OCR Text |
Show 458 LIEUT.-COL. H. H. GODWIN-AUSTEN ON [May 20, but without success ; one, which he brought safely down to Calcutta and embarked on board ship, died from accidental exposure to sea-water after leaving Colombo. The history of the first discovery of this bird was given by Dr. Jerdon in the «Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' 1870, p. 59 ; and he then very appropriately named it after one who had laboured so long and so ably at Indian ornithology. Curious to say, the first bird ever obtained from the natives was brought to England alive, together with the still very rare and then new species, Lophophorus sclateri, and both were finally deposited in the Society's Gardens, where they lived a short time. The only other specimen I know of the latter bird was also obtained by Capt. Brydon at Saddya, and is now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. A full account of both species, by Mr. P. L. Sclater, is to be found in the P. Z. S. for 1870, p. 162, with figures drawn by Mr. Keule-mans. In Elliot's 'Monograph of the Phasianidae,' a splendid drawing is given of the male of C. blythii, unfortunately represented sitting on a pine tree; no pines, however, are to be found in that portion of the Burrail range occupied by this bird, although Pinus Jchasiana comes in at a lower altitude in the more open country further east and west. CERIORNIS BLYTHII $ . (Plate XXXIX.) Ceriornis blythii, Jerdon, P. A. S. B. 1870, p. 60. $ (by dissection, Brydon). Head above black, with ear-coverts and a broadish line down the side of the upper neck of the same colour; above the eyes a dark orange-red line commences, and extends back beyond the occiput. The back is uniformly and finely mottled with umber-black and ochre, some of the feathers on the upper margin having two small terminal chestnut spots, with a minute white central and terminal ocellus between them. This spotting disappears towards the upper tail-coverts, which are tipped witb rusty brown. The tail is irregularly barred with mottled ochre and black. Chin and throat whitish, each feather narrowly margined black. The nape and upper breast of a rich orange-chestnut colour, somewhat duller than in the male, followed posteriorly by plumage of a pale umber ground, more or less finely mottled with the umber-black, which increases on the flanks, while some of the feathers have terminal ashy spots margined black, and white-shafted. These feathers on the abdomen merge into feathers dark-tipped as seen against the paler hue of that part. The thighs are narrowly barred dull black and ochre, a few of the thigh-coverts tipped dull white. The wing is more richly mottled with ruddy ochre and black, the former colour merging into sienna-brown on the indistinct barring of the primaries. No spurs. Dimensions: wing 9*75, tail 6*5, tarsus 3*5 inches; of a male in my possession, which was the second specimen obtained, the wing is 109 inches. In my 4th List of Birds from N.E. Frontier (J. A. S. B. 1874, |