| OCR Text |
Show 316 ON THE RAPTORIAL BIRDS OF INDIA. [Mar. 21, Length. in. 17*6 17*6 16*5 Wing. in. 13*2 14*5 13 6 Tail from vent. in. 8-8 9*4 8*5 Tarsus in. 26 23 3*0 for the sake of comparison with the measurements of Circus swainsonii and C. cineraceus, 1 annex in a tabular form :- Species. C. swainsonii cS C. cineraceus cS C. melanoleucus < Remarks. Particular attention is drawn to the long wing and tail of C. cineraceus, and to the characteristic long tarsus of C. melanoleucus. The irides of the present specimen were gold-coloured ; the legs and feet were dingy yellow ; the bill was blue-black ; the claws were black ; and the cere was pale yellow. Before leaving the subject of C. melanoleucus, I may mention, from my own experience, that the Oudh tarai generally, as far west as the Shahjehanpore district, as well as parts of Central Oudh (where-ever there are extensive grass jungles) may be added to the localities given by H u m e as the regular range of this species*. 70. ASCALAPHIA COROMANDA, Lath. The coloured eggs of Poliornis teesa, referred to in m y last paper, have been wholly eclipsed by the acquisition of a pair of really well-marked eggs of the Dusky Horned Owl, which I took on the 28th of November last from an old nest of Mycteria australis, shooting one of the parent birds off the nest. Mr. Hume, who has seen these eggs, and who was not a little sceptical in the matter of Owls so far forgetting themselves as to lay spotted eggs, writes to me as follows: - "Your eggs of Ascalaphia coromanda are spotted in a remarkable way. After carefully examining them I have now nothing to say contrary to what you hold ; held up against the light the colour of the shell, a dull sordid yellow, is precisely that of many white eggs of A. coromanda; and under a powerful microscope the granulations appear to me to be similar to those of A. coromanda. Of this Owl 1 must still have seventy or eighty specimens by me ; and I have taken eggs without number, and I do not think I ever saw a sinyle spot on any one of them." One of these eggs was quite fresh ; the other had been incubated for some ten days or so. In order to make certain that this wasar. a case of mistaken identity, I visited the nest several times in company with my friend Mr. Hastings before removing the eggs. The markings consist of indistinct lilac blotches, showing through the shell, as it were, on of course a pure white ground ; and they are both profusely though minutely spotted, especially at the obtuse end, with brown and lilac spots (or, rather, specks) of various shades. In conclusion I have a few emendations to make to m y last paper P. Z. S. 1*75, p. 16, pl. iii. In the first place the two figures of A. hastata have been wrongly numbered. No I. is the one with the striated breast; otherwise the plate and letterpress do not accord. Again, the explanation of * Cf. Hume in Journ. Asiat. Soc. 1870, and ' Stray Feathers,' vol. iii. p. 34. |
