THE CEESTED HONEY-BUZZAED. 
207 
Genus PERNIS, Cuvier. 
580. PERNIS PTILORHYNCHUS. 
THE CRESTED HONEY-BUZZAED. 
Falco ptilorhynchus, Temm. PL Col. 44. Pernis cristata, Cuv. Rhjne Anim. i. 
p. 335; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 108; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 330, Pernis 
brachypterus, Bl. J. A. S. B. xxi. p. 436 ; H:u7ne, S. F. iii. p. 36. Pernis 
ptilorhynchus, Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 9 ; Hume, NeMs and Eggs, p. 55 ; Bl. B. 
Bunn. p. 60 Anders. Yunnan Exyed. p. 571 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi. p. 23 ; 
Hume, 8. F. viii. p. 82 ; Gurneg, Ibis, 1880, p. 203 ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 181 ; 
Kelham, Ibis, 1881, p. 369. Pernis ptilonorhynchus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. 
Mus. i. p. 347 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 89. 
Description. — Young bird brown above^ the feathers more or less edged 
with lighter ; head and neck usually paler_, sometimes rufous-brown, at 
other times whitish, with central dark streaks more or less developed; 
beneath white, sometimes only faintly streaked, at times with large streaks, 
more rarely with large oval brown drops, and with or without a central 
dark chin- stripe and two lateral ones. 
In a further stage the brown above becomes darker and more uniform, 
and the lower parts assume a pale rufous-brown tinge, with the central 
streak more or less developed according as it was in the young bird, and 
the incomplete tail-bands are more clouded. 
The adult has the plumage above rich brown, the head and lores gene- 
rally, but not always, suffused with ashy grey, and the lower parts uniform 
darkish brown, with the dark streak almost obliterated ; the tail is 
brownish ashy, faintly clouded with dasky, and with two wide dark black 
bars, and a third almost concealed by the upper tail-coverts ; the terminal 
bar is tipped white or greyish. 
In most birds in a transition state the feathers of the lower parts are 
banded brown and white, especially on the lower abdomen, thigh- coverts, 
&c., and some of these feathers are generally to be found at all ages. 
(Jerdon.) 
Iris bright yellow ; cere and bill dark brown, bluish at the base of the 
lower mandible ; legs yellow ; claws dark horn-colour. Younger birds 
have the legs dull yellow. 
Length 24 inches, tail II, wing 16, tarsus 2, bill from gape 1*6, cere '5. 
The female is hardly larger than the male. 
The variations of plumage of this bird are so great that a detailed 
description to embrace all the changes would be impossible. Dr. Jerdon^s 
description appears to me to comprise in a brief form all that is necessary 
to be said. 
P. ptilorhynchus differs from its European ally P. apivorus chiefly in 
possessing a crest ; but most birds from Burmah appear to be somewhat 
