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Show 1877.] THE MARQUIS OF TWEEDDALE ON BATRACHOSTOMUS. 429 1 st quill a little more than two-thirds the length of the 2nd, which is f of an inch shorter than the 3rd ; the 4th exceeds the 3rd by about ^ and is slightly shorter than the 5th, which is longest! The tarsus is naked behind, but feathered anteriorly for about a quarter of its length. The three middle pairs of rectrices are about equal in length ; the fourth pair are somewhat shorter ; the fifth pair are about half the length ; and the outer pair are almost rudimentary. Wing 4*62, tail 4*75, tarsus 0*43, middle toe 0*50, bill from forehead 0*88, width of gape 1*12. No. 2, 2 (?) not quite adult (?). Colonel Tickell (I. c.) described and figured a species of Batrachostomus from near Toung-ngoo, in Burma, which belongs to B. affinis. It is in rufous plumage, the feathers of the head, upper back, and scapulars being vermiculated transversely with black. No mention is made of a white nuchal band ; nor is such a character indicated in the plate. Still this character might be easily overlooked in some skins; and Tickell described from a dried specimen. The description is of sufficient importance to be published, and is as follows:-" Iris sepia1. Bill fleshy horn. Legs horn. Head, upper back, and scapulars bright umber, shaded ferruginous on back and mingled with greyish on scapulars, the whole vermiculated crossways, black. Outer webs of two or three longest scapulars white, bordered with black. Tertials clouded brown, ferruginous and grey, with black vermiculations. Wing-coverts rusty vinous, broadly vermiculated black. Secondaries and primaries, outer webs chesnut-rusty, with broken narrow bars of black. Inner webs sepia. Tips of primaries pale and mottled. Tail cinnamon-brown, shaded grey marginally and vermiculated black, and crossed with five paler bars (not joining the shafts), subterminal series (sic). The bars are edged black and obscurely vermiculated. All underparts from bill vinous rusty, with a group of white black-margined patches on throat, and another across bottom of breast, below which the colour is paler and broken with rusty and dusky irregular bars ; this extends to lower tail-coverts. Lower back and upper tail-coverts as back. A pale tawny supercilium. Lining of wings whitish. Length 9 inches. Wing 4-f. Tail 4-f, of which beyond body 2\. Bill f. Tarsus T V Middle toe f-." This description refers to the rufous phase, when the upper plumage is traversed and vermiculated by narrow brown lines, while otherwise the bird exhibits the adult markings. No. 3, 2 (?) y°ung» ex Malacca (mus. nostr.). Chin and upper throat tawny white; rest of throat tawny rufous, feathers tipped brighter rufous and with distinct indications of white ocelli. Upper breast the same. Lower breast-feathers tawny white, with rufous margins (somewhat as in B. stellatus, 2 adult). No traces of the pure white drops on the lower pectoral plumes. Abdomen, ventral region, and under tail-coverts sordid white, with traces of pallid rufous. Frontal band and supercilium tawny rufous. Crown and occipital crest-plumes as in adult. White nuchal collar distinctly indicated, 1 The colour of the iris must have been stated to, and not observed by, Colonel Tickell. |