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Show 1878.] ORNITHOLOGY OF THE PHILIPPINES. 939 vensoni or A. virgatus. We have a very similar one from Java ; but as both species are found there, I am not sure to which it belongs, but probably to A. virgatus, as I suspect that A. stevensoni is only a winter visitor to Java. Judging from the size of the tarsus and foot, I think the larger nestling, marked c, is a female though marked male, and that the smaller, marked d, is a male." Having expressed to Mr. Gurney some doubts about the correctness of identifying example b with the female of A. stevensoni, that gentleman kindly favoured me with the following remarks :- " Your rufous-breasted hawk from the Philippines, which I marked b, is certainly nearer to A. stevensoni than to any other species that I am acquainted with ; but since returning it to you I have felt some doubt as to whether it will not prove to belong to a distinct and undescribed species. "* Your bird differs in having the wing shorter than any of our females, and larger than any of our males. Our three males have but four transverse bars on the tail. Of our four females three have five bars, and the fourth (an immature bird from Java) four, like the males, whereas your specimen b has six, as mentioned in your letter. •" None of our females have any rufous on the breast; and in all our males it is hardly more than a tinge of buff. Our type specimen (a male, figured in the 'Ibis' for 1863, pl. 11) is perhaps somewhat faded ; but our Curator is confident that it was never so rufous as is represented in the • Ibis ' plate ; and in this I believe he is right. " Your bird is more like the male of A. stevensoni than it is to the female; but as your collector has marked it $, it probably is so. '• Specimens of A. stevensoni are scarce, and we hardly know the limits of variation to which it is liable ; and ou this account I should be glad if additional specimens like your skin 6 could be obtained, before venturing to publish it as a species distinct from A. stevensoni; but at the same time, if it should ultimately prove distinct, it would by no means surprise me. " 1 ought to add that as A. stevensoni has not yet been met with when paired, we have no positive proof that the bird which I suppose to be its female (the type being a male) is so, though I do not myself entertain any doubt of such being the case." 9. SPILORNIS HOLOSPILUS (16). [Zamboanga, 3 $, April and May.] 10. ELANUS HYPOLEUCUS (18). [Zamboanga, o" juv., May: iris light yellow-brown; bill black ; cere greenish yellow; feet pale chrome ; claws black.] 11. NINOX SPILOCEPHALA, sp. n. [Zamboanga, 3, March: iris golden; bill greenish leaden ; feet pale yellow. $, April: iris golden ; bill-greenish lead, tinged yellow on culmen and tip ; feet wax-yellow. $, April: iris light greenish-yellow.] |
