194 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 159. 



assigns " above ten inches," and may therefore allude to P. interme- 

 dins. From peninsular India, I have as yet only seen P. Shorei : 

 but Mr. Jerdon remarks that " the specimens shot below the Ghauts 

 are considerably smaller than those obtained at a great elevation ; the 

 latter attained the size of P. Shorei, though not differing in colour 

 from the smaller ones. The length varies from nine inches and a half 

 to nearly twelve inches." 



Of the closely allied division Brachypternus, Strickland, there seems 

 to be a second species in southern India, additional to P. aurantius 

 (v. bengalensis, &c.) : 



P. (Br.) micropus, nobis. Distinguished from P. aurantius by 

 its inferior size, the wing (of an adult male,) measuring but five 

 inches, instead of five and a half, as in several adult specimens (male 

 and female,) of P. aurantius ; bill to gape an inch and five-sixteenths, 

 instead of one and five-eighths ; and extended foot one and seven- 

 eighths, instead of two and one-eighth. There is a general neatness 

 and well defined character of the markings, as distinguished from 

 those of P. aurantius, which arrests the eye at a glance : the fron- 

 tal feathers, to a level with the anterior portion of the eye, are 

 not tipped with crimson, as in the other ; the black of the nape is 

 continued lower upon the shoulders, considerably contracting the 

 golden orange of the back ; and the wings are duller aureous, con- 

 trasting more with the brilliant dorsal hue : the white markings 

 of the throat and fore-neck are also reduced to small rounded oval 

 spots, those of the breast being larger but similarly oval, and of the 

 under parts below, narrower than in P. aurantius. I found this species 

 upon a single specimen forwarded by Mr. Jerdon, but feel no doubt 

 of its distinctness, especially when I recall to mind the close simili- 

 tude of the three species of the preceding group ; from which division 

 the present one is only just separable. 



MicroplernuSf nobis. By the same rule that Brachypternus is re- 

 cognised apart from Tiga, this must be separated from Meiglyptes ; 

 having the inner fourth toe and claw minute. The colouring is also 

 peculiar. Type P. badius, Raffles, under which, again, two species 

 have been hitherto confounded. 



I. P. ( M.J badius, Raffles: P. brachyurus, Vieillot. Wing but four 

 inches and one-eighth to four and a quarter long : head pale above, 

 the throat dark ; the feathers of the latter dusky, with pale lateral 



