. These eight comprise several remarkable 

 and conspicuous species, and are as follow : — Palceornis erythrogenys, 

 Todiramphus occipitalis, Sturnia erythropygia, Oriolus macrourus, Hyp- 

 sipetes virescens, Treron chloroptera, Macropygia rufipennis, and Mega- 

 podius nicobariensis. 



parts, including the sides of the breast: the mantle is also much paler, and the tail 

 more deeply forked and differently coloured. Length, to end of middle tail-feathers, 

 ten inches and a half, or to the outermost a foot; wing nine inches and a half; middle 

 tail-feathers two and three-quarters; bill to gape one and seven-eighths ; tarse three- 

 quarters ; middle toe and claw an inch ; the webs of the toes more developed than 

 in H. nigra. Bill reddish-dusky, redder towards base of lower mandible ; the interior 

 of the mouth apparently coral-orange ; and legs, toes, and membranes, the same, 

 with black claws. Colour above pale ashy, with sullied whitish margins to the 

 scapularies and wiug-coverts ; a defined blackish band, half an inch broad, extends 

 along the outside of the radius, bordering the upper-part of the wing anteriorly, as in 

 the winter dress of H. nigra : crown and occiput black, embracing the orbital 

 region ; towards the forehead the feathers become gradually more deeply margined 

 with white, and the forehead and entire under-parts are pure white, extending on the 

 nape : the great alars are silvery-ash externally, except the first, which has its outer 

 web, and half the breadth of its inner web, with the tip, black, tinged with ashy 

 towards the tip and on the inner web; the extent of the dark ashy tip increases suc- 

 cessively on the other primaries, the shorter of which have a narrow white border to 

 their inner webs ; while the secondaries are tipped externally with the same : the lesser 

 coverts of the primaries, with the winglet, are mostly dusky : middle tail-feathers pale 

 grey, with a whitish tip ; the rest white on their inner webs, and successively darker 

 till they become blackish on the outer: underneath the wings and tail appear 

 margined externally with blackish-grey. 



* The Society's specimen of this bird is not a very good one ; and I can distinguish 

 it neither from A. melanops nor A. lencocapillus, figured in Gould's * Birds of 

 Australia.' 



