Full text of "Birds"
BIOLOGY
LIBRARY
G
THE FAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA,
INCLUDING
CEYLON AND BURMA.
PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY OF
STATE FOR INDIA IN COUNCIL.
EDITED BY W. T. BLAXFORD.
BIRDS. -Vol. IV.
BY
W. T. BLANFORD, F.R.S.
LONDON:
TAYLOR AND FRANCIS, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.
CALCUTTA :
THACKEE, SPINK, & CO.
BOMBAY :
THACKER & CO., LIMITED.
BERLIN :
R. FRIEDLAXDER & SOHX, 11 CARLSTRASSE.
1898.
BIOLOG1
.IBRAR1
G
ALERE
FLA.MMAM.
PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS,
RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.
PREFACE.
THE Vertebrate animals of British India have now been
described for the first time in a single uniform series,
consisting of eight volumes, of which this is the last to
appear. The work comprises two volumes on Fishes by
the late Dr. P. Day. one on Reptiles and Batrachians by
Mr. G. Boulenger, and two on Birds by Mr. E. W. Gates ;
the remaining two volumes of Birds and one on Mammals,
together with the editing of the whole, having been my own
contribution to the undertaking. Five volumes on Inverte-
brata — four on the Moths of British India by Sir G. P.
Hampson, and one on the Hymenoptera by Colonel C. T.
Bingham — have also been published on the same plan. The
work has fully occupied me during the fifteen years that
have now elapsed since my retirement from Indian service ;
but the completion of the Vertebrate series would not have
been practicable without the valuable cooperation of the
able naturalists already mentioned.
This volume contains the Pigeons, the Gallinaceous birds,
and the numerous tribes commonly classed together as
Waders and Swimming birds. It thus includes all the Game
Birds, both of land and water — an arrangement which may
be found convenient, although good separate works on the
subject exist, containing fuller details than are consistent
with the limits of the present publication. One part of a
358261
IV PREFACE.
work on the Game Birds of India by Mr. Gates, the author
of the first two volumes of Birds in the present series, has
just appeared, too late for references to it to be inserted in
the appendix to this volume.
The classification adopted for the Birds was explained in
the Preface to the third volume. The sequence of the
Orders is to some extent a matter of convenience, — it would
have been equally correct to have commenced this volume
with the Steganopodes and Herodiones, as the nearest allies
of the Accipitrine birds described at the end of the last.
At the same time, it is natural to place the Pigeons as near
to the Cuckoos and Owls as possible. The arrangement here
employed has been preferred chiefly because it more nearly
resembles Jerdon's, with whose work Indian naturalists have
now been familiar for more than thirty years, and is there-
fore likely to be found more convenient.
The keys to genera and species in this and other volumes
are intended solely to assist in the determination of specimens,
and do not necessarily depend on the characters of the greatest
importance, nor do the generic keys always serve for species
not found in India.
The English names used by Jerdon have been retained,
except when they differ from those commonly used in
England, or when they have been found to be no longer
appropriate, owing either to improved knowledge of the
bird's affinities or to the discovery of additional species.
Thus such names as Shell Ibis and Pelican Ibis cannot be
retained now that we find that the birds to which they are
applied are not Ibises but Storks; and it is a mistake to employ
any longer the term of " The Golden Plover " for Charadrivs
fulvuSj when we know that the true Golden Plover of Europe,
C. pluvialis, is sometimes a visitor to India.
The number of Indian birds regarded as distinct species
in the present work, including the nine added in the
PREFACE. V
Appendix, amounts to 1626. Jerdon, from a much smaller
area, described 1016. Hume's Catalogue of 1879 contained
1788 entries, of which he rejected 106 and regarded 74 as
doubtful, leaving 1608, or nearly the same as the present
enumeration. The precise number of species is naturally
dependent on a personal factor, some writers being more
liberal than others in admitting the claims to specific rank
of races which are distinguished by small differences of
plumage or measurement, or which are connected by inter-
vening links with the typical form. Such races or sub-
species, as they are called, have not, as a rule, been separately
numbered and described in the present work, but they have
received due notice and their characters have been explained.
A very considerable part of the present work is founded
on the Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum, and on
the specimens preserved in the Museum Collections. It is
difficult to exaggerate the obligations of both Mr. Gates
and myself to Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe and Mr. W. Ogilvie
Grant, the officers in charge of the Bird Department. In
several cases the labour of compiling this and other volumes
has been lightened by access to unpublished parts of the
Museum Catalogue.
Prof. Newton's most useful ' Dictionary of Birds ' has
often furnished valuable information, and has occasionally
prevented mistakes from being made; whiUt for anatomical
information I am greatly indebted to Dr. H. Gadow's con-
tributions to the Dictionary and to his share of Bronn's great
work. Some important details have also been personally
communicated by Dr. Gadow and Mr. Beddard.
In addition to the many friends in India who have
contributed to the previous volumes, thanks are due to
Mr. F. Finn and Mr. A. L. Butler, both of whom have sent
valuable notes. In this volume, as in the last, Mr. Oates's
notes have been of great service, and he has added important
information on some of the Birds of Upper Burma.
vi PREFACE.
The woodcuts illustrating all four volumes are the work
of Mr. P. J. Smit, except in a very few cases, when the
origin of the cuts is acknowledged.
Lastly, I would express a hope that the series of volumes
on Indian Vertebrata now concluded may contribute to a
fuller knowledge of the animals inhabiting the country and
may facilitate the study of them, ancf by so doing fulfil the
design with which this work was undertaken.
W. T. BLANFORD.
March 1st, 1898.
LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS QUOTED IN
THE SYNONYMY.
IN this list, as in similar lists occurring in other parts of this series,
no attempt is made to give a complete catalogue of all the works
quoted, but all books frequently quoted or which are necessary
for the study of the Ornithology of British India are enumerated,
with the abbreviations used.
A. M. N. H. Annals and Magazine of Natural History. London, 1838-98.
Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves. Anatomical and Zoological Besearches.
comprising an account of the Zoological Eesults of the two Expeditions to
Western Yunnan in 1868 and 1875, &c. By John Anderson, M.D. 1 vol.
text and 1 vol. atlas. London, 1879.
Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di
Geneva. Genoa, 1870-98.
Ann. Sci. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Zoologie et Paleontologie, &c.
Paris, 1824-98.
As. Res. Asiatic Kesearches (Transactions of the (Asiatic) Society of Bengal).
Calcutta : vol. xviii., 1829-33 ; xix., 1836-39.
Barnes, Birds Bom. Handbook to the Birds of the Bombay Presidency.
By Lieut. H. Edwin Barnes. Calcutta, 1885.
Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. Gemeinuiitzige Naturgeschichte Deutschlands
nach alien drey Keichen. Von Johann Matthaus Bechstein. 4 vols.
Leipzig, 1789-95. 2nd edition. 3 vols. 1801-7.
Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. Nachtr. Nachtrage von J. P. A. Leisler.
2 Hefte. Hanau, 1812-15.
Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. Ornithologisches Taschenbuch von und fur
Deutschland, oder kurzgefasste Beschreibung aller Vogel Deutschlands.
Von T. M. Bechstein. Leipzig, 1802-3.
Beng. Sport. Mag. Bengal Sporting Magazine. Calcutta, 1832-45.
Blanf. East. Pers. Eastern Persia : an account of the Journeys of the
Persian Boundary Commission 1870-72. "Vol. II. The Zoology and
Geology by W. T. Blanf ord. London, 1876.
Blyth, Cat. Catalogue of the Birds in the Museum Asiatic Society. By
Edward Blyth. Calcutta, 1849.
Blyth, Birds Burma. Catalogue of Mammals and Birds of Burma (with
notes by Lord Walden). By the late E. Blyth. Hertford, 1875. Extra
Number to the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. xliv.
Bodd. Tabl. PI. Enl. Table des Planches enlumineez d'Historie Naturelle
de M. D'Aubenton. Par M. Boddaert. Utrecht, 1783. Eeprint edited
by W. B. Tegetmeier. Loudon, 1874.
Vlll WORKS QUOTED.
Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. & N. Amer. A Geographical and Com-
parative List of the Birds of Europe arid North America. By Charles
Lucien Bonaparte. London, 1838.
Bonap. Consp. Av. Conspectus Generum Avium. Auctore Carolo Luciano
Bonaparte. Lugduni-Batavorum : Vol. I., 1849-50 ; II., 1857.
Bonap. Consp. Volucr. Zygod. Conspectus Volucrum Zygodactylorum.
Auctore Carolo L. Bonaparte. Paris, 1854.
Bonap. &, Schleg. Mon. Lox. Monographic cles Loxiens. Par C. L.
Bonaparte et H. Schlegel. Leiden et Diisseidorf, 1850.
Bonn. Tabl. Encycl. Meth. Tableau Encyclopedique et Methodique, &c.'
Ornithologie, par I1 Abbe Bonnaterre et continue par L. P. Vieillot. 3 vols.
Paris, 1790-1823.
Brehm, Vog Deutschl. Handbuch der Naturgeschichte aller Vogel
Deutschlands. Von Christian Ludwig Brehm. llmenau, 1831.
Bull. Acad. St. Petersb. Bulletin de PAcadeinie Imperiale des Sciences
de St. Petersbourg. St. Petersburg, 1836-98.
Bull. B. O. C. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. Vols. i.-vii.
London, 1892-98.
Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou. Bulletin de la Societe Imperiale de
Naturalistes de Moscou. Moscow, 1829-98.
Cab. &/ H. Mus. Hein. Museum Heineanum. Verzeichniss der ornitho-
logischen Sammlung des Oberamtmann Ferdinand Heine, &c. Von
Dr. Jean Cabanis. Haberstadt, 1850-63.
Cat. B. M. Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Vols. i.-xxvii.
London, 1874-98.
C. R. Comptes-Reudus hebdornadaires des Seances. Tomes i.-cxxvi. Paris,
1835-98.
Cuv. Regne An. Le Eegne Animal distribue d'apres son organisation,
pour servir de base a 1'Histoire naturelle de Auimaux, &c. Par. M. le C'Lev.
Cuvier. 4 vols. Paris, 1817.
Cuv. Regne An., 2e ed. Idem. 2nd edition. 5 vols. Paris, 1829.
Daud. Traite. Traite elementaire et complet d'Ornithologie, &c. Par
F. M. Daudin. 2 vols. Paris, 1800.
Delessert, Voy, de 1'Inde. Souvenirs d'un Voyage dans 1'Inde execute de
1834 a 1839, par M. Adolphe Delessert. Paris, 1«43.
Diet. Sci. Nat. Dictionnaire cles Sciences Naturelles, &c. Text 60 Vole.
Atlas 12 vols. Strasbourg et Paris, 1816-30.
Dresser, Mon. Mer. A Monograph of the Meropidas or Family of the
Bee-eaters. By H. E. Dresser. London, 1884-86.
Encycl. Meth. Encyclopedic Methodique — Ornithologie, par 1'Abbe
Bonnaterre et contiuuee par L. P. Vieillot. Paris, 1790-1823.
Eversm. Add. Pall. Zoogr. Ross.-Asiat. Addenda ad celeberrimi
Pallasii Zoographiam Rosso- Asiaticam. Aves. Fasc. i.-iii. Auctore
Doctore Eduardo Eversrnann. Kasani, 1835-42.
Finsch., Papag. Die Papageien, monographisch. bearbeitet von Otto Finsch.
Leiden, 1867-68.
Fleming, Brit. An. A History of British Animals, &c. By John Fleming.
Edinburgh, 1828.
Forster, Ind. Zool. Indische Zoologie, oder systematische Beschreibungen
seltener und unbekaunter Thieve aus Indien, &c. Von John Keinhold
Forster. Halle, 1781.
WORKS QUOTED. IX
Forster, Faun. Ind. Faunula Indica, id est Catalogus Animalium India}
Orientalis, &c., concinnatus a Joanne Latham et Hugone Davies. Ed. a
J. R. Forster. Hala, 1795.
Gadow, Bronn's Klass. Ordn. Thier-Reichs. Dr. H. G. Bronn's
Klassen und Ordnungen des Thier-Reichs, &c. Sechster Band. IV. Ab-
theilung: Vogel. II. Systematischer Theil. Von Hans Gadow. Leipzig
und Heidelberg, 1893.
Georgi, Reise Russ. Reich. Bemerkungen einer Eeise im Russischen
Reich in Jahre 1772. Von Job. Gtli. Georgi. St. Petersburg, 1775.
Gleanings in Science. Gleanings in Science. Vols. i.-iii. Calcutta, 1829-31.
Gm. Syst. Nat. Caroli a Linne, &c., Systema Nature, editio decima tertia.
Lipsise, 1788.
Gould, Birds Asia. The Birds of Asia. By John Gould. 7 vols. London,
1850-83.
Gould, Cent. A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains. By John
Gould. London, 1832.
Gould, Icon. Av. Icones Avium, or figures and descriptions of new and
interesting species of birds, &c. By John Gould. Parts I. & II. London,
1837-38.
G. R. Gray, Gen. B. Genera of Birds : comprising their generic characters,
&c. (Illustrated by D. W. Mitchell.) By George Robert Gray. 3 vols.
London, 1844-49.
G. R. Gray, Hand-1. B. Hand-list of Genera and Species of Birds,
distinguishing those contained in the British Museum. By George Robert
Gray. 3 vols. London, 1869-71.
G. R. Gray, List Gen. B. A List of the Genera of Birds, with an indication
of the typical Species of each Genus, &c. By George Robert Gray.
London, 1840. 2nd edition, 1841.
G. R. Gray, List Sp. Birds B. M. List of the Specimens of Birds in the
Collection of the Uritish Museum. By George Robert Gray. 9 Parts and
Sections. London, 1848-68.
Gray, Cat. Mamm. etc., Coll. Hodgs, Catalogue of Specimens and
Drawings of Mammalia and Birds of Nepal and Thibet presented by
B. H. Hodgson to the British Museum. By John Edward Gray. London,
1846. 2nd edition, 1863.
Gray in Griffith's An. Kingd., Aves. The Class Aves arranged by the
Baron Cuvier, with specific descriptions by E. Griffith and E. Pidgeon.
The additional species inserted in the text of Cuvier by John Edward Gray.
3 vols. London, 1839.
Gray in Hardw. 111. Ind. Zool. (Orn.). Illustrations of Indian Zoology,
chiefly selected from the collection of Major-General Hardwicke, by John
EdwaVd Gray. 2 vols. London, 1830-34.
Gray, Zool. Misc. The Zoological Miscellany. By John Edward Gray.
London, 1831-44.
Hempr. et Ehr. Symb. Phys. Symboloe Physicse seu Icones et De-
scriptioues corporum natnraiiurn novorum, &c. Friedr. Wilh. Hemprich
et Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg. Berolini, 1828.
Horsf. &/ M. Cat. A Catalogue of the Birds in the Museum of the Hon.
East India Company. By Thomas Horsfield and F. Moore. London,
1854-58.
Horsf. Res. Java. Zoological Researches in Java and the neighbouring
Islands. By Thomas Horsfield. London, 182 i.
Hume, Cat. A Rough Tentative List of the Birds of India. By Allan
Hume. Stray Feathers, vol. viii, pp. 73-150. 1879.
X WORKS QUOTED.
Hume, N. So E. Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds. Rough Draft. By Allan
Hume. Calcutta, 1873-75.
Hume, Rough Notes. My Scrap-Book : or, Bough Notes on Indian
Zoology and Ornithology, edited by Allan Hume. Calcutta, 1869-70.
Hume &, Henders. Lah. to Yark. Lahore to Yarkand : Incidents of
the Route and Natural History of the Countries traversed by the Expe-
dition of 1870 under T. D. Forsyth. By George Henderson and Allan
O. Hume. London, 1873.
Hume &/ Marsh. Game B. The Game Birds of India, Burmah, and
Ceylon. By Allan O. Hume and C. H. T. Marshall. 3 vols. Calcutta,
1879.
Ibis. The Ibis, a Quarterly Journal of Ornithology. London, 1859-98.
Illiger, Prod. Caroli Illigeri D., Prodroinus Systematis Mammalium et
Avium. Berolini, 1811.
Ind. Rev. The India Review. Calcutta, 1836-39.
Isis. Isis, oder Encyclopadische Zeitung von Oken. Jena, 1817-48.
Jacquem. Voy. Voyage dans PInde, par Victor Jacquemont, pendant los
annees 1828 a 1832. 4 vols. & 2 vols. Atlas. Description des Collections :
Oiseaux par Isidore Geoffroy St.-Hilaire. Paris, 1841-44.
Jard. Cont. Orn. Contributions to Ornithology. By Sir William Jardine.
London, 1848-52.
Jard. &/ Selby, 111. Orn. Illustrations of Ornithology. By Sir William
Jardine and Prideaux John Selby. 3 vols. Edinburgh, 1825-43.
Jerdon, B. I. The Birds of India ; being a Natural History of all the Birds
known to inhabit Continental India. By T. C. Jerdon. 3 vols. Calcutta,
1862-64.
Jerdon, 111. Ind. Orn. Illustrations of Indian Ornithology, containing
fifty figures of new, unfigured, and interesting species of Birds, chiefly from
the South of India. By Thomas Caverhill Jerdon. Madras, 1847.
J. A. S. B. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Calcutta, 1831-98.
Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society.
Bombay, 1886-98.
Jour. f. Orn. Journal fur Ornithologie. Cassel und Leipzig, 1853-98.
Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. 8kizzirte Entwickelungs-Geschichte und naturliches
System der Europiiischen Thierwelt. Von Jacob Kaup. Darmstadt und
Leipzig, 1829.
Kon. Svensk. Vet.-Ak. Handl. Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akade-
miens Handlingar. Stockholm, 1813-54.
Kuhl, Beitr. Beitrage zur Zoologie und vergleichenden Anatomie, von
Heinrich Kuhl. Frankfurt-a.-M., 1820.
Lath. Ind. Orn. Index Ornithologicus, sive Systema Ornithologise Johannis
Latham. 2 vols. Londini, 1790.
Leach, Syst. Cat. B. M. Systematic Catalogue of the Specimens of the Indi-
genous Mammalia and Birds that are preserved in the British Museum, &c.
By William Elford Leach. London, 1816. Reprint by Willughby Society,
1882.
Legge, Birds Ceyl. A History of the Birds of Ceylon. By Captain W.
Vincent Legge. London, 1878-80.
Less. Man. d'Orn. Manuel d'Ornithologie &c. Par R. P. Lesson. 2 vols.
Paris, 1828.
WORKS QUOTED. XI
Less. Traite. Traite d'Ornithologie, ou Tableau method ique des Ordres,
Sous-ordres, Families, Tribus, Genres, Sous-Genres et Races d'Oiseaux.
Par E. P. Lesson. 1 vol. Text, and 1 vol. Atlas. Paris, 1831.
Less. Voy. Belanger. Voyage aux Indes-Orientales par le Nord de
1'Europe .... pendant les annees 1825-29. Par Charles Belanger.
Zoologie : Oiseaux par K. P. Lesson. Paris, 1834.
Licht. Verz. Doubl. Verzeichniss der Doubletten des zoologischen
Museums der Konigl. Universtiit zu Berlin, nebst Beschreibung vieler
bisher unbekannter Arten von Siiugethieren, Vogeln, &c. Von H. Lichten-
stein. Berlin, 1823.
Linn. Mantissa Plant. Car. a Linne, Mantissa Plantarum. Holmige, 1771.
Linn. Syst. Nat. Caroli a Linne, Systema Naturse, editio duodecima refor-
mata. Holmise, 17(>6.
Madr. Jour. L. 8c S. Madras Journal of Literature and Science. Madras,
1833-64.
Main, Picidae. Monographic des Picidees, ou Histoire naturelle des Picides,
Picurnnines, Yuncines ou Torcols, &c. Par Alf. Malherbe. 4 vols.
Metz, 1801-62.
Marshall, Mon. Cap. A Monograph of the Capitonidae or Scansorial
Barbets. By C. H. T. Marshall and G. F. L. Marshall. London, 1871.
Men^tr. Cat. Rais. Cauc. Catalogue raisonne des Objets de Zoologie
recueillis dans un Voyage au Cauease et jusqu'aux frontieres actuelles de
ia Perse. Par E. Menetries. St. Petersbourg, 1832.
Mont. Orn. Diet. Ornithological Dictionary, or Alphabetical Synopsis of
British Birds. By George Montagu. 2 vols. London, 1802. Supple-
ment, 1813.
Muller, Natursyst. Suppl. Des Eitters Carl von Linne vollstandigen
Natursystems Supplements und Eegister-Band, &c. Von P. L. S. Muller.
Niirnberg, 1775(1789?).
Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind. The Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, &c. By
James Murray. London and Bombay, 1884.
Nat. Libr. The Naturalist's Library. Conducted by Sir William Jardine.
40 vols. Edinburgh, 1833-43.
Naum. Vbg. Deutschl. Naturgeschichte der Vogel Deutschlands, &c.
Johann Friedrich Naumann. 13 vols. Leipzig, 1822-53.
N. Arch. Mus. Nouvelles Archives du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle.
Paris, 1865-97.
Nouv. Diet. d.'Hist. Nat. Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle,
appliquee aux arts, &c. 36 vols. Paris, 1803-19.
Novara Rcise, Vog. Eeise der osterreichischen Fregatte Novara um die
Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859. Vogel: von A. von Pelzelu.
Wien, 1865.
Nov. Com. Petrop. Novi Commentarii Acaderniaj Scientiarium Imperialis
Petropolitanas. St. Petersburg, 1750-76.
Oates, B. B. A Handbook to the Birds of British Burmah, including those
found in the adjoining State of Karen nee. By Eugene William Oates.
2 vols. London, 1883.
Oates in Hume's N. &, E., 2nd ed. The Nests and Eggs of Indian
Birds. By Allan O. Hume. 2nd edition, edited by Eugene William Oates.
3 vols. London, 1889-90.
Xll WORKS QUOTED.
Osbeck, Voy. China. A Voyage to China and the East Indies, by Peter
Osbeck, &c. ; together with a Voyage to Suratte by Olof Torren, &c.
Translated from the German by J. R. Forster ; to which are added a
Faunula and Flora Sinensis. 2 vols. London, 1771.
Pall. Reis. Russ. Reichs. P. S. Pallas, Reise durch verschie:lene Pro-
vinzen des Eussischeii Keichs. 3 vols. St. Petersburg, 1771-76.
Pall. Zoogr. Rcsso-A siat. Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica, sistens omnium
animalium in extenso Imperio Kossico et adjacentibus maribus obser-
vatorum. Auctore P. S. Pallas. Petropoli, 1811-31.
Pennant, Ind. Zool. Indian Zoology. By Thomas Pennant. London,
1769.
Physiogr. Sallskapets Tidsk. Physiographiska Sallskapets Tidskrift.
Vol. 1. Lund, 1837-38.
P. A. S. B. Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Calcutta,
1865-98.
P. Z. S. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. London,
1830-98.
II add e, Reis. S. O.-Sibir. Reisen im Siiden von Ost-Sibirien in den
Jahren 1855-59 iucl. Von Gustav Radde. Ba. II, die FestlancU Ornis.
St. Petersburg, 1862-63.
Rev. et Mag, Zool. Revue et Magasin de Zoologie, pure ct appliqueo,
Recueil mensuel. Paris, 1849-79.
Rowley, Orn. Misc. Ornithological Miscellany. By George Dawsou
Rowley. 3 vols. London, 1875-78.
Royle, 111. Bot. Himal. &C. Illustrations of the Botany and other
branches of the Natural History of the Himalayan Mountains, £c. By
John Forbes Royle. London, lb33-39.
Rupp. Atlas. Atlas zu der Reise im norcl lichen Africa von Eduaid Riippell.
Vogel: von P. J. Cretzschmar. Frankfurt-am-Main, 18^6.
Riipp. Neue Wirb., Vbgel. Neue Wirbelthiere zu der Fauna von
Abyssinieu gehorig, entdeckt und betchriebtn von Dr. Eduaid luippell.
Vogel. Frankt'uri-am-Main, 1835.
Schaeff. Mus. Orn. J. C. Schaeffer, Museum Ornithologicum,&c. Ratisfcon,
1789.
Scop. Ann. Hist. Nat. Johannis Antonii Scopoli, Annus I-V Hibtorico-
jN'aturalis. Lipsiaa, 1769-72.
Seep. Del. Flor. et Faun. Insubr. Delicite Florae et Faurae Insubrica?,
£c. Joannes Antonius Scopoli. 3 vols. Ticini, lrt 86-88.
Seebohm, Charadr. The Geographical Distribution of the Family Cha-
radriidaa, or the Ploveis, Sandpipers, Snipes, and their Allies. By Henry
Seebohm. London, 1888.
SevertZ. Turkest. Jevotn. Vertikalnoe i Gorizontanoe Rasprcdalenie
Turkestanski Jevotni. [Vertical and Horizontal Distiibution of Turkestan
Animals. Edited by A. P. Fedtschenko and L. P. Sabanaett.j JNikolai
Aleksyewvich Sever tzoff'. Moscow, 1873.
Sharpe, Yark. Miss., Aves. Scientific Results of the Second Yarkand
Mission, based upon the Collections and Notes of the late Ferdinand
Stoliczka. Aves. By Richard Bowdler Sharpe. 1891.
Shaw, Gen. Zool. General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History, by
George Shaw. Continued by James Francis Stephens. 14 vols. London,
1800-26.
Shelley, Mon. Nee. A Monograph of the Nectariniidae, or Family of Sun-
birds. By Captain G. E. Shelley. London, 1876-80.
WOEKS QUOTED. Xlll
S. F. Stray Feathers, a Journal of Ornithology for India and its De-
pendencies. Edited by Allan O. Hume. 11 vols. Calcutta, 1873-88.
Swains. Class. Birds. On the Natural History and Classification of Birds.
(Lardner's Cyclopaedia.) By W. Swainson. 2 vols. London, 1836-37.
Swains. Nat. Lib. The Naturalist's Library. Conducted .by Sir W.
Jardine. Vols. vii, viii, x. By William Swainson. 1837-38.
Swains. Zool. 111. Zoological Illustrations, or Original Figures and De-
scriptions of new, rare, or interesting Animals, &c. By William Swainson.
6 vols. London, 1820-33.
Temm. Man. d'Orn. Manuel d'Ornithologie, on tableau systematique des
Oiseaux qui S3 trouvent en Europe. C. J. Teniminck. Amsterdam et Paris,
1813-15.
Temm. Man. d'Orn., ed. 2. Idem, 2e edition. 4 vols. Amsterdam et
Paris, 1820-40.
Temm. Pig. et Gall. Histoire Natui-elle generale des Pigeons et des
Gallinaces. Par C. J. Temrninck. 3 vols. Amsterdam et Paris, 1813-15.
Temm. Pigeons. Les Pigeons par Madame Knip. Le Texte par C. J.
Teniminck. 2 vols. Paris, 1808-43.
Temm. PI. Col. Nouveau Eecueil de Planches coloriees d'Oiseaux, pour
servir de suite et de complement aux Planches Enluminees de Buffon,
public par C. J. Temminck. 5 vols. Paris, 1820-39.
Temm. &/ Schleg. Faun. Jap., Aves. Fauna Japonica, sive descriptio
Animalium qiue in itinere per Japoniam, &c., suscepto annis 1823-30
collegit &c. Pb. Fr. de Siebold. Conjunctis studiis C. J. Temminck et
H. Schlegel pro vertebratis : Aves. Lugduni-Batavorum, 1838-50.
Tr. Linn. Soc, Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. London,
1791-98.
Tr. Z. S. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London. London,
1835-98.
Verhand. Nat. Gesch., Zool., Aves. Verhandelingen overdenatuurlijke
Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche overzeesche bezittingen, &c. Zoologie.
H. Schlegel u. S. Miiller. Leiden, 1839-44.
Verhand. Land- en Volk. Idem. Land- en Volkenkunde, voor Salomon
Miiller. Leiden, 1839-44.
Wagler, Syst. Av. Systema Avium. Auctor Dr. Johannes Wagler.
Stuttgartise et Tubingae, 1827.
Zeitschr. ges. Orn. Zeitschrift fiir die gesammte Ornithologie, herausge-
geben von Dr. Julius von Madarasz. 4 vols. Budapest, 1884-88.
SYSTEMATIC INDEX.
Order COLUMB^E
Page
Fain. COLUMBID M 3
Subfam. Treroninte 3
1. Crocopus, Bonap 4
1. phoenicopterusCZetfA.) 5
2. chlorogaster (Blyth) . 6
2. Osmotreron, Bonap 7
1. phayrei, Blyth 8
2. atfinis (Jerdori) 8
3. pompadora (Gm.) . . 9
4. chloroptera (BlytK) . . 10
5. fulvicollis ( Wagl.) . . 10
6. bicincta (Jerdori) .... 11
7. remans (Linn.) .... 13
3. Butreron, Bonap 13
1. capellii (Temm.) 13
4. Treron, Vieill 14
1. nepalensis (Hodgs.) . . 14
•5. Sphenocevcus, G.R.Gray. 15
1. apicicauda (Hodgs.). . 16
2, sphenurus ( Vigors) . . 16
Subfam. Carpophagince 18
1. Carpophaga, Selby .... 18
1. senea (Linn.} 19
2. insularis, Blyth 20
2. Ducula, Hodgs 20
1. insignis, Hodgs. . . .
2. griseicapilla, Wald. .
3. cuprea (Jerdon) . . .
3. Myristicivora, Reichenb.
l^bicolor (Scop.}
21
22
22
23
23
Subfam. Calcenadince 24
1. Calcenas, G. R. Gray . . 24
1. nicobarica (Linn.) . . 24
Page
Subfam. PhaUnce 16
1. Chalcophaps, Gould 26
1. indica (Linn.} 26
Subfam. Columbines 28
1. Columba, Linn 28
1 . intermedia, Strickl. . . 29
2. livia, Bonnaterre .... 30
3. rupestris, Pall 30
4. eversmanni, Bonap.. . 31
5. leuconota, Vigors. ... 32
2. Dendrotreron, Hodgs. . . 32
1. hodgsoni ( Vigors) . , 33
3. Palumbus, Kaup 34
1. casiotis, Bonap 34
4. Alsocomus, Tickell 35
1. elphinstonii (Sykes). . 36
2. torringtoniaB (Kelaart) 36
3. pulchricollis (Hodgs.). 37
4. puniceus, Tickell .... 38
5. palumboides (Hume). 39
5. Turtur, Selby 39
1. orientalis (Lath.) 40
2. ferrago (Eversm.) . . 41
3. communis, Selby .... "42
4. suratensis (Gm.) .... 43
5. tigrinus (Temm.) .... 44
6. cambayensis (Gm.) . . 45
7. risorius (Linn.) .... 46
6. (Enopopelia, Blanf. 47
1. tranquebarica(7Zerw.) 47
7. Macropygia, Swains 48
1. tusalia (Hodgs.) 49
2. rufipennis, Blyth .... 50
3. run'ceps (Tenwi.) .... 51
Subfam. Geopeliince 52
1. Geopelia, Swains 52
1. striata (Linn.) 52
XVI
SYSTEMATIC INDEX.
Order PTEROCLETES .... 53
Fam. PTEROCLID^ 53
1. Pterocles, Temm . . 54
1. arenarius (Pall.) .... 54
2. fasciatus (Scop.} .... 55
3. lichtensteini, Temm. . 57
4. coronatus, Licht 57
2. Pteroclurus, Bonap 58
1. alchata (Linn.} 58
2. exustus (Temm.} 60
3. senegallus (Linn.} . . 61
3. Syrrhaptes, Illiger 62
1. tibetanus, Gould .... 63
Order GALLING 64
Suborder ALECTOBOPODES 66
Fam. PHASIANIDJE
1. Pavo, Linn
1. cri status, Linn
2. muticus, Linn
2. Argusianus, Rafinesque .
1. argus (Linn.}
3. Poly plectrum, Temm. . .
1. ehinquis (Milller) . .
4. Gallus, Brisson
1. ferrugineus (Gm.) . .
2. lafayettii, Less
3. sonnerati, Temm
5. Phasiaims, Linn
1. humiae (Hume} ....
2. eleyans, Elliot
6. Catreus, Cabanis
1. walliclri (Hardiu.) . .
7. Pucrasia, G. R. Gray . .
1. macrolopha (Less.) . .
8. Lophura, Fleming
1. rufa (Raffles)
9. Gennoeus, Wayler
1. albicristatus (Vigors).
2. leucomelanus (Lath.}.
3. melanonotus (Blyth} .
4. horsfieldi (Gray} ....
5. lineatus ( Vigors) ....
6. andersoni (Elliot) . .
10. Lophophorus, Temm. . .
1 . refulgens, Temm
2. impeyanus (Lath.) . .
11. Tragopan, C'uv
1. satyra (Linn.)
66
68
70
71
71
72
73
74
75
77
78
80
80
81
82
82
84
84
87
87
88
89
90
91
92
92
94
95
P6
97
98
99
12.
13.
14.
1*
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
Page
2. melanocephalus(6rr«f/) ItJO
3. blythi (Jerdon) 102
Ithagenes, Wagler .... 103
1. cruentus (Hardw.) . . 103
Ophrysia, Bonap 1 04
1. superciliosa (Gray} . . 105
Galloperdix, Blyth 106
1. spadicea (Gm.) .... 106
2. lunulata ( Valenc.) ..108
3. bicalcarata (Penn.) . . 109
Bambusicola, Gould .... 110
1. fytchii, Anderson. . . . 110
Roliiilus, Bo»n Ill
1. roulroul (Scop.} 111
Excalfactoria, Bonap. . . 112
1. chineusis (Linn.} .... 112
Coturnix, Bonnaterre . . 114
1. commmus,Bonnaterre. 114
2. coromandelica(£rM.) . 116
Perdicula, Hodys 117
1. asiatica (Lath.} 118
2. argunda (Sykes) .... 119
Microperdix, Gould .... 120
1. erythrorhynchus
(Sykes) 121
2. blewitti, Hume 122
3. manipurensis (Hume) 122
Arboricola, Hod(/s 123
1. torqueola ( Valenc.} . . 125
2. rufigularis, Blyth .... 126
3. intermedia. Bli/th . . 127
4. atrigularis, Blyth. ... 127
5. mandellii, Hume .... 128
6. brunneipectus, Tickell. 128
Tropicoperdix, Blyth . . 129
1. chloropus, Tickell . . 129
Caloperdix, Blyth 130
1. oculea (Temm.) 131
Caccabis, Kaup 131
1. chucar (Gray) 131
Ammoperdix, Gould. . , . 133
1. bonhami (Fraser) . . 133
Francolinus, Steph 134
1. vulgaris, Steph 135
2. pictus (Jard. $ Selby} 137
3. chinensis ( Osbeck} . . 138
4. pondicerianus (Gm.) . 139
5. gularis (Temm.) .... 141
Perdix, Briss 142
1. hodgsoniae (Hodas.) . 142
Tetraogallus, Gray .... 143
1. himalayensis, G. It.
Gray * 143
2. tibetanus, Gould .... 144
Lerwa, Hodgs 1 45
1. nivicola, Hodys 145
SYSTEMATIC INDEX.
XV11
Page
Subord. PERISTEROPODES.
147
Fam, MEGAPODIIDJE
147
1. Megapodius, Qtioy 8f
Gaim
147
1. nicobariensis, Blyth. .
147
Order HEMIPODII . . .
149
Fam. TURNICID^
149
] . Turnix, Bonn
149
1. pugnax (Temm.} . . . .
151
2. dussumieri (Temm.) .
152
3. tanld, Blyth
153
4. albiventris, Hume . .
154
5. blanfordi, Blyth
155
Order GRALLyE
156
Suborder FULICART^R....
157
Fam. RALLIDJE
157
1. Rallus, Linn
158
1. indicus, Blyth
158
2. aquaticus, Linn
160
2. Hypoteenidia, Reichenb. .
160
1. striata (Linn.)
160
2. obscurior, Hume ....
162
3. Crex, Bechst
162
1. pratensis, Bechst
163
4. Porzana, Vieill
163
1. parva (Scop.)
164
2. pusilla (Pall.}
165
3. maruetta (Leach) ....
166
5. Rallina, Reichenb
167
1. superciliaris (Eyton). .
167
2. fasciata, Raffles
3. canning! ( Tyler} ....
169
169
6. Amaurornis, Reichenb. . .
170
1. fuscus (Linn.}
170
2. bicolor ( Walden) ....
171
3. akool (Sykes)
172
4. phcenicurus (Penn.) . .
173
7. Gallinula (Brisson) ....
175
1. chloropus (Linn.). . . .
175
8. Gallicrex, Blyth
176
1. ciuerea (Gm.) ......
176
9. Porphyrio, Brisson ....
] . polioceplialtis (Lath.).
10. Fulica, Linn
178
178
180
1. atra, Linn
180
Page
Fam. HELIORNITHIDJE 181
1. Heliopais, Sharpe 182
1. personata (Gray) .... 182
Suborder G R u E s 184
Fam. GRUID^E 185
1. Grus, Pall 18
1. communis, Bechst. . . 186
2. leucogerauus, Pall. . . 187
3. antigone (Linn.) .... 188
4. sharpii, Blanf. 189
2. Anthropoides, Vieill. . . 190
1. virgo (Linn.) 190
Suborder OXIDES 191
Fam. OTIDIDJE 192
1. Otis, Linn 192
1. tarda, Linn 193
2. tetrax, Linn 193
2. Eupodotis, Less 194
1. edwardsi (Gray) .... 195
3. Houbara, Bonap 196
]. macqueeni (Gray) . . 196
4. Sypheotis, Less 198
1. aurita (Lath.) 198
2. bengalensis (Gm.) . . 200
Order LIMICOL^E 202
Fam. (EDICNEMIDJE
203
203
1. GEdicnemus, Temm. .
1. scolopax (S. G. Gm.).- 204
2. Esacus, Less 205
1. recurvirostris (Cuv.). . 205
2. magnirostris (Geoffr.). 207
Fam. DROMADIDJE 207
1. Dromas, Paykull 208
1. ardeola, Paykull 208
Fam. GLAREOLIDJE 209
Subfam. Cursoriince 210
1. Cursorius, Lath 210
1. coromandelicus(6rw.). 210
2. gallicus (Gm.) 211
2. Rhinoptilus, Strickl. 212
1 . bitorquatus (Jerdon) . 212
YOL. IV,
XV111
SYSTEMATIC INDEX.
Page
Subfani. Glareolina 214
1. Glareola, Briss 214
1. orientalis, Leach .... 214
2. pratincola (Linn.) . . 216
3. lactea, Temm 216
Fam. PARRIDJE 217
1. Metopidius, Wagler 218
1. indicus (Lath.) 218
2. Hydrophasianus, Wagler. 219
1. chirurgus (Scop.) .... 219
Fam. CHARADHIID^ 221
Subfani. Charadriince 222
1. Strepsilas, llliger 222
1. interpres (Linn.) .... 223
2. Sarcogrammus, Reichenb. 224
1. indicus (Bodd.) 224
2. atrinuchalis (Blyth). . 226
3. Sarciophorus, Strickl. . . 226
1. malabaricus (Bodd) . . 226
4. Microsarcops, Sharpe . . 228
1. cinereus (Blyth) 228
5. Hoplopterus, Bonap 229
1. ventralis (Wagl.) 229
6. Vanellus, Briaa 230
1. vulgaris, Bechst 230
7. Chettusia, Bonap 231
1. gregaria (Pall.) 231
2. leucura (Licht.) 233
8. Oharadrius, Linn 233
1. fulvus, Gm 234
2. pluvialis, Linn 235
9. Squatarola, Leach 235
1. helvetica (Linn.) 236
10. vEgialitis, Boie 236
1. geoffroyi ( Wagl.) .... 237
2. mongolica (Pall.) 238
3. asiatica (Pall.) 239
4. vereda (Gould) 240
5. alexandrina (Linn.) . . 240
6. dubia (Scop.) 241
7. hiaticula (Linn.) 243
8. placida (Gray) 244
Subfam. Hfematopodince .... 245
1. Hsematopus, Linn 245
1. ostralegus, Linn 245
2. Himantopus, Briss 246
1. candidus, Bonn 247
3 Recur virostris, Linn. . . 248
avocetta. Linn 248
Page
4. Ibidorhynchus, Vigors . . 249
1. struthersi, Vigors. . . . 249
Subfam. Totanince 250
1. Numenius, Brias 251
1. arquata (Linn.) .... 252
2. pheeopus (Linn.) .... 253
2. Limosa, Brisa 254
1. belgica (Gm.) 254
,-. lapponica (Linn.) .... 256
3. Macrorliamplms, Leach . . 257
1. semipalinatus, Jerdon. 257
4. Terekia, Bonap 258
1. cinerea (Giildemt.) . . 258
5. Totanus, Bechst 259
1. hypoleucu» (Linn.) . . 260
2. glareola (Gm.) 261
3. ochropus (Linn.) .... 262
4. stagnates, Bechst. . . 263
5. calidris (Linn.) 264
6. fuscus (Linn.) 265
7. glottis (Linn.) 266
8. guttifer, Nordman . . 267
6. Pavoncella, Leach 268
1. pugnax (Linn.) .... 268
7. Calidris, Cuo 270
1. arenaria (Linn.) .... 270
8. Eurynorhynchus, Nilsson. 271
1. pygniteus (Linn,) .... 271
9. Tringa, Linn 272
1. minuta, Leiakr 273
2. ruticollis, Pall 274
3. subminuta, Middend. 275
4. temrnincki, Leisler . . 275
5. acuminata (Horaf.) . . 276
6. crassirostris, Temm. &•
Schl 277
7. subarquata (Giildemt.) 278
8. alpina, Linn 279
9. platyrhyncha, Temm. 279
10. Phalaropus, Briss 280
1. hyperboreus (Linn.) . . 281
2. fulicarius (Linn.) 282
Subfam. Scolopacince 283
1. Scolopax, Linn 283
1. rusticula, Linn 283
2. Gallinago, Leach 285
1. nemorieola, Hodgs. . . 285
2. coelestis (Frenzel) . . 286
3. stenura (Kuhl) 289
4. solitaria, Hodga 290
5. gallinula (Linn.) 292
3. Eostratula, Vieill 293
1. capensis (Linn.) 293
SYSTEMATIC IttDEX.
XIX
Order GAVI.E
Page Page
296 Order STEGANOPODES .. 331
Fam. LARIDJE 297
Subfam. Larince 298
1. Lams, Linn 298
1. ichthyaetus, Pall. . . 299
2. ridibundus, Linn. . . 300
3. brunneicephalus7
Jerdon 301
4. hemprichi (Bruch) . . 302
5. gelastes, Licht 303
6. affinis, Reinhardt . . 304
7. cachinnans, Pall 305
Subfam. Sternince 306
1. Hydrochelidon, Boie . . 307
1. hybrida (Pall.) 307
2. leucoptera (Meisner fy
Schinz) 308
2. Hydroprogne, Kaup. . . . 309
1. caspia (Pall.) 309
3. Sterna, Linn 310
1. anglica, Mont 311
2. cantiaca, Gm 312
3. media, Horsf. 313
4. bergii, Licht 314
5. seena, Sykes 315
6. melanogaster, Temm. 316
7. albigena, Licht 317
8. fluviatilis, Neum 318
9. longipenms, Nordm. . 319
10. dougalli, Mont 319
11. sinensis, Gm 320
12. minuta, Linn 321
13. saundersi, Hume .... 321
14. melanauchen, Temm. 322
15. aneestheta, Scop 323
16. fuliginosa, Gm 324
4. Anous, Steph 325
1. stolidus (Linn.) 325
2. leucocapillus, Gould. . 326
Subfam. Rhynchopince 327
1. Rhynchops, Linn 327
1. albicollis, Swains. . . 327
Fam. STERCORARIID.S: 328
1. Stercorarius, Briss 329
1. crepidatus (Banks) . . 329
2. pomatorhinus(rerwrt.) 330
Fam. PELECANIDJE 332
1. Pelecanus, Linn 332
1. roseus, Gm 333
2. onocrotalus, Linn. . . 334
3. crisp us, Bruch 335
4. philippensis, Gm 335
Fam. FREGATIDJB 337
1. Fregata, Briss 337
1. aquila (Linn.) 338
2. «nel (Gould) 338
Fam. PHALACROCORACIDJE . . 339
Subfam. Phalacrocoracince
340
1. Phalacrocorax, Briss. . . 340
1. carbo (Linn.) 340
2. fuscicollis, Steph 341
3. javanicus (Horsf.) . . 342
Subfam. Plotince 343
1. Plotus, Linn 343
1. melanogaster (Pen-
nant) 344
Fam. SULID^: 345
1. Sula, Briss 345
1. leucogaster (Bodd.) . . 346
2. piscatrix (Linn.) .... 347
3. cyanops (Sundevall). . 347
Fam. PHAETHONTID^J 348
1. Phaethon, Linn 348
1. indicus, Hume 349
2. flavirostris, Brandt . . 350
3. rubricauda, Bodd. . . 350
Order TUBINARES 352
Fam. PROG ELL ARIIDJE 353
1. Oceanites, Keys, fy Bias. 353
1. oceanicus (Kuhl) .... 354
2. Cymodroma, Ridyway . . 354
1. melanogaster (Gould). 355
3. Puffinus, Briss 355
1. chlororhynchus, Less. 356
2. persicus, Hume .... 356
4. Daption, Stephens 357
1. capensis (Linn.) .... 357
XX
SYSTEMATIC INDEX.
Order HERODIONES.
Suborder P L A x A L E JE 360
Fam. IBIDIDJE 361
1. Ibis, Lacepede 361
1. melanocephala (Lath.} 361
2. Inocotis, Reichenb 362
1. papillosus^eww.) . . 362
2. davisoni (Hume) .... 364
3. Plegadis, Kaup . 364
1. falcinellus (Linn.} . . 364
Fam. PLATALEIDJE
366
1 . Platalea, Linn 366
1. leucorodia, Linn 366
Suborder C i c o N i
Fam. CICONIID^E
1 . Ciconia, Briss.
1. alba, Bechst ......
2. nigra (Linn.) .....
2. Dissura, Hume .......
1. episcopus (Bodd.) .
3. Xenorhynchus, Bonap..
1. asiaticus (Lath.) . . .
4. Leptoptilus, Less ......
1. dubius (Gmel.) .....
2. javanicus (Horsf.) .
•5. Pseudotantalus, Ridy-
1. leucocephalus (Penn.
6. Anastoinus, Bonn. . . .
1. oscitans (Bodd.} . . .
Suborder A n D E M
Fam.
368
368
369
369
370
370
371
372
373
373
374
375
376
377
377
379
379
380
380
382
383
383
384
1. Ardea, Linn
1. manillensis (^a/3»
2. cinerea, Linn
3. sumatrana, Raffles
4. insignis, Hodys
5. goliath, Cretzschm.
2. Herodias, Boie 385
1. alba (Linn.) 385
2. intermedia ( Wayler) . 386
3. garzetta (Linn.) 387
3. Bubulcus, Bonap 388
1. coromandus (Bodd.) . 389
10.
11.
Page
Lepterodius, Hemp.fyEhr. 390
1. asha (Sykes) 390
2. aacer (Gm.) 391
Ardeola, Boie 392
1 . grayi (Sykes) 393
2. bacchus (Bonap.) .... 394
Butorides, Blyth 394
1. javanica (Horsf.) 395
Nyctlcorax, Rafin 396
1. griseus (Linn.) 396
Gorsachius, Bonap 398
1. melanolophus (Raffles) 398
Ardetta, Gray 399
1. minuta (Linn.) 400
2. sinensis (Gm.) 401
3. cinnamomea (Gm.) . . 402
~D\npetor,Heine fyReichenb. 403
1. flavicollis (Lath.) 403
Botaurus, Briss 405
1. stellaris (Linn.) . 405
Order PHCENICOPTERI .. 407
Fam. PHCENICOPTERID^E 408
1. Phcenicopterus, Linn. . . 408
1. roseus, Pall 408
2. minor, Geoffr 410
Order ANSERES 411
Fam. ANATIDJE 412
Subfam. Cygnina 413
1. Cygnus, Bechst 413
1. olor (Gm.) 413
2. musicus, Bechst 414
Subfam. Anserince 415
1. Anser, Briss 415
1. ferus, Schaef. 416
2. albifrons (Scop.) .... 417
3. erythropus, Linn. . . 418
4. brachyrhynchus, Bail-
Ion 418
5. indicus (Lath.) 419
Subfam. Anatince 420
1. Sarcidiornis, Eyton .... 422
1. melanonotus (Penn.) . 423
2. Asarcornis, Salvadori . . 424
1. scutulatus (S. Milll.) . 424
SYSTEMATIC INDEX.
XXI
Page
3. Rhodonessa, Reichenb. . . 425
1. caryophyllacea (Lath.) 425
4. Tadorna, Fleming 427
1. coru\ita(S.G'.Gniel.) . 427
5. Casarca, Bonap 428
1. rutila (Pallas) 428
6. Dendrocycna, Swains. . . 430
1. javanica (Horsfeld) . 430
S.fulva (Gm.) 432
7. Nettopus, Brandt 433
l.cororaandelianus^m.) 433
8. Alias, Linn 435
1. boscas, Linn 435
2. pcecilorhyncha, Forst. 436
9. Eunetta, Bonap 438
1. falcata (Georgi) 438
10. Chaulelasmus, Gray . . . . 440
1. streperus (Linn.) .... 440
11. Nettium, Kaup 441
1. formosum (Georgi) . . 442
2. crecca (Linn.) 443
3. albigulare (Hume) . . 444
12. Mareca, Stephens 445
1. penelope (Linn.) .... 445
13. Dafila, Leach 447
1. acuta (Linn.) 447
14. Querquedula, Stephens. . 449
1. circia (Linn.) 449
15. Spatula, Boie 451
1. clypeata (Linn.) .... 452
16. Marmaronetta, Reichenb. 454
1. angustirostris( Menetr.) 454
Page
17. Netta, Kaup 455
1. rufina (Pall.) 456
18. Nyroca, Fleming 458
1. ferina (Linn.) 458
2. ferruginea (Gm.) 460
3. baeri (Radde) 461
4. marila (Linn.) 462
5. fuligula (Linn.) .... 463
19. Clangula, Leach 464
1. glaucion (Linn.) .... 464
20. Erismatura, Bonap 465
1. leucocephala^cop.). . 466
Subfam. Mergince 467
1. Mergus, Linn 467
1. aibellus, Linn 467
2. Merganser, Briss 468
1. castor (Linn.) 469
2. serrator (Linn.) .... 470
Order PYGOPODES 472
Fam. PODICIPEDID^E 472
1. Podicipes, Lath 473
1. cristatus (Linn.) 473
2. niaricollis, C. L.Brehm 474
3. albipennis (Sharpe) . . 475
VOL. IY.
Fig. 1. — Turtur suratcnsis.
Order XII. COLUMB^E.
There is no doubt that Pigeons and Doves must be regarded as
forming an Order by themselves. That they are more nearly allied
to the Sandgrouse than to any other birds is generally acknow-
ledged, but the differences between the two groups are quite as
great as those between spme of the other orders here admitted.
In some recent classifications the Pigeons have been placed near
the Passerine birds chiefly on account of the newly-hatched young
being helpless and naked, but this character by itself is of secondary
importance, and the anatomy* of the Coluinbce as a whole, as
Huxley has shown, resembles that of Gallinaceous birds, tho'ugh
differing in many respects and showing certain affinities to the
Owls and Vultures (P. Z. S. 1867, p. 4(30).
YOL. IT. «
,-, O »••€> v
«. * ' * - "
COIUMBjE.
The principal external characters of the order are the follow-
ing : — The upper mandible consists of two parts ; the tip, which is
swollen, hard, and convex, and the basal portion, which is soft,
being covered by skin in which the longitudinal slit-like nostrils
open. Toes always four in number, and on the same level ; no
web between the toes, but the sole is considerably expanded in the
more typically arboreal forms, and much narrower in those that
seek their food on the ground. Aftershaft rudimentary or want-
ing. Spinal feather-tract well defined on the neck and forked in
the interscapular region. Primaries 11 ; fifth secondary wanting
(aquincubital). The number of tail-feathers varies.
The palate is schizognathous, the nasals schizorhinal ; basi-
pterygoid processes present (except in the extinct Dodo). Cervical
vertebras 15. The sternum has generally two deep notches on
each side of the posterior margin. Furcula U-shaped.
Deep plantar tendons as in Gallince. The ambiens muscle, as
in Parrots, is sometimes present, sometimes absent; the fern oro-
caudal, semitendinosus and accessory semitendinosus are always
present, and the accessory f emoro-caudal in all except the Australian
genus Lopholcemus. The oil-gland is nude or wanting ; ca?ca and
gall-bladder are present in some genera, absent in others. Both
carotids are present.
All Pigeons are phytophagous, the majority living on fruit or
seeds. They are monogamous and pair for life. The majority
make a nest on trees, a few on rocks or in holes ; the nest is a
platform of twigs or grass, without lining, simple in structure and
very loosely put together. The eggs in the great majority of
species are two in number. Some genera, as Carpophaga, Calaenas,
and Alsocomus, lay a single egg. The eggs are white, oval, and
usually glossy. The young emerge from the egg naked and unable
to run, and they do not go through a downy stage ; they remain
in the nest for a long time, and are fed by the parents with a
secretion from the crop.
An excellent Catalogue of the Pigeons by Count T. Salvadori
has just been published by the British Museum; from this work
the majority of the above details are taken. The classification of
the order is, however, an extremely difficult subject ; the anatomical
data are not satisfactory and often conflict with the external
characters. The order is divided into two suborders, of which one
(Did'i) is now extinct ; the other is divided by Salvadori, external
characters only being regarded, into five families, three of which
have Indian representatives. I am, however, unwilling to accord
the rank of families to groups only distinguished by details of
plumage and small differences in the shape of the foot ; and I shall
accordingly leave all Indian Pigeons and Doves in a single family.
COLUMBIDJS.
Family COLUMBIDJE.
Even the subfamilies of the Indian Pigeons are founded on
distinctions several of which are usually regarded as not more than
generic. It is rather in deference to the usual practice than from
conviction of their real existence that some of the following sub-
families are adopted. The characters given do not always apply
to birds not found in India.
No ambiens muscle, oil-gland, or intestinal
caeca ; tarsus shorter than the middle
toe without claw ; 14 tail-feathers ;
general coloration light green, a con-
spicuous yellow band on the greater
wing-coverts Treroninw, p. 3.
No ambiens muscle or intestinal caeca ; oil-
gland present ; tarsus longer than middle
toe ; 14 tail-feathers ; plumage dull,
banded in parts. Size very small .... Geopdiino!, p. 51.
Ambiens and oil-glnnd present, no caeca ;
tarsus shorter than middle toe : 14 tail-
feathers. Size large, exceeding that of [p. 18.
common pigeon Carpophagince,
Ambiens and oil-gland present, no caeca;
tarsus longer than middle toe ; 12 tail-
feathers ; plumage with highly metallic
lustre ; long neck-hackles Caloewdincei, p. 24.
Ambiens and oil-gland present, no caeca;
tarsus moderate ; 12 tail-feathers ; wing-
coverts and back only metallic green ;
no neck-hackles Phabince, p. 26.
Ambiens, oil-gland, and caeca present ; tarsus
variable ; 12 tail-feathers ; no neck-
hackles Columbine?, p. 28.
Subfamily TRERONIN^E.
These are the Green Pigeons of India, and may be at once
recognized by their yellowish-green plumage, often with patches of
lilac or chestnut on the mantle. There is always a bright yellow
band, sometimes two, on the larger wing-coverts ; there are fourteen
tail-feathers ; the tarsus is considerably shorter than the middle toe
without claw, and has its upper portion covered with feathers.
The soles of the toes are much expanded, being considerablv
broader than the toes themselves. The short tarsus and broad
B2
4 COLUMBIDJE.)
soles are adaptations for perching, and are found in Pigeons that
live chiefly or wholly on trees.
This subfamily inhabits the tropical and subtropical regions of
the Old World. Five out of seven genera are Indian. All are
purely fruit-eating birds, living on trees, and generally keeping in
flocks ; and all are good birds for the table . ,
Key to tJie Genera.
a. Tail square or slightly rounded j 3rd primary
sinuate on inner web.
«'. Horny part of bill does not extend to
frontal feathers.
«". Horny part of bill less than | of
culmen.
«3. First three primaries acuminate ; sexes
alike CROCOPUS, p. 4.
bs. First three primaries not acuminate;
sexes dissimilar OSMOTRERON, p. 7.
b". Horny part of bill more than § of
culmen ; bill very deep and thick .... BUTRERON, p. 13.
b'. Horny part of bill extends back to frontal
feathers , TRERON, p. 14.
b. Tail graduated, much rounded or wedge-
shaped j 3rd primary not sinuate SPHENOCERCUS, p. 15.
Genus CROCOPUS, Bonap., 1854.
This genus contains the common Green Pigeons of India and
Burma. The bill is stout, the soft basal portion nearly as long as
the rhamphotheca or horny terminal part ; tip well curved. "Wings
long and pointed, the first three primaries acuminate, the third
Fig. 2. — Primaries of Crocopus chloroy aster. %.
quill with the inner margin deeply sinuate about the middle of its
length. Tail nearly square, or the middle feathers rather shorter
than the outer ; under tail-coverts about three-quarters the length
of the rectrices. Sexes alike, or nearly so.
There are but two species, both Indian.
CEOCOPUS. 5
Key to the Species.
a. Upper breast greenish yellow ; lower breast
and abdomen ashy grey C. pkocnicopferus, p. 5.
6. Whole breast and abdomen yellowish green . C. chlorogaster, p. 6.
1271. Crocopus phcenicopterus. The Bengal Green Pigeon.
Columba phoenicoptera, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, p. 597 (1790).
Columba militaris, Temm. Pigeons, pi. 1 (wee pi. 2) (1808).
Columba hardwickii, Gray in Griff. An. Kingd. viii, pi. 291 (1829).
Treron phoenicoptera, Bh/th, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 849 ; id. Cat. p. 229.
Treron viridifrons, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 849 (1845) ; id. Cat.
p. 228; Stanford, Ibis, 1870, p. 469.
Crocopus phosnicopterus, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 447 ; Beavan, Ibis,
1868, p. 370; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 272;
McMaster, J. A. S. B. xl,pt. 2, p. 214; Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 414;
Adam, S. F. i, p. 390; Ball, S. F. ii, p. 423; Hume, N. 8f E.
p. 491 ; Hume, S. F. iv, p. 2 ; Cripps, S. F. vii, p. 29o ; Hume,
Cat. no. 772 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 339 ; Oates in Humes N. $ E.
2nd ed. ii, p. 370 ; Salvador*, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 26.
Crocopus viridifrons, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 449; Hume, S. F. iii,
p. 161 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. Ill ; xiv, pt. 2,
p. 83 ; Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burm. p. 143 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F.
vi, p. 410 ; Anderson, Yunnan Exped., Ares, p. 664 : Hume, Cat.
no. 773 bis ; Bingham, S. F. ix, p, 194 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 307 ;
Hume, S. F. xi, p. 290 ; Sahadori, t. c. p. 28.
Haridl, H. ; Haitha, Assamese ; Ngu, Bom-ma-di, Burm.
Coloration. Occiput and nape, with ear-coverts, dark grey ; lores,
forehead, cheeks, chin, throat, upper breast, and neck all round
greenish yellow, becoming deeper on the upper breast and still
darker and tinged with olive on the hind neck ; an ashy-grey collar
round the base of the neck ; back, rump, scapulars, tertiaries, and
most of the wing-coverts yellowish olive-green, growing grey in
general, but not always, on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; smaller
wing-coverts near the bend of the wing lilac; quills blackish,
narrowly edged with yellow outside, greater coverts with broader
yellow outer borders ; terminal halt' of tail dove-grey, basal half
yellowish green above, black beneath ; lower breast, abdomen, and
whole inner surface of wings light ashy grey, contrasting sharply
with the yellow upper breast, but becoming tinged with yellow
towards the vent; tibial plumes pure yellow; lower flanks dark
green, with broad yellowish-white edges ; under tail-coverts dull
chestnut, with buff tips.
Females are slightly smaller, and the lilac patch on the wing is,
as a rule, less extensive.
Soft parts of bill greenish, hard parts bluish white ; iris blue, with
an outer circle of pink; legs orange-yellow ; claws bluish (Oates).
Length about 13 inches, tail 4-5, wing 7*5, tarsus 1, bill from
gape 1 ; in females, length 12'5, wing 7*2.
Distribution. Along the base of the Himalayas as far west as the
Jumna, scattered over the Eastern Punjab and Northern India
generally, but less commonly than the next species ; occurring
COLUMBID.E.
exclusively in Lower Bengal and to the eastward in Assam, and
throughout Burma, Cochin China, and Siain.
The Burmese bird is generally distinguished as O. viridifrons, but
this is, I think, an incorrect interpretation of the facts. There are
in the Indian Empire two perfectly well-marked species — C.phoeni-
copterus, as described by Latham, with an ashy-grey lower breast and
abdomen and with green on the forehead and tail; and C. chlorogaster,
with the lower breast and abdomen greenish yellow like the upper
breast and throat, and with (normally) no green on the forehead or
tail. But throughout Northern India both these birds occur and also
numerous intermediate forms, and as these intermediate forms are
well known from occurring in the best-explored region, they have
come to be regarded as typical phoenicopterus, and the more cha-
racteristic Burmese birds have been distinguished as viridifrons, on
account of their having rather more yellowish green on the tail and
forehead and a grey rump. Not one of the distinctions is constant,
there being for instance specimens of green-rumped birds from
Thayet Myo, Pegu, Toungoo, and Cochin China in the British
Museum collection.
Habits, cjir. The common Green Pigeons of India and Burma are
usually seen in flocks, which feed on fruit (the figs of the banyan
tree for instance), and may often be recognized by their peculiar,
rather musical call. They always perch on trees, and resemble the
foliage so closely in colour that it is often almost impossible to see
them unless they move, and even then difficult to watch them. They
are occasionally caged for the sake of their notes. The breeding
season is from March to June, and they lay, like so many other
pigeons, two oval white glossy eggs on a loosely-constructed plat-
form of small sticks, without any lining, and placed on the branch
of a tree. The eggs measure about 1*25 by '95.
According to Jerdon the next species (the habits of both are
identical) comes to the banks of rivers in flocks about 9 A.M. to
drink, but Hume (S. F. x, p. 59) doubts whether they ever drink,
and I cannot recollect seeing them do so.
1272. Crocopns chlorogaster. The Southern Green Pigeon.
Vinago chlorigaster, Blyth, J.A. S. B. xii, p. 167 note (1843).
Treron jerdom, Strickland, A. M. N. H. xiii, p. 38 (1844).
Treron chlorigaster, Blyth, Cat. p. 229; Layard, A. M. N. H. (2)
xiv, p. 57.
Crocopus chlorogaster, Bonap. Consp. Av. ii, p. 12; Salvadori, Cat.
B. M. xxi, p. 30.
Crocopus chlorigaster, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 448 ; Blanford, J. A. S. B.
xxxviii, pt. 2, p. 187 ; Adam, S. F. i, p. 390 ; Butler, S. F. iv,
p. 2 ; ix, p. 419 ; Murray, S. F. vii, p. 113 ; Ball, ibid. p. 224 ;
Hume, Cat. no. 773 ; Tidal, S. F. ix, p. 73 ; Leyye, Birds Ceyl.
p. 722 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 58 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 314 ; Davison,
ibid. p. 406 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 285 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H.
Soc. v, p. 328 ; Gates in Hume's N. Sf E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 372.
Haridl, H. ; Pacha yuwa, Tel. ; Pacha pora, Tam.
Coloration as in C. phosnicopterus, except that the breast and
OSMOTREROJf. 7
•
abdomen are greenish yellow like the chin and throat, the lower
abdomen becoming quite yellow, and there is a greenish wash on
the wing-lining, in typical specimens, too, there is no green on the
forehead or tail, both being grey, or there is a slight yellowish
tinge on the forehead only. But, as already pointed out, many
birds, especially in Northern India, are intermediate in coloration
between this and the preceding species.
Distribution. Throughout the Peninsula of India and Ceylon.
To the northward this species extends through Eastern Itajputana,
the Eastern Punjab, theJNT.W. Provinces, and Oudh, to the base of
the Himalayas, but is not found in Sind (a reported occurrence at
Jacobabad is open to doubt) nor the desert region generally. The
measurements and habits are identical with those of
Genus OSMOTRERON, Bonap., 1854.
The Green Pigeons belonging to the present genus scarcely differ
from Crocopus, except in having the sexes conspicuously distinct
in coloration, and the first three primaries much less attenuated.
The habits of all these Pigeons closely resemble those of Crocopus.
They are found in Hocks, are fruit-eaters, and always perch on
trees, rarely if ever descending to the ground. They have a
peculiar, rather melodious whistle. Their flight is rapid, and they
are generally wary birds, but when feeding on a favourite fruit
they are easily approached and shot. The breeding habits, eggs,
and nests are identical with those of other Green Pigeons.
The genus is found in a great part of the Oriental region and in
some of the Austro-Malayan islands. Seven species out of the 17
known have been obtained within Indian limits.
Key to the Species.
a. Middle tail-feathers green ; mantle of males
maroon.
a'. Tibial plumes buff or yellowish ; head
and neck of male green or grey, not red.
a". Lower tail-coverts cinnamon or whitish.
a3. Forehead and crown grey.
#4. Grey nape distinct from green hind
neck ........................ O. phayrei, p. 8.
ft4. Grey of crown passing into green
on the nape .................. O. affinis, p. 8.
ft3. Forehead yellow .................. O. pompadora, p. 9.
b" . Lower tail-coverts dark green, with
yellowish tips .................... O. chloroptera, p. 10.
b'. Tibial plumes bright yellow ; head and
neck of male cinnamon-red .......... O. fuloicoliis, p. 10.
b. Middle tail-feathers slaty grey ; mantle not
maroon in either sex.
c1. Outer tail-feathers with a grey tip exceed-
ing 0-5 in length .................... O. hicincta, p. 11.
d' . Outer tail-feathers with a narrow grey tip. O. vernans, p. 13.
COLUMBIDJ.
1273. Osmotreron phayrei. The Ashy-headed Green Pigeon.
Osmotreron phayrei, Blytn, J. A. S. B. xxxi, p. 344 (1862) ; Jerdon,
B. I. iii, p. 451 ; Godiv.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. Ill;
xlv, pt. 2, p. 83 ; Hume, S. F. iii, p. 162 ; Bli/th $ Wall. Birds
Burm. p. 144; Ing fa, S. F. v, p. 39; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi,
p. 412; Hume, Cat. no. 776 ; Binyham, S. F. ix, p. 194 ; Oates,B.
D .:: — o i n . 'j • TLT. '_ TVT o. -n «.. j _ J :: _ OT/J . tr»,,™
B. ii, p. 310; id. in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 376; Hume,
S. F. xi, p. 291 ; Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2;
id. Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 43.
Coloration. Male. Crown and nape asj^y grey, forehead paler ; sides
of head, including the area above the eyes, find sharply defined against
the grey crown, greenish yellow, as are the chin, throat, and sides
of the neck ; neck above green, also contrasting sharply with the
grey nape; back, scapulars, and all the smaller wing-coverts chest-
nut; median and greater wing-coverts black, the first olive-green
in parts, both broadly edged with bright yellow ; quills black, the
tertiaries partly green, the secondaries narrowly, the tertiaries
broadly edged with yellow outside, the primaries with a linear
whitish edge; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts and middle
tail-feathers yellowish green ; outer tail-leathers black with a broad
ashy tip, and with more or less green towards the middle pair ;
lower parts greenish olive, the upper breast strongly tinged with
orange ; feathers of lower flanks dark green with broad buff tips,
lower tail-coverts cinnamon ; wing-lining ashy grey, generally
more or less smeared with green.
Female. No chestnut on the mantle, which is green throughout,
nor orange on the breast; lower tail-coverts chiefly buffy white,
with more or less green about the base and along the shaft.
Legs lake-red ; irides blue with an outer circle of pink, orbital
skin plumbeous ; bill bluish, the base darker (Oates).
Length about 11 ; tail 3*6 ; wing 6*1; tarsus -85 ; bill from gape
•85. Females are a little smaller.
Distribution. Eare in Lower Bengal, found thence throughout
Eastern Bengal, Assam, Cachar, Manipur, and Burma as far
south as Tavoy in Tenasserim, but not farther. To the eastward
this species is found in Cochin China.
Habits, $c. In Burma this pigeon is found chiefly in the
denser forests of the hill-tracts, but it does not ascend the higher
ranges. It breeds about March.
1274. Osmotreron affinis. The Grey-fronted Green Pigeon.
Vinapro aromatica, pt., apud Jerdon, Madr. Jour, L. S. xii, p. 13
^1840). nee Columba aromatica, Gm.
Vinago affinis, Jerdon, 1. c. £ (1840).
Vinago malabarica, Jerdon, III. Ind. Orn. letterpress to pi. 21 (1845).
Treron xnalabarica, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 852 ; id. Cat. p. 229.
Osmotreron malabariea, Bp. Consp. ii, p. 13 ; Jerdcn, B. 1. iii,
p. 450 ; Hume, N. $ F. p. 493 ; Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 261 ; v,
p. 408 ; Hume $ Bourd. S. F. iv, p. 403 ; Hume, ibid. p. 424 ; id.
Cat. no. 775; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 74: Butler, ibid. p. 419;
OSMOTRERON. 9
Davison, S. F. x, p. 406 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 286 ; Oates in
Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 375 ; Davidson, Jour. Bom. N. H.
Soc. v, p. 329 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 45.
Osmotreron affinis (Jerdon}, Walden, Tr. Zool. Sue. ix, p. 212.
Poda putsa guwa, Tel.
Differs from 0. pJiayrei in having the crown lighter ashy, the
area occupied by the colour being less extensive and ill-defined,
blending gradually into the green of the sides of the head and back
of the neck, especially at the nape. The male, too, wants the orange
of the breast, and the mantle is duller and deeper red with a
vinous or purplish tinge.
Horny portion of bill bluish white ; rest of bill pale bluish
green ; irides, outer ring pink, inner bright pale blue ; legs and feet
lake-pink, claws bluish white (Davison).
Length about 1O75 ; tail 3'6 ; wing 5'75 ; tarsus *8 ; bill from
gape -9.
Distribution. Forests of the Malabar coast from the neighbour-
hood of Bombay to Cape Comorin. Jerdon states that he also
obtained this pigeon in " Central India " and in the Eastern Ghats,
but neither the late Dr. V. Ball nor I met with this species in the
area specified; the name does not occur in either of the lists of
Shevroy birds for which I am indebted to Mr. Daly and Dr. Warth,
and no one, so far as I know, has obtained this bird away from the
Malabar coast since J^rdon's time *.
Habits, 6fc. Eggs, measuring about 1*08 by *85, have been taken
from January to April.
1275. Osmotreron pompadora. The Pompadour Green Pigeon.
Columba pompadora, Gm. Syst. Nat. \, p. 775 (1788).
Treron pompadora, JBlyth, J. A. S. B. xxi, p. 356.
Treron tiavogularis, Blytli, J. A. S. B. xxvi, p. 225 (1857).
Osmotreron tiavogularis, Blytli, J. A. S. B. xxxi, p. 344 ; Jerdon, B. I.
iii, p. 452 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1865, p. 45 ; 1867, p. 148 ; Legge, Ibis,
1874, p. 25.
Osmotreron pompadora, Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 465; Hume,
S. F iii, p. 162; vi, p. 414 ; id. Cat. no. 777; Legge. Birds Ccyl.
p. 728; Parker, S. F. ix, p. 481; Layard, Ibis,' 1880, p. 283;
Salvador^ Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 51.
Batia-(/oya, Cing. ; Patcha-prdd, Alam-prad, Tamul in Ceylon.
Coloration. Male. Forehead, lores, and cheeks greenish yellow,
becoming purer yellow on the chin and throat and ashy green on
the vertex ; rest of the upper parts as in 0. phayrei, except that the
mantle is of a duller red, as in 0. affinis. Lower parts from
throat green ; lower flanks dark green tipped with yellowish ;
lower tail-coverts buff.
* It is a very rare thing for Jerdon to be mistaken, but it should be borne in
mind that he depended chiefly on his memory, which was singularly good,
for localities, and, as a rule, neither labelled his specimens nor kept them iii his
own possession.
10 COLUMBIA.
The female has not the chestnut on the mantle, which is olive-
green, and has more green on the basal part of the lower tail-
coverts than the male.
Bill glaucous-green, paling to bluish on the apical portion ;
irides carmine-red, with a cobalt inner circle ; eyelids glaucous -
green ; legs and feet purple red (Leyge).
Length about 1O5; tail 3*6; wing 5-6; tarsus '8; bill from
gape *9.
Distribution. Ceylon, throughout the inland forests and well-
wooded districts. Jerdon states that this pigeon occurs in Southern
India, and he once described a bird tflat he shot in Malabar, and
which possessed the characters of the present species, but no speci-
men appears to have been obtained in Southern India by any
other collector.
Habits, fyc. Similar to those of other species. The eggs measure
about 1*16 by *88, according to Mr. Parker.
1276. Osmotreron chloroptera. The Andaman Green Pigeon.
Treron chloroptera, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 852 (1845) ; id. Cat.
p. 229.
Osmotreron chloroptera, Blyth, Ibis, 1863, p. 465 ; Bf.avan 8f Tytler,
Ibis, 1867, p. 331 ; Ball, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 286 : id. S. F. i,
p. 78; Walden, Ibis, 1873, p. 313; Hume, S. F. ii,'p. 258; Hi,
p. 162; vi. p. 4.14; id. Cat. no. 777 bis .; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi,
p. 49.
Coloration. Male above very similar to 0. pliayrei, except that
the grey of the crown and nape is lighter, french-grey rather than
ashy ; the chestnut of the mantle is duller and does not extend on
to the wings far beyond the scapulars, most of the smaller coverts
being green ; the lower back and upper tail-coverts are a more
yellow-green than the middle tail-feathers ; beneath there is no
orange on the breast, all the lower parts are light yellowish green
to the lower abdomen, the feathers of which and of the lower tail-
coverts are dark green with yellowish-white tips edged with
yellow.
The female, as usual, lacks the maroon on the mantle ; the grey
of the cap is generally ill-defined, and passes into green at the
sides ; the under tail-coverts as in the male.
Soft parts as in 0. phayrei. Size larger : length about 12'5 ;
tail 4 ; wing 6'75 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from gape 1*05.
Distribution. The Andaman and Mcobar Islands.
1277. Osmotreron fulvicollis. The Cinnamon-headed Green
Pigeon.
Columba fulvicollis, Wagl. Syst. Av., Columba, sp. 8 (1827).
Osmotreron fulvicollis, Bonap. Consp. Av. ii, p. 14; Hume, S. F.
iv, p. 224 ; id. Cat. no. 776 bis ; Hume # Dav. S. F. vi, p. 413
Gates, B. B. ii, p. 311 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 52.
OSMOTRERON. 11
Coloration. Male. Head and neck all round bright cinnamon-
red, becoming maroon on the upper back and smaller wing-coverts ;
middle wing-coverts partly olive, partly, like the greater coverts
and quills, black ; scapulars and last tertiaries olive, median arid
greater coverts and some tertiaries more broadly, secondaries more
narrowly, bordered with yellow outside, primaries with a linear
whitish edge ; rump greenish slaty ; upper tail-coverts, middle
tail-feathers and part of next pair green-olive ; all the outer tail-
feathers black with broad pale grey tips, over half an inch wide on
the outer feathers ; breast ochreous with an olive tinge ; abdomen
olive, the feathers tipped with yellow on the lower flanks and near
the vent ; tibial coverts pure yellow ; flanks and wing-lining
slaty grey, under tail-coverts pale cinnamon.
In the female the crown is dark slaty grey, the rest of the upper
plumage olive-green ; lower plumage lighter and yellower green ;
feathers of the lower flanks dark green with whitish edges ; vent
and tibial coverts bright yellow as in the male ; lower tail-coverts
whitish, dark green towards the base.
Upper mandible to just beyond nostril and lower mandible to
angle of genys deep red in males, dull red in females, rest, of bill
white in both sexes, tinged with greenish blue ; irides in the male
buffy pink, in the female with an outer ring of pink and an inner
one of ultramarine-blue ; orbital skin plumbeous-green, and edges
of eyelids orange in both sexes ; legs and feet purplish pink in the
male, lake-pink in the female ; claws dead white (Davison).
Length about 10*5 ; tail 3*6 ; wing 6 ; tarsus -8 ; bill from
gape -8. Females are rather smaller.
Distribution. A winter visitor to the extreme south of Tenasserim,
where this pigeon was obtained by Mr. Davison near Bankasoon
in December and January. It ranges through Cochin China, the
Malay Peninsula and Archipelago to the Philippines and Celebes.
1278. Osmotreron bicincta. The Orange-breasted Green Pigeon.
Vinago bicincta, Jerdon, Madr. Jour. L. S. xii, p. 13. $ (1840) : id.
III. Ind. Orn. pi. 21.
Vinago unicolor, Jerdon, Madr. Jour. L. 8. xii, p. 14, £ .
Treron hicincta, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 851 ; id. Cat. p. 229.
Osmotreron bicincta, Bp. Consp. Av. ii, p. 12 ; Jerdon, B. I. p. 440 ;
Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 371 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2,
p. 272 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 493 ; Hume, S. F. iii, p. 162, vi,p. 414 ;
Blyth Sf Wald. Birds Burm. p. 144 ; Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 337 ;
Gates, S. F. v, p. 163 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 411 ; Ball, S. F.
vii, p. 224 ; Hume, Cat. no. 774 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 725 ;
Layard, Ibis, 1880, p. 283; Hume fy Inglis, S. F. ix, p. 257;
Davison, S. F. x, p. 406 ; Taylor, ibid. p. 463 ; Oates, B. B. ii,
p. 308; id. in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 374; Hume, S. F. xi,
p. 291 ; Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) iv, p. 610 ; id. Cat.
B. M. xxi, p. 57 ; Davidson, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. v, p. 328 ;
ix, p. 489.
Chitta putsa guwa, Tel.
12 COLUMBID^.
Coloration. Male. Forehead and crown, sides 'of head and neck,
chin, and throat yellowish green, passing on the occiput into the
bluish grey of the nape and hind neck ; back, scapulars, ter-
tiaries, and wing-coverts green, passing into bronze-green on the
rump and upper tail-coverts ; quills black, the greater coverts
and tertiaries with broad yellow outer margins, the primaries
and secondaries with linear yellowish outer edges; tail-feathers
slaty grey, all except the middle pair with a black band more
'than half an inch from the tip, this band broadest on the outer
pair, occupying the greater part of the feathers ; beneath, the
tail-feathers are black with a grey tip : a lilac band forming
upper portion of breast, remainder of breast orange ; abdomen
yellowish green, growing pure yellow on the thigh-coverts and
round the vent; lower flanks green with yellow edges; under
tail-coverts cinnamon; flanks and wing-lining slaty grey, tvith
some green.
The female has neither lilac nor orange on the breast (which is
yellowish green like the abdomen), and has the yellow tail-coverts
chiefly buff.
Bill dull green ; iris blue, with an outer red ring ; legs pink
(Oates).
Length about 11-5; tail 3'7o ; wing 6'25 ; tarsus -85; bill
from gape '95. Females rather less. Ceylon birds are smaller ;
wing 5'75.
Distraction. Ceylon, the forests near the Malabar coast as far
north as Canara, and the forest country in South-western Bengal
and Orissa, as far south as the Godavari. Jerdon states that he
obtained this species once in the Carnatic and once east of IXellore,
but it has not been recorded from any other parts of the Indian
Peninsula except those named. It inhabits Lower Bengal and
the base of the Himalayas as far west as Nepal, together with
all the countries from Assam throughout Burma to Hainan, Cochin
China, and the Malay Peninsula.
Habits, fyc. The call, though different in tone from that of
other species, is similar. This Green Pigeon breeds in Burma
from Murch to May; the nest and eggs are of the usual type, and
the eggs measure about 1*07 by '87,
BUTREEON. 13
1279. Osmotreron vernans. The Pink-necked Green Pigeon.
Columba vernans, L. Mant. p. 526 (1771).
Columba viridis, Miiller, Natursyst. Suppl. p. 132 (1789), nee Linn.
Osmotreron vernans, Bp. Consp. Ay. ii, p. 12; Hume, S. F. iii,
p. 323; Wald. in BlytVs Birds Burin, p. 144; Hume $ Dav.
ri., pp. 411, 414; Hume, Cat. no. 774 bis: Oxtes, B. B. ii,
p. 309; id. in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed ii, p. 375; Salvadori, Cat.
B. M. xxi, p. 60.
Osmotreron viridis, Hume, S. F. i, p. 461 ; iii, p. 162.
Coloration. Male. Head, chin, and throat ashy, sometimes with
a greenish wash, especially on the throat ; neck behind and at the
sides, and a broad band across the upper breast, lilac ; back, rump,
scapulars, tertiaries, and wing-coverts olive-green ; quills black ;
the usual broad yellow borders to greater coverts and tertiaries,
and linear edges to primaries and secondaries ; upper tail-coverts
brownish olive ; tail-feathers slaty grey, a black subterminal band,
very narrow on median, growing much broader on outer feathers,
all rectrices black from base beneath, the pale grey tips above and
below quite narrow, not above one-tenth of an inch in breadth ;
breast orange ; abdomen green, growing yellow towards the vent ;
lower flank-feathers dark green with yellow edges, lower tail-coverts
deep cinnamon-red, flanks and inner surface of wings slaty grey.
The female is green, the forehead, sides of head, and lower parts
paler and brighter; no grey, lilac, nor orange on the head, neck,
or breast ; lower tail-coverts very broadly edged with buff : other-
wise like the male.
Bill dull white or pale plumbeous ; irides with three rings, the
outer buff or pink, the next prussian-blue, the inner ultramarine ;
legs and feet pink (Davison).
Length about 11 ; tail 4 ; wing 5'8 ; tarsus '8 ; bill from gape *8.
The female is slightly smaller.
Distribution. From Siam, Cochin China, and the Malay Peninsula,
throughout the Malay Archipelago to the Philippines and Celebes.
This Green Pigeon is found in Southern Tenasserim as far north
as Mergui.
Genus BUTRERON, Bouap., 1854.
Bill thicker and higher than even in Treron, but the rhampho-
theca, though occupying more than two-thirds of the culmen, does
not extend back to the feathers of the forehead. Sexes differing
slightly, but there is no red on the back of the male. Sinuatiou
of third primary less than in Crocopus, but still well marked. Tail
rounded, lower tail-coverts extending to the ends of the outer
rectrices. A single species.
1280. Butreron capellii. The large Thick-billed Green Pigeon.
Columba capellei, Temm. PI. Col. pi. 143 (1823).
Treron capellei, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 848; id. Cat. p. 228;
Hume, S. F. viii, p. 67.
14 COLUMBIDJE.
Butreron capellii, Bonap. Consp. AD. ii, p. 9 ; Anderson, Jour. Linn.
Soc., Zool xxi, p. 152 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 32.
Coloration. Male. Olive-green above, with a greyish tint, fore-
head paler; upper tail-coverts and middle tail-feathers brighter and
yellower ; on the tertiary quills the olive passes into the blackish
slaty of the primaries, secondaries, and greater coverts ; greater
and median coverts and inner secondaries, not tertiaries, with
bright yellow outer edges ; outer tail-feathers black with broad
grey tips, some green appearing on those near the middle pair ;
lower parts paler olive than upper ; .upper breast dull yellowish
orange ; lower tail-coverts brownish maroon, lower flank-feathers
with buff edges ; wing inside slaty grey.
The female has a yellowish patch on the breast, much paler
than in the male, and the under tail-coverts are olive with buff
edges.
Bill pale green ; irides dark brown : legs and feet yellow
(Nicholson) ; irides golden yellow (Hartert).
Length about 16 ; tail 5 ; wing 8 ; tarsus !•! ; bill from
gape 1-4.
Distribution. Mergui Archipelago, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra,
Borneo, and Java. A single specimen was obtained on Elphinstone
Island, near Mergui, by Dr. Anderson.
Genus TRERON, Vieill., 1816.
Two species, one of which is found in the Himalayas and Burma,
differ from the other Green Pigeons in having the whole culmen
of the upper mandible formed by the horny portion or rhampho-
theca, no soft basal area intervening between the hard part and
the frontal feathers. There is a small naked area round the eye.
The tail is slightly rounded at the end, and the lower tail-coverts
extend almost to the end of the tail. The inner web of the third
primary is sinuate. The plumage closely resembles that of Osmo-
treron phayrei, and there is the same difference between the sexes.
1281, Treron nepalensis. The Thick-billed Green Pigeon.
Toria nipalensis, Hoays. As. Res. xix, p. 164, pi. ix (head and foot),
(1836) ; Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burm. p. 143.
Treron nipalensis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 847 ; id. Cat. p. 228 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 445; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. 2,
p. 371 ; Hume fy Oates, S. F. iii, p. 160; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi,
p. 410 ; Hume, Cat. no. 771 : Binyham, S. F. ix, p. 193 ; Hume
$ Inglis, ibid. p. 257 ; Oates, B. B. ii. p. 306; Hume, S. F. xi,
p. 289; Salcadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) v, p. 619; vii, p. 423;
id. Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 34.
Treron nepalensis, Oates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 370.
Thoria, Nepalese.
Coloration. Male. Forehead ashy grey, growing darker on the
SPHENOCEF.CUS. 15
crown, passing on the nape into the green of the neck all round,
with the sides of the head, chin, and lower surface ; back, scapulars,
and most of the lesser wing-coverts chestnut ; tertiaries, median
coverts, and some of the outer smaller coverts olive ; greater
coverts and primary and secondary quills black, median and greater
coverts and tertiaries with broad, secondaries with narrow yellow
borders ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail above green, generally
brighter than the neck ; outer tail-feathers above grey, with a
black band, below black, with a very broad grey tip ; flanks darker
green, with white edges ; wing-lining slaty grey ; under tail-coverts
pale cinnamon.
Female green on the mantle instead of chestnut, and with the
lower tail-coverts whitish with dark green bars.
Base of upper mandible bright red, rest of bill pale yellowish to
greenish white ; irides orange, with an inner deep blue ring ;
orbital skin pea-green ; legs and feet lake-pink to coral-red.
Length about 10'5; tail 3'3 ; wing 5'75 ; tarsus '8; bill from
gape '95.
Distribution. Rare in the Eastern Himalayas at low elevations
as far west as Nepal, occasionally in Lower Bengal, in Eastern
Bengal and Assam, throughout the Burmese countries in the
hill-tracts, and sometimes in the better-wooded parts of the low
country ; this species is also found in Siam and Cochin China, the
Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines.
Habits, &fc. Very similar to those of other Green Pigeons. This
bird is equally gregarious and social : it has a hoarse note, uttered
when feeding, and also a fine mellow7 whistle. The nest and eggs
resemble those of Crocopus, and the breeding-season in Tenasserim,
where Bingham met with several nests, was at the end of February
and in March. An egg measured 1*13 by '89.
Genus SPHENOCERCUS, G. E. Gray, 1840.
This genus much resembles Osmotreron in coloration, but is
distinguished by having a much longer and graduated tail, and by
wanting the sinuation on the inner web of the third primary.
The under tail-coverts are as long as the outer tail-feathers or
longer. The rhamphotheca, or hard horny part of the bill, is
shorter than the soft basal portion.
Eight species are enumerated in Salvadori's Catalogue ; of these
two are Himalayan and Burmese, the others range through the
greater part of the Oriental region east of India.
Key to the Species.
Middle tail-feathers acuminate and extending
generally 2 to 3 in. beyond the next pair S. apicicauda, p. 16.
Middle tail-feathers not acuminate, extending verv
little beyond next pair 8. sphenurus, p. 16.
16 COLUMBID.E.
1282. Sphenocercus apicicauda. The Pin-tailed Green Pigeon.
Treron apicauda, Hodf/s., Bli/th, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 854 (1845).
Sphenocercus apicaudus, Blyth, Cat. p. 230 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii,
p. 454; Godw.-Amt. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. Ill; Wold, in
Blyttts Birds Burin, p. 144 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 415 ;
Hume, Cat. no. 779 ; S. F. xi, p. 292 j Stuart Baker, Ibis, 1896,
p. 356.
Spheiiocercus apicicauda, Oates,B. B. ii, p. 305; Salvad. Ann. Mus.
Civ. Gen. (2) vii, p. 424 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 5.
Sang-pong, Lepcha.
Coloration. Male. General colour green, tinged with yellow on
crown and sides of head, rump, and upper tail-coverts and under-
parts; hind neck greyish; upper breast tinged with orange and
slightly washed with pink ; lower flank-feathers with buffy-white
edges ; under tail-coverts cinnamon, with more or less buffy white
on the outer webs ; primaries and secondaries blackish grey, with
very narrow yellow outer edges ; tertiaries green like the coverts ;
both tertiaries and greater coverts more broadly bordered with
yellow outside ; whole wing inside dove-grey ; tail-feathers grey,
extreme base of all and tips of middle pair green ; outer feathers
with a broad black band across the basal half.
Female. The orange tinge on the breast is wanting ; there is
generally much more buff on the edges of the under tail-coverts
and some green about the shafts.
Bill dull smalt-blue; irides with an inner ring of pale bright
blue and an outer ring of buffy pink ; orbital skin blue : legs, feet,
and claws crimson-pink (Davisoti).
Length of male about 16'5 ; tail 8'5 ; wing 6-5 ; tarsus -85 ;
bill from gape 1. Females have a shorter tail: length 14-5;
tail 7.
Distribution. The Himalayas, below 5000 or 6000 feet, as far
west as Kumaun, the Assam and Manipur hills, and those of
Northern Tenasserim from Karennee to Mooleyit.
Habits, $c. The nest, according to JVlr. C. IStuart Baker, is a
small stick platform on a sapling or a bush, and contains normally
two eggs, measuring on an average T30 by '96. This bird is only
known to occur in hill-forests ; it keeps in flocks and feeds on
fruit, generally amongst high trees. The call-note is a melodious
whistle similar to that of the next species, but less musical. This
Green Pigeon breeds in Cachar throughout April, May, and June.
1283. Sphenocercus sphenurus. The Kokla Green Pigeon.
Vinago sphenura, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 173.
Vinago cantillans, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii, p. 166 (1843) (caged
variety).
1868, p. 372 ; Stoltczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvn, pt. 2, p. 65; Godw.-
Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. Ill ; xlv, pt. 2, p. 203 ; Hume $
Senders. Lah. to Yark. p. 270 ; Hume, N. §• E. p. 494 ; Hume $
SPHENOCERCUS. 17
Gates, S. F. iii, p. 163 ; Wold, in BlytKs Birds Burm. p. 144 ;
Hume $ Dav. S. F, vi, p. 415 ; Hume, Cat. no. 778 ; Scully, S. F.
viii, p. 339 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 304 ; Marshall, Ibis, 1884, p. 421 ;
Hume, S. F. xi, p. 292 ; Oates in Humes N. 8? E. 2nd ed. ii,
p. 377; Sharpe, Yarkand Miss., Aves, p. 114; Saluadori, Cat. B. M.
xxi, p. 8.
Sphenocercus minor, Brooks, S. F. iii, p. 255 (1875).
Kokla, Kokila, H. ; Kuhu, Lepcha.
Coloration. Male. Head, neck, and lower plumage yellowish
green, tinged with rufous on the crown, and with orange and a
wash of pink on the upper breast ; upper back greyish, passing
into maroon-red on middle of back and lesser wing-coverts ; rump,
upper tail-coverts, median and larger wing-coverts and exposed
portion of tertiaries olive-green ; primaries and secondaries blackish,
both they and the greater wing-coverts narrowly bordered outside
with yellow; upper surface of tail olive-green like rump, the outer
feathers more and more grey ; lower surface of wings and tail
dark grey ; lower flauks and thigh-coverts dark green with pale
yellow edges ; lower tail-coverts varying from pale cinnamon to
buff.
The female lacks the orange on the crown and breast and the
maroon on the back arid wings, the latter parts being dark green
like the rump ; under tail-coverts dark green with broad buif
borders.
In birds that have moulted in confinement, the green is replaced
by pearl-grey. A bird thus coloured was described by Blyth as
Treron cantillans.
Bill dull smalt-blue, horny portion pale blue ; orbital skin pale
smalt ; hides with an inner ring of pale bright blue and an outer
ring of buffy pink (Davison).
Length about 13 ; tail 5 ; wing 7 ; tarsus -85 ; bill from gape '9.
Distribution. The Himalayas as far west as Murree at elevations
between 4000 and 7000 feet, west of Nepal only in summer; also
the Assam and Manipur hills and the hill-1'orests of Pegu and
Tenasserirn as far south as Mooleyit.
Habits, $c. This is a somewhat less gregarious bird than most of
the Green Pigeons, and is generally seen in pairs or small parties.
It feeds on fruit, and has a peculiarly agreeable note, more pro-
longed and melodious than that of Crocopus, and it is often kept
caged by natives for the sake of its song, which though sweet
is monotonous. It breeds from April to July, and lays two white
eggs on the usual platform-nest in a tree. The eggs measure
about 1'18 by *89. After the breeding-season, the bird leaves the
Western Himalayas and apparently migrates eastward, for it
remains throughout the year in Nepal and farther east.
VOL. IY.
18 COLUMBIDJE.
Subfamily CARPOPHAGINJE.
This subfamily contains the largest Indian species of the order,
known in India as Imperial Pigeons. Like the Treronince, they
are fruit-eaters and live entirely in trees, and they have similar
feet; but they differ greatly from the Green Pigeons and approach
the CoJumbince in plumage and also in anatomy, as they have an oil-
gland and an ambiens muscle. They^ are also distinguished by
laying in general only a single egg, a peculiarity repeated, as will
be noticed presently, by a genus ot the Columbine subfamily. The
tail-feathers are 14 in number.
The bill is proportionately larger than in Treronince, and the
gape very wide, enabling these pigeons to swallow fruits of con-
siderable size. All are forest birds ; and the whole group, which
ranges from India to Polynesia, is chiefly insular in its distribution.
Even of the six species here included, two are found, within our
area, only in the islands of the Bay of Bengal.
Key to tlie Genera.
a. Head, neck, and lower parts grey.
a'. IVlantle green ; inner primaries normal . . OARPOPHAGA, p. 18.
b1 . Mantle not green ; inner primaries
obliquely truncated DUCULA, p. 20.
b. Plumage entirely white and black MYHISTICIVOBA, p. 23.
Genus CARPOPHAGA, Selby, 1835.
In Carpophaga the bill is long and slender, depressed and soft
at the base, the horny tip being much shorter than the soft basal
portion. "Wings long, primaries normal. Tail rather long,
Fig. 4. — Sole of foot of Carpophaga cenea. \.
rounded at the end. Tarsus short, stout, feathered for hnlf its
length; toes stout, very broad beneath. No yellow on the
wings ; mantle metallic green ; head, neck, and lower parts grey.
Sexes alike.
A large genus, widely distributed in the Oriental and Australian
regions. Two species occur within our limits.
CAIIPOPHAGA. 19
Key to the Species.
Mantle bronze-green ; grey parts tinged with pink. . C. ccnea, p. 10.
Mantle dark green, not bronzed ; no pink tinge .... C. insularis, p. 20.
1284. Carpophaga aenea. The Green Imperial Pigeon.
Golumba Eenea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 283 (1760).
Columba sylvatica, Tickell, J. A. S. B. ii, p. 581 (1833).
Carpophaga renea, Jerdon, Madr. Jour. L. S. xii, p. 11 ; Gould,
P.Z. & 1859, p. 150; Walden, Ibis, 1873, p. 314; Hume, S. F.
ii, p. 260 ; Sail, S. F. ii, p. 424 ; iv, p. 235 ; v, p. 418 ; vii, p. 224 ;
Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burm. p. 144 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 496 ;
Armstrong, S. F. iv. p. 337 ; Inylis, S. F. v, p. 39 ; Hume $ Dav.
S. F. vi, p. 416 ; Hume, Cat. no. 780 ; Binyham,, S. F. ix, p. 194 ;
Parker, ibid. p. 481 ; Leyye, Birds Ceyl. p. 718 ; Oates, B. B. ii,
p. 301 ; Anderson, Jour. Linn. Soc., Zool. xxi, p. 152 ; Hume,
S. F. xi, p. 294; Oates in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 366 ;
Davidson, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. v, p. 329 ; ix, p. 489 ; Saluadori,
Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 190.
Carpophaga sylvatica, Bli/th, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 856 ; xxvii, p. 270 ;
id. Cat. p. 231 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 455 ; Myth, Ibis, 1867,
p. 248 ; Beavan, ibid. p. 332 : Blanford, J. A. S. B. xxxviii, pt. 2,
p. 188.
Carpophaga pusilla, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xviii, p. 816 (1849) ; id. Cat.
p. 232 ; Layard, A. M. N. H. (2) xiv, p. 58 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867,
p. 148 ; Hume, Cat. no. 780 ter.
Dunked or Dumkal, Sona Kabutra, Barra harial. H. ; Poaonna, Mai. ;
Kukurani guwa, Tel. ; Maratham prda, Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Maha nila yoya,
Matabatayoya, Cing.
Coloration. Head, neck, find lower parts to vent ashy grey with
a pink tinge ; forehead and chin whitish ; back, rump, upper tail-
coverts, and outer surface of wings bronze-green, often bluish or
purplish in patches ; tail bluish green above ; primaries and
secondaries blackish above, more or less grey on the outer webs ;
rectrices and quills beneath dull brown with a yellowish tinge;
under tail-coverts liver-coloured (dark dull maroon).
Bill grey, the region of the nostrils dull red ; irides red ; edges
of the eyelids, legs and feet purplish red (Gates').
Length 17 : tail 6-5 ; wing 9 ; tarsus 1-1 ; bill from gape 1'4.
There is considerable variation in size, and specimens from Travan-
core and Ceylon (C. pusilla) have the wings only 8 to 8'5 inches
long.
Distribution. In the Peninsula of India this Pigeon is found
only in the forest-region east of long. 80° from the Ganges to a
little south of the Godavari, and in the Malabar coast region as far
north as Canara. It may occur near Bombay, but this is doubtful *.
* There is in the British Museum a specimen labelled Bombay from Sykes's
collection, but the species is not recorded in Sykes'a li.Kt, and a specimen
of the Himalayan Dendrotreron hodgsoni, also from Svkes's collection, occurs
similarly labelled. Butler, in the ' Bombay Gazetteer,' says that Carpophaga
tenea was included in Major Lloyd's Konkan list and that he may have seen it
once himself at Khandala. But neither Fairbauk nor Vidal records it.
C2
~0 COLUMBIA.
I can find no trustworthy record of the Imperial Pigeon's
occurrence in the Carnatic, Mysore, the Central Provinces west
of 80° E. long., the Bombay Presidency north of Canara, nor in any
part of Northern India west of the Eajmehal hills and Sikhini.
This species is, however, common in Ceylon, and is found from
the base of the Eastern Himalayas in Sikhim and Bhutan through-
out Assam, Burma, and the Malay countries and islands to the
Philippines, Borneo, Java, and Flores.
Habits, <$fc. A forest bird, chiefly found in hilly country at low
elevations, sometimes associating in Hocks, but more often seen
singly or in parties of two or three. Like all members of the
family it is purely a fruit-eater, it keeps much to high trees, and
it rarely descends to the ground except to drink, which it does in
the morning and afternoon. I have myself seen it drinking at
the latter time. Jerdon found it visiting the Malabar coast with
Ducula cuprea. The call is a low guttural dissyllabic note. This
bird is one of the best of all Indian pigeons for the table. The
nest is the usual flimsy platform of straw and sticks, and one egg
is usually laid, but two are said to have been observed. An egg
measured 1-8 by 1'32. The breeding-season in Ceylon (Legne) and
near the Godavari (Jerdon) is in April and May, in the Andamans
July (Wimbeeley), in Tenasserim February and March (Bingham).
1285. Carpophaga insularis. The Nicobar Imperial Pigeon.
Carpophaga sylvatica (Tickell), var., Blyth, J.A.S. B. xv, p. 371.
Carpophaga insularis, Bli/th, J.A.S.B. xxvii, p. 270 (1858); id.
Ibis, 1868, p. 133: Ball, J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2. p. 32 : id. S. F.
i, p. 79 ; Hume, S. F. ii', p. 262 ; iv, p. 291 ; id'. N. # E. p. 496 ;
id. Cat. no. 780 his ; Gates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 367 ;
Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 185.
Coloration. Similar to that of C. cenea, except that the grey of
the head, neck, and lower parts is purer, without any pink or
vinous tinge ; the back, rump, and wings are dark metallic bluish
or purplish green, the tail being still darker and more purplish
above ; the quills are nearly black above, and the lower tail-coverts
dull rufous-brown.
Bill pale plumbeous, paler at tip, darker at base ; irides red,
varying in tint ; eyelids pale lavender ; legs and feet deep pink to
livid purple (Hume).
Length about 18-5 ; tail 6-5 ; wing 10 ; tarsus 1*2 ; bill from
gape 1*6.
Distribution. Peculiar to the Nicobar Islands.
Habits, Sj'c. Similar to those of C. cenea : the breeding-season,
according to Davidson, is in February and March.
Genus DUCULA, Hodgson, 1836.
This differs from Carpopliaga in having the inner primaries
obliquely truncated at the end so that the outer web projects
DUCULA 21
beyond the shaft, in the tail being somewhat longer with a broad
pale band at the end, and in the absence of any green on the back,
wings, and tail, which are rufous-brown in the Indian species.
Five species are known, of which three (perhaps four) occur
within Indian limits. They are hill birds, Jiving in forests at
considerable elevations, but otherwise they resemble Qarpophayci
iii habits.
Key to the Species.
a. Breast and abdomen pale ashy grey.
a'. Crown and hind neck lilac I), insignis, p. 21.
b'. Crown french-grey, hind neck lilac .... I), yriseicapilla, p. '22.
b. Breast and abdomen lilac 1). cuprea, p. 22.
1286. Ducula insignia. Hodgson s Imperial Pigeon.
Ducula insignia, Hodgs. As. Res. xix, p. 162, pi. ix (head and foot)
(1836).
Carpophaga insignis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 855 ; id. Cat. p. 232 ;
Jerdon, B. /. p. 457 ; Godiv.-Aust. J. A. ti. B. xliii, pt. 2, p. 171 ;
xlv, pt, 2, p. 83 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 496 ; id. S. F. iii, p. 328 ; xi,
p. 29o ; id. Cat. no. 781 ; Gates in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii,
p. 368 j Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 216.
Dukul, H. in Nepal ; Fomok, Lepcha.
Coloration. Forehead ashy ; crown, sides of head, nape, and
hind neck pale lilac, passing on the upper back into coppery
brown, which passes into greyish olive-brown on the wings and
scapulars ; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts blackish grey ;
tail above blackish grey at the base, becoming black beyond the
coverts, terminal third or rather less light brownish grey, the
feathers much paler beneath throughout and the terminal third
light ashy; primary and secondary quills black above, blackish'
brown beneath ; chin and throat white ; breast, abdomen, and
wing-lining pale ashy grey ; under tail-coverts pale buff.
Bill and legs intense sanguine, terminal hard portion of the
former and the nails dusky brown ; orbital skin slaty, merging into
purple ; iris hoary or blue-grey (Hodgson).
Length about 20; tail 7*5; wing 9-5; tarsus 1-25; bill from
gape 1-5.
Distribution. Himalayas of Nepal, Sikhim, and Bhutan, at
moderate elevations (about 2000-6000 feet) ; also Assam and the
Hills south of the valley *.
Habits, fyc. Very similar to those of Carpophaga cenea, the note of
this Pigeon being even deeper. It is said to lay a single egg from
May to July. An egg measures 1-72 by 1-28.
* The bird from North Cachar described as C. insignis by Lieut. Beavan in
Godwin-Austen's paper (J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. ill), I think, must have
been C. cenea. It was only 16'5 inches long, had a slate-coloured head and
dark red irides, and no mention is made of a pale terminal band on the tail.
22
1287. Ducula grissicapilla. The Grey-headed Imperial Pigeon.
Carpophaga insiguis, apud Blytli, Cat. p. 232, part. ; id. J. A. S. B.
xxviii, p. 416 ; Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burm. p. 144, nee Ducula
insignis, Hodys.
? Carpophaga sp., Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, pp. Ill,
Ducula p-riseicapilla, Wald, A. M. N. H. (4) xvi, p. 228 (1875) ; id.
Ibis, 1875, p. 459 ; Hume, S. F. iii, p. 402 ; Wardl.-Rams. Ibis.
1877, p. 467.
Carpophaga griseicapilla, Davison, S. F. v, p. 460 ; Hume 8f Dav.
S. F. vi, p. 418; Hume, Cat, n«. 781 ter ; Gates, B. B. ii,
p. 302 ; id. in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 369 ; Hume, S. F.
xi, p. 295; Hartert, J. f. O. 1889, p. 433; Salvadori, Cat. B. M.
xxi, p. 217.
Coloration. Very similar to that of D. insignis, from which the
present species differs in having the crown and sides of the head
pure french-grey, darker than the lower parts and contrasting
strongly with the pinkish grey or reddish lilac of the hind neck.
The upper back and smaller wing-coverts are more coppery and
the rump darker and less grey than in D. insignis.
Bill reddish plum-colour, pale at the tip ; irides greyish white,
orbits grey-brown (Wardlaiv-Ramsay)-, legs and feet purplish
lake; soles whity-brown (Hume}. Measurements as in D. in-
signis.
Distribution. Hill-ranges of Assam, Manipur, Arrakan, and
Tenasserhn. In the Assam ranges some birds appear to be inter-
mediate between this and D. insignis. Specimens (referred to
insignis) from Arrakan were presented by Sir A. Phayre to the
Asiatic Society in 1844.
Habit*, dfc. Those of the genus. An egg obtained by Davison
on Mooleyit, west of Moulmeiu, on January 27th measured 1-61
by 1-15.
This bird may, like the next species, visit the sea-coast at
particular seasons, and if so is probably the pigeon seen by
Davison at Mergui in August (S. 1\ vi, p. 417). Hume suggests
that the species was the Malaccan D. badia, which may be known
by its smaller size and coppery-red mantle.
1288. Ducula cuprea. Jerdon's Imperial Pigeon.
Columba cuprea, Jerdon, Madr. Jour. L. S. xii, p. 12 (1840).
Carpophaga insignis, apud Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 457 (partini) ;
Davidson, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. v, p. 329.
Carpophaga cuprea, Hume, S. F. iii, p. 3'28 ; Hume $• Bourd. S. F.
iv, p. 403 ; Hume, Cat. no. 781 bis ; Bourd. S. F. ix, p. 303 ;
Davisnn, S. F. x, p. 407 : Tat/lor, ibid, p. 464 ; Gates in Humes
N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 368 : Davidson, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi,
•1>. 340 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 215.
Coloration similar to that of D. insignis, except that the back
and wings are dull olive-brown, without ruddy or coppery tinge ;
the rump is dark grey more or less tinged with olive, and the
MYRISTICIVOHA.. 23
terminal fourth of the tail is brownish grey above ; the chin and
throat are white, the rest of the head and neck, with the breast
and abdomen are lilac ; the lower abdomen tinged with ochreous ;
lower tail-coverts maize, and wing-lining dark slaty grey.
Bill dull lake-red at the base, slaty at the tip ; orbits lake-red ;
irides red-brown ; legs dull lake-red (Jerdon).
Length about 17 ; tail 7 ; wing 9 ; tarsus 1-2 ; bill from gape
1-3.
Distribution. The hill-ranges near the Malabar coast from
Canara to Cape Comorin.
habits, fyc. Tho?e of the genus. Jerdon, the discoverer of this
bird, found it visiting the coast near Cannanore in large numbers
during the months of April and May for the purpose of feeding
on the buds of Avicennia and other plants peculiar to salt-water
swamps. At other times of the year it keeps to the hill-forests,
in which it breeds, according to the observations of Messrs. F. W.
Bourdillon and I. Macpherson, from March to May, at the same
season that Jerdon found it visiting the coast. Davidson took an
egg in Canara on February 13th. The nests are of the usutil
kind, in small trees, 10 to 15 feet from the ground, and one egg
is laid, measuring about 1-73 by 1'29.
Genus MYEISTICIVORA, Keichenb., 1852.
This genus is distinguished from all its allies by its extra-
ordinary coloration ; white, with parts of the wing and tail
black, or, in some species, grey. The tail is shorter than in
Carpophaga. Five species are known, ranging from the Andanians
and Nicobars to Australia, but only one comes within British
Indian boundaries.
1289. Myristicivora bicolor. The Pied Imperial Pigeon.
Columba bicolor, Scop. Del. Flor. et Faun. Insubr. ii, p. 94 (1786).
Carpophaga myristicivora, apud Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 371 ;
Beacan, Ibis, 1867, p. 332 ; Ball, J. A. 3. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 32 ;
nee Columba myristicivora, Scop.
Carpophaga bicolor, Blyth, Cat. p. 232 ; Feheln, Norara Reue,
Vd(j. p. 107; Ball, 8. F. i. p. 79; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 264; It/.
N. $ E. p. 496; Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1875, p. 108; Biyth, Birds
£urm. p. 145; Hume 3* Dav. S. F. \\, p. 418; Hume, Cat.
no. 781 quint. : Oates, B. B. ii, p. 303 ; id. in Hume's N. $ 77.
2nd ed. ii, p. 369.
M\ ristieivora bicclor, Bonap. Consp. Av. ii. p. 36 ; Walden, 'Irans.
Z. S. ix, p. 217 ; Salcadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 227.
Coloration. Creamy white, except the primaries and secondaries
(the tertiaries are white), greater primary-coverts, winglet, the
terminal half of the median tail-feathers and a gradually dimin-
ishing proportion on the outer rectrices, which are black ; the
white extends far down the shaft and middle of the outermost
24 COLUMBIA.
pair of tail-feathers, whilst the black runs up the outer margin
sometimes for three-fourths of the length.
Bill leaden-blue, the tip darkish horny or dark plumbeous:
irides dark brown ; legs and feet pale smalt-blue (D(tvison).
Length about 16 ; tail 5'5 ; wing 9 ; tarsus 1-2 ; bill from
gape 1-4.
Distribution. From the Andamans and Nicobars through the
Malay Archipelago to New Guinea and Australia, where a local
form (M. spilorrhoa) occurs. This Pigeon breeds on the Nicobars
and is a seasonal visitant to the Andamans, Cocos, Narcondam,
Barren Island, and according to BlythTto the Mergui Archipelago,
but not, so far as is known, to the mainland of Tenasserim.
According to Dr. Maingay, this species also visits the islands only
on the coast of the Malay Peninsula.
Habits, <Sfc. Though found in great numbers at the Nicobars,
this bird, according to Davison, is irregularly distributed, being
very common in some islands but absent in others. In some it
keeps much to mangrove swamps. It lays a single egg iu January,
February, or March, and makes the usual platform nest on man-
groves. A single egg obtained by Captain Wimberley measured
1*78 by 1'25. The bird is a fruit-eater, and in its general habits
closely resembles Carpophaya.
Subfamily CALCENADIN^E.
The Nicobar Pigeon, which with an allied species forms the
present subfamily, agrees with the Carpophagince in having an
oil-gland and ambiens muscle, but no intestinal ca3ca ; it ditfers
in having only 12 tail-feathers, long tarsi, elongate feathers on the
neck, and metallic plumage.
Genus CALCENAS, G. E. Gray, 1840.
The genus Caloenas is distinguished by its long neck-hackles,
longest and narrow on the back of the neck, disintegrated and
hair-like on the occiput and fore neck. The bill is large and the
apical portion curved ; it bears a fleshy protuberance, larger in
males than in females, at the base of the culmen ; the wings are
long and pointed ; tail of 12 feathers, short and rounded ; feet
strong; tarsus naked, stout, longer than the mid-toe without claw.
Only two species are known, of which one inhabits -the Nicobar
Islands.
1290. Caloenas nicobarica. The Nicobar Pyjeon.
Columba nicobavica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 283 (1766).
Caloenas nicobarica, G. R. Gray, List Gen. B. p. 59 (1840) ; Blyih,
Cat. p. 238 ; id. J. A. S. B. xxviii, p. 274 ; Ball, J. A. S. B.
CAIXEXA8. 25
xxxix, pt. 2, p. 32 ; id. S. F. i, p. 81 ; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 271 ; Blyth,
Birds Burm. p. 147 ; Hume Sf Dan. S. F. vi, p. 425 ; Hume, Cat.
no. 798 bis ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 299 ; id. in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed.
ii, p. 365 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 615.
Coloration. Head and neck dark slaty grey, most of the neck-
hackles the same, but the longest hackles and the upper plumage
generally rich metallic green, changing to coppery bronze; outer
wing-coverts and outer borders of quills steel-blue ; primary and
secondary quills, except on their outer upper borders, black ; tail
with longer upper and lower coverts white ; lower parts dark
metallic green, purplish on upper breast.
Fig. 5. — Head of C. nicobarica. £.
Young birds want the hackles, and the tail is bronzy green,
while the plumage generally is duller.
Bill and fleshy base deep blackish grey ; irides deep brown :
feet pinkish lake to dull purplish lilac : claws yellow (Hume}.
Length about 16; tail 3*5; wing 1O25 ; tarsus 1*7; bill from
gape 1'5.
Distribution. The Malay Archipelago from the Nicobars to the
Solomon Islands. This bird apparently never visits the Continent ;
it abounds on the Nicobars and breeds in numbers on the island of
Batty Malve and perhaps on some of the other islands. It has
been sent from the Cocos north of the Andamans, and a single
individual was once seen by Davison near Aberdeen in South
Andaman. It is also said to visit the Mergui Archipelago.
Habits, tyc. This grand Pigeon roosts and builds its nest on
trees, but feeds entirely on the ground on seeds. Its flight is
heavy ; it is a silent bird, but occasionally utters a hoarse croak.
It makes the usual nest, a platform of twigs on a tree, and lays a
single pure white egg, minutely pitted throughout, not glossy, and
measuring about 1'84 by 1'27.
26 COLUMBIA.
Subfamily PHABIN.E.
This is a very ill-defined group, containing a number of African,
Indian, and Australian Doves, agreeing in anatomy with Caloenas,
and having like it 12 tail-feathers, but distinguished by the
restriction of the feathers with a metallic lustre to the mantle, and
by the absence of neck-hackles.
Genus CHALCOPHAPS, Gould, 1843.
One of the most beautiful of the Indian Columbidce, the Bronze-
winged, or, as it is sometimes called, the Emerald Dove, easily
recognized by its bronzed metallic green mantle, is the sole repre-
sentative within our area of Chalcophap*, a genus containing about
6 species and langing from the Himalayas and Malabar to Australia.
The bill is slender; the wings moderately long, with the 2nd and
3rd quills longest ; the tail, of 12 feathers, is considerably shorter
than the wing, and slightly rounded ; the tarsus slender and bare,
about equal to the middle toe in length, and the feet adapted for
ground habits. Sexes differing in plumage.
1291. Chalcophaps indica. The Bronze-winged Dove.
Columba indica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 284 (1766^.
Chalcophaps indica, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 859 ; id. Cat. p. 237 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 484; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 151; Beacun,
ibid. p. 332; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 112;
Ball, S. F. i, p. 80 ; Walden, Ibis, 1873, p. 315; Hume, N. $ E.
p. 509 ; id. S. F. ii, p. 269 ; Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burm. p. 147 ;
Hume $ Bourd. S. F. iv, p. 404 ; Ii ylis. S. F. v, p. 40; Fairbank,
ibid. p. 409 ; Butler, ibid. p. 503; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 424 ;
Anders. Yunnan Exped., Ai:es, p. 667; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 225;
Cripps, ibid. p. 298 ; Hume, Cat. no. 798 ; Leyye, Birds Ceyl. p. 714 ;
Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 75; Binyham, ibid. p. 195 ; Butler, ibid. p. 421 ;
Reid, ibid. p. 500 ; Davison, S. F. x, p. 408 ; Taylor, ibid, p. 464 ;
dates, B. B. ii, p. 297 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 293 ; Hume, S. F.
xi, p. 300 ; Gates in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 363 ; Salcadori,
Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 514.
Chalcophaps au<nista, Bonap. Consp. Av. ii, p. 92 (1854) ; Blyth,
Ibis, 1868, p. 133; Ball, S. F. i, p. 81.
Ram yhuyu, Raj-yhuau, Beng. ; Andi-bella-yuwa, Tel. ; Pathaki prdu,
Tarn., Ceylon; Nila Kobeya, Cing. ; Ka-er, Lepcha; Mati-Kupohu,
Assamese ; Gyo-Sane, Burmese.
Coloration. Male. Forehead and supercilia white, passing into
the dark bluish grey of the crown and nape ; sides of head and
neck all round deep vinous red ; a few grey feathers or sometimes
a narrow grey band down the back of the neck ; upper back, wing-
coverts, scapulars, tertiaries, and outer webs of secondaries metallic
emerald-green changing to coppery bronze ; small wing-coverts
near edge of wing vinous grey, separated by a narrow white bar
from the green ; greater primary-coverts, primaries, and secon-
daries dark brown, inner borders of quills near base and the wing-
lining chestnut ; lower back coppery bronze with two pale grey
cross-bands, the hinder bordering the rump, which is dark grey
CHALCOPHAPS.
97
with blackish edges to the feathers ; tail blackish brown, outer two
or three pairs of feathers grey, with a broad subterminal black
band : lower parts deep vinous, paler on throat and abdomen,
lower tail-coverts dark grey.
Fig. 6.— Head of C. indica. \.
Female. Forehead and supercilia pale grey ; crown, nape, hind
neck, and sides of neck brown tinged with vinous, smaller wing-
coverts near edge of wing brown, the white bar absent or
scarcely perceptible ; upper tail-coverts rufous-brown with dark
edges, middle four rectrices blackish brown, next two pairs rufous
near the base, outer two pairs grey near the base and at tips as in
the male; lower surface brown with a vinous tinge; back and
wings as in male. Young birds are at first dull brown above, with
very little green, and are barred rufous and dark brown beneath.
Bill red : iris dark brown ; eyelids plumbeous : legs dusky red,
claws pale horn-colour (Oates}.
Length about 10-5; tail 3'75 ; wing 5'75; tarsus 1 ; bill from
gape '9.
Distribution. Throughout the Lower Himalayas as far west as
Mussooree, and probably Kashmir (Adams, P. Z. 8. 1859, p. 187)
from the base to about 6000 feet elevation, also Lower and Eastern
Bengal, the forest tracts between the Ganges and the Mahanadi
(and probably as far south as the Godavari), east of lat. 80° E.,
and the forests near the Malabar coast from Cape Comorin to the
neighbourhood of Bombay, but, so far as I can ascertain, nowhere
else in India ; certainly not, as Jerclon states, throughout India.
This dove is found in Ceylon, also in the Andamans and Nicobars,
and is generally distributed from Assam, throughout the Burmese
countries, Malay Peninsula and Archipelago to New Guinea, and
through South China to the Philippines.
Habits, $c. This beautiful Dove is found only in forests and
damp thickly-wooded parts of the country, and is generally solitary.
It is far from shy and may be seen feeding on forest paths, along
which or along stream-beds it dashes with great swiftness when
disturbed, but it usually flies only a shnrt distance and seldom or
never rises far from the ground. It feeds on berries and seeds
picked up from the ground, and its call is low, plaintive, and
prolonged. It breeds from January or February to July, and has
probably two broods ; the nest, more saucer-shaped than that of
other doves, is a comparatively neat structure of roots, grass, or
twigs without lining. The eggs are creamy white to very pale
buff, two in number, and measure about 1-1 by '85.
28 COLUMBID^.
Subfamily COLUMBINE.
The common Pigeons and Doves appear to be the least specialized
anatomically of the whole order, for they retain the ambiens
muscle, intestinal caBca, and oil-gland that so many of their allies
have lost. All have 12 rectrices. They exhibit considerable
differences and have been variously arranged, the true Doves of
the genus Turtur being generally placed in a distinct subfamily
from Columba, but there is no structural character of importance,
internal or external, by which the two can be separated.
Keif to the Genera.
a. Tail less than § wing in length.
a1. Neck-feathers not acuminate, dark bars
on secondaries COLUMBA, p. 28.
b'. Neck-feathers acuminate, no dark bars
on secondaries DENDROTRKRON, p. 32.
b. Tail not longer than wing, but exceeding
§ of it.
c'. Larger, no white tips to tail-feathers ;
tarsus shorter than mid-toe without
claw.
a". A white bar, conspicuous beneath,
across tail PALUMBUS, p. 34.
b''. No white bar across tail ALSOCOMUS, p. 35.
a'. Smaller ; white or grey tips to tail :
tarsus longer than mid-toe without
claw.
c". Sexes alike; 2nd and 3rd quills
longest TURTUR, p. 39.
d". Sexes different ; 1st and 2nd quills
longest (ENOPOPELIA, p. 47.
c. Tail longer than wing and much graduated. MACROPYGIA, p. 48.
Genus COLUMBA, Linn., 1766.
This is the typical genus of the Columbine order, and contains
the Rock-Pigeons or Rock-Doves and their allies. The Wood-
Pigeons have been alternately included in the genus, as in Salvadori's
Catalogue, and classed apart ; but the latter plan is here followed,
as according better with the generic arrangement adopted in other
orders. The division of this group of Pigeons into genera of equal
value is a difficult task, although simpler when only the Pigeons of
a restricted area need arrangement than when all the known
species require to be classified.
In the genus as here defined the corneous portion of the bill is
slender, the soft basal part swollen above the nostrils, which are
linear and oblique ; the wings are long and pointed, 2nd quill
longest (except in C. rupestris, in which the 1st exceeds the 2nd),
1st much longer than 4th ; the tarsus is naked and longer than the
bill from the gape, and the feet are formed for walking, the toes
COLUMBA. 29
being slender and the soles narrow. The tail is short, scarcely
projecting beyond the ends of the closed wings, and measuring
half as much as the wing in length or a little more. Sexes alike.
Plumage chiefly grey, with distinct black or dusky cross-bars on
the secondaries and their coverts.
The Eock-Pigeous associate in large flocks and mostly make
their nests on rocks or buildings. The Stock-Doves make nests in
the hollows of trees or in rabbit-burrows.
Key to the Species.
a. Neck-feathers with metallic gloss; lower parts
grey.
a'. Bill blackish ; legs red.
a" . No white band across tail.
a3. Lower back grey like rump C. intermedia, p. 29.
b3. Lower back white C. livia, p. 30.
b". A white band across tail C. rupestris, p. 30.
//. Bill and legs yellowish C. eversmanni, p. 31.
b. Neck and lower parts white, no metallic gloss . C. leuconota, p. 32.
1292. Columba intermedia. The Indian Slue Rock-Pigeon.
Columba intermedia, Strickl. A. M. N. H. xiii. p. 39 (1844) j Blyth,
Ball, S. F. ii, p. 425 ; iii, p. 203 ; vii, p. 224 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 499 ;
Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 698 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 3 ; Hume $ Dav
S. F, vi, p. 419 ; Cripps, 8. F. vii, p. 296 ; Hume, Cat. no. 788 ;
Scully, S. F. viii, p. 339 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p 74 ; Butler, ibid.
p. 419 ; Barnes, ibid. p. 457 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 91 • Reid
S. F. x, p. 59 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 288 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 289 •
Hume, S. F. xi, p. 297 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 173 ; Gates in
Humes N. fy E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 344 ; Salvador}, Cat. B. M. xxi
p. 259.
Columba livia, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 233 ; id. Birds Burm. p. 145 •
nee Bonn.
Kabutar, H. ; Pdrawd, Mahr. ; Gudi pourai, Tel. ; Kovilpura, Tam. •
Mdda-prda, Tam., Ceylon.
Coloration. Slaty grey, the neck glossed all round with metallic
green, changing to purplish red, the latter prevailing on the upper
breast ; back, scapulars, and wings more ashy, no white band on
the lower back; ruinp, upper tail-coverts, and tail darker ; two bars
of black across the wings, one on the greater coverts, the other
formed by the tips of the secondaries, and a broad band on the
tertiaries ; tail with the terminal fourth blackish and the basal
three-quarters of the outer web in the outermost rectrices white ;
axillaries, bases of quills, and inner part of wing-lining white or
very pale grey.
Bill black, with a white mealiness at the tumid base of its upper
mandible ; irides brownish orange ; lids bluish white, and legs
reddish pink (Blyth).
30 COLUMBID-E.
Length about 13 ; tail 5 ; wing 9 ; tarsus 1-2 ; bill from gape 1.
Distribution. Throughout India and Ceylon, except in forest or
on high hills, ranging west to Southern Persia and east to China
and Japan ; rare in Burma, wanting in Tenasi-erira and probably
in Pegu, but found in Upper Burma.
Habits, $c. A bird haunting rocky cliffs, old buildings, walls,
and, when encouraged, human habitations generally, nesting in all
the places named and, in Western and North- western India espe-
cially, in wells. Tim Indian Pigeon is most common in cultivated
country, and feeds on grain and seed*. It is, as Blyth has shown,
the wild species, from which the numerous breeds of domestic
pigeons, peculiar to India, are derived. Pigeons are generally
protected by natives of India, both Hindus and Mahomedans ;
in Bajputana they are regarded as almost sacred birds and no one
is allowed to kill them. They breed in Northern India from
December to May, later in the south, and lay two eggs in a hole
in a cliff, wall, temple, tomb, or \vell. Eggs measure 1-45 by 1*12.
1293. Columba livia. The Blue Rock-Pigeon.
Columba livia, Bonnaterre, Encycl. Meth. i, p. 227 (1790); Blyth,
("at. p. 233 pt. ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 218 ; Cripps, S. F. vii, p. 296 ;
Columba neg'lecta, Hume, Lah. to Yark. p. 272 (1873).
Coloration. This, the Blue Bock-Pigeon or Eock-Dove of
Europe, differs from the Indian C. intermedia only in having the
lower back (not, as sometimes stated, the rump) white. Usually,
too, the general tint is paler.
Distribution. The Western Palacarctic region, with Afghanistan,
Baluchistan, Sind, the Punjab, Kashmir, and occasionally other
parts of Northern India. The birds found in North-western
India are usually intermediate between the two races, and have a
comparatively narrow white or whitish band on the lower back,
riot a broad band like European birds.
1294. Columba rupestris. The Blue Hill- Pigeon.
Columba cenas, var. 8 rupestris, Pall. Zooyr. Rosso-Asiat. i, p, 560
(1811).
Columba rupestris, Bonap. Consp. Av. ii, p. 48 (]854) ; Moore.
P. Z. S. 1859, p. 400 : Jcrdon, B. 1. iii, p. 470 ; Stoliczka, J. A. 8. B.
xxxvii, pt. 2. p. 66 ; Hume, Cat. no. 789; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881,
p. 92 : Scully, ibid. p. 584 : C. H. T. Marshall, Ibis, 1884, p. 421 ;
Sharpe, Yarkand Miss., Aves, p. 116; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi.
p. 250.
Columba livia, var., Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 497 ; 1859, p. 187.
Columba rupicola, apud Hume fy Renders. Lah. to Yark. p. 273 ;
Scully, S. F. iv, p. 1 76.
Coloration very similar to that of C. livia ; but the upper
COLUMBA. 31
surface is slightly paler, and the lower breast, abdomen, and lower
tail-coverts are pale ashy grey, the upper breast is tinged with
lilac, and there is a broad white band across the middle of the
tail. The lower back is white, as in C. livia; the rump and upper
tail-coverts dark slaty grey.
The wing is very pointed, the 1st quill being as long as the
2nd or longer.
Bill black; iricles golden red : feet lobster-red (Stoliczka).
Length about 13 ; tail 5 ; wing 9 ; tarsus I'l ; bill from gape '95.
Distribution. Central Asia from Gilgit to South Siberia and
Corea: common in Tibet and in some of the drier valleys of the
higher Himalayas. This Pigeon has been recorded from Gilgit,
Dras, Leh, and the Upper Indus A7alley generally Lahaul, Upper
Kumaun and Tibet north of Sikhim,but specimens labelled Kashmir,
Sikhim, and Darjiling in the British Museum Collection probably
come from more northern localities.
Habits, $c. This Pigeon has generally been se*n associating in
flocks with C. livia. Its habits are similar; Marshall found it
breeding on cliffs in the Pangi Valley (Upper Chenab).
1295. Columba eversmanni. The Eastern Stock-Pigeon.
Oolumba eversmanni, Bonap. Compt. Rend, xliii, p. 838 (1856) ;
Sharpe, Yarkand Miss., Aves, p. 116; Saloadori, Cat. B. M. xxi,
p. 264.
Palumboena eversmanni, Bli/th, J. A. S. B. xxvi, p. 219 ; Jerdon,
B. 1. iii, p. 467 ; Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 374 : Ilitme, S. F. i, p. 217;
id. fy If end. Lah. to Yark. p. 271, pi. xxxi ; id. Cat. no. 787 ;
C. H. T. Marshall, Ibis, 1884, p. 421 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 288 :
Reid, 8. F. x, p. 59.
Palumboena oenieapilla, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxvi, p. 219.
The Indian Stock-Pigeon, Jerdon : Kamar-Kidar, H.
Coloration ashy grey ; crown and hind neck and breast tinged
with lilac ; sides and bark of lower neck glossed with metallic
green, changing to reel lilac, but less distinctly than in C. livia ;
back and scapulars with tips of quills brownish ; three imperfect
black bars, often indistinct or interrupted, on the secondaries and
their coverts; lower back white; rump and upper tail-coverts
leaden grey, often with darker edges ; base of tail also leaden grey,
terminal third blackish, crossed by a paler grey band on the outer
feathers ; basal portion of outer web of outermost rectrices white ;
axillaries and inner part of wing-lining white.
Bill pale yellowish green, base of lower mandible and gape
slaty ; irides dark yellow ; legs and feet yellowish fleshy (Hume}.
Length about 12 ; tail 4; wing 8 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from gape '9.
Distribution. A migratory bird, breeding and passing the summer
in Central Asia, and visiting the Punjab, Sind, the North-western
Provinces, and Oudh in winter. It is the E istern representative
of C. cenas, the Stock-Pigeon or Stock-Dove of Europe, a much
larger bird with a proportionally longer tail.
32 COLUMBIA.
Habits, fyc. The Eastern Stock-Dove is met with in India in
considerable flocks, feeding in small parties in the fields by day,
and roosting on trees at night. It arrives about November and
leaves India in March.
1296. Columba leuconota. The White-bellied Pigeon.
Columba leuconota, Vigors, P. Z S. 1831, p. 23; Gould, Cent.
pi. 59; myth, J. A. 8. B. xiv, p. 864 ; id. Cat. p. 234; Adams,
P. Z. S. 1858, p. 497, 1859, p. J87 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 471 ;
Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 66 ; Stanford, J. A. S. B.
xli, pt. 2, p. 70; Elwes, P. Z. IS. 1873, p. 659 ; Hume 8f Benders.
Lah. to Yark. p. 274 ; Brookes, S. F. iii, p. 256 ; Hume, Cat.
DO. 790 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 340 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 92 ;
Scully, ibid. p. 584 ; C. H. T. Marshall, Ibis, 1884, p. 421 ; Sharps,
Yarkand Miss., Aves, p. 116; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 249.
" Snow pigeon " of Himalayan travellers ; Bvjul, Chamba ; Lho-peu-
rintiep, Lepcha ; Bya-den, Bhot.
Coloration. Head all round very dark slaty grey ; neck all round
white, passing into the light earthy brown of the upper back,
smaller \ving-coverts, scapulars, and tertiaries ; rest of outer
surface of wing ashy grey, with three dark brown bands on the
secondaries and their coverts ; quills brown at the ends ; lower
back white ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail blackish brown, the
tail with a broad whitish cross-band just beyond the upper coverts
on the middle rectrices, but nearer the ends in the outer feathers,
subterminal and oblique in the outermost pair ; lower parts from
the throat white, tinged with greyish lilac on the Hanks, wing-
lining, and lower abdomen ; under tail-coverts pale ashy.
Bill and claws horny black ; irides yellow ; feet bright light red
(Scully).
Length about 13*5; tail 5; wing 9'5 ; tarsus 1-2; bill from
gape 1.
Distribution. Throughout the higher Himalayas from. Gilgit to
Bhutan, at elevations of 10,000 to 14,000 feet in summer, but
descending to lower elevations in winter. To the north-east the
range of this bird extends to Kansu.
Habits, <$fc. This Pigeon, in summer at all events, is usually to
be seen in flocks about rocky hill-sides. I found it irregularly
distributed in Upper Sikhim, common in places, rare in others at
the same elevation. I never heard its call, nor apparently has any
other observer, and its nidification appears not to have been
noticed, except that Lieut. Cordeaux says that he found it breeding
amongst inaccessible crags in the Ai Nullah, Kashmir, in August.
Genus DENDROTRERON, Hodgson, 1844.
This genus was proposed for a peculiarly-coloured Himalayan
Pigeon which appears to stand apart from all other Asiatic species.
An African form, D. arquatrix, is closely allied and congeneric, and
DENDROTREROX. 33
another well-known African bird, Columba guinea, may perha.ps
be referred to the same genus, though it differs in some characters.
The genus Dendrotreron has a longer tail, a shorter and more
feathered tarsus, and broader soles than true Columba, and thus
resembles the Tree-Pigeons. The plumage is very different from
the latter ; there is no metallic gloss on any part of the plumage,
the neck-feathers are acuminate, and the neck-patches and tail-
bands of Paluinbus are wanting.
The members of the present genus are not fruit-eaters like
Alsocomus, but live on berries and seeds. The African bird makes
a nest on trees in mountain ravines and is said to lay two eggs.
1297. Dendrotreron hodgsoni. The Speckled Wood-Pigeon.
Columba hodgsonii, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 16 ; Blyth, J. A. S. B.
xiv, p. 867 ; Salvador}, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 274.
Columba nipalensi^, Hodgson, J. A. 8. B. v, p. 122 (1836).
Deudrotreron hodgsoni, Hodys. in Gray's Zool. Mine. p. 85; Hume,
N. $ E. p. 497.
Alsocomus hodo-sonii, Blylh, Cat. p. 2-33 ; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 233 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 463; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2,
p. 65 ; Blanford, J. A. S. B. xli, pt, 2, p. 70 ; Hume, Cat. no. 783 ;
Scully, S. F. viii, p. 339 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 91 ; Scully, ibid.
p. 583 ; Oates in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 346.
Coloration. Male. Head and upper neck all round ashy grey ;
feathers of lower neck lanceolate, the edges and tips grey, the
basal and middle parts of each feather blackish ; the grey edges
gradually disappearing., and the colour of the feathers passing on
the base of the hind neck into the claret-red of the upper back
and of most of the smaller wing-coverts, the red passing again
into dark grey on the middle and greater coverts, the middle
coverts speckled with white ; quills, primary-coverts, and scapulars
dark brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts dark leaden grey ; tail
blackish brown : on the lower parts the grey of the neck is also
gradually replaced by claret, which appears first on the upper
breast in the middle of each feather, then gradually overspreads
the lower breast and part of the abdomen ; lower abdomen, lower
tail-coverts, and wing-lining deep slaty grey.
In the female the grey of the head is brownish and the red of
the back and breast much browner and duller. Size rather
smaller.
Bill purplish black; irides hoary; orbital space livid ; legs and
feet blackish green in front, yellow behind ; claws pale yellow
(Jet'don).
Length about 15 ; tail 5-75 ; wing 9'25 ; tarsus '9 ; bill from
gape 1.
Distribution. Throughout the Himalayas from Kashmir to
Moupin in Eastern Tibet at considerable elevations, from 10,000
to 13,000 feet in summer, but at a lower level (6000-9000) in
winter.
VOL. IV. D
34 COLUMBIDjE.
Habits, cfv. A shy bird, usually seen in small flocks amongst the
pine-forests and feeding on berries. The nidification is unknown.
According to Irby, some nest on inaccessible cliffs in Kumaun.
Genus PALUMBUS, Kaup, 1829.
The Wood-Pigeons differ from the Rock-Pigeons in shape,
having longer necks and tails, the latter two-thirds the length of
the wing or more, and projecting some distance beyond the ends
of the closed wimgs, whilst the tafsus is partly feathered and
proportionally shorter than in Columba. The wing is more
rounded than in Columba, the 1st quill scarcely exceeding or not
exceeding the 4th. There are no dark bars on the wings, but
there is a pale band on the outer tail-feathers.
Typical Ring-Doves or Wood-Pigeons are more or less migratory
birds that keep in flocks and feed on grain, acorns, buds, &c.
They always lav two eggs and make their nests on high trees.
One species is Indian.
1298. Palumbus casiotis. The Eastern Wood-Pigeon,
Hiny-Dove, or Cusliat.
Palumbus torquatus, v&T.,Blyth, Cat. p. 233 ; Adams, P. Z. S. 1858,
p. 497.
Palumbus easiotis,- Bonap. Consp. AT. \\, p. 42 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii,
p. 464; Stolicska, J. A. S. 13. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 66 • Cock $ Marsh,
ti. F. i, p. 358 ; Hume, N. 8f E. p. 497 ; id. Cat. no. 784; Butler,
S. F. viii, pp. 386, 500 ; ix, p. 298 ; Wardl. Rams. Ibis, 1879,
p. 448 ; Marshall, Ibis, 1884, p. 421 ; Barnes, S. F. ix, pp. 218,
457 ; Swinhue, ibid. p. 237 ; Gates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. ii,
p. 346.
Columba casiotis, Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 91 ; Scully, ibid. p. 583 ;
Swinhoe, Ibis, 1882, p. 117 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 173; Salmdori,
Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 302.
The Himalayan Cushat, Jerdon ; Dhanud, H. (Charaba).
Coloration. Head and neck dark ashy grey ; sides and back of
lower neck glossed with metallic green, changing to purplish red,
especially at the sides towards the shoulders ; a large buff spot on
each side of the neck near the body ; back, scapulars, quills, and
the wing-coverts near the back brownish grey; primaries with
narrow white outer borders ; vvinglet and primary-coverts blackish ;
a broad longitudinal white band from the angle of the wing over
the outer secondary coverts ; lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts,
and base of tail above dark ashy grey ; the tail beyond the upper
coverts blackish ; beneath the tail is nearly black, with a broad
whitish-grey band across the middle ; breast pale lilac or vinous
grey, passing into ashy grey on the abdomen and lower tail-
coverts ; wing-lining ashy.
Bill orange at the tip, whitish at the base ; feet red (Jerdon).
Irides yellowish white (Biddulph).
ALSOCOMUS. 35
Length about 17; tail 6'75; wing 10'25 ; tarsus 1'25; bill
from gape !•!.
Distribution. This Wood-Pigeon replaces the European bird
(P. torquatus), which only differs in having white instead of buff
neck-spots, in Central Asia and North- western India. It breeds
in the North-western Himalayas from the Afghan frontier to
Kumaun and in the higher hills (wherever there are trees) of
Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and Southern Persia, and it visits Kan-
dahar, Quetta, the Punjab, and occasionally Sind in winter.
Habits, $c. Wood-Pigeons are chiefly found about high trees, on
which they perch at intervals and roost, but they teed on the
ground on grain, seeds, acorns, young shoots, &c. They collect in
large flocks and migrate extensively, and, in some countries,
regularly. The call is of four syllables, low and moaning. This
species breeds in May and June, and lays the usual two white
eggs on a small loosely-constructed platform of small twigs in a
bush or tree, often at no great height above the ground. Eggs
measure about 1*6 by 1*1.
Genus ALSOCOMUS, Tickell, 1842.
There are several Indian non-migratory Pigeons that resemble
Palumbus in structure, but that have the habits of Oarpophaga.
They are forest-haunting, fruit-eating birds, and they lay a single
egg in all cases in which the nidification is known. Some have
been referred to Palumbus, others to lanthoenas, and one has
generally in India been regarded as a Carpophaga, though its
structure is that of the Columbines. All are distinguished by dark
coloration and by the prevalence of changeable metallic gloss,
usually green or amethystine, on a great part or the whole of the
plumage. Although some differences of plumage exist and the
group might be subdivided, there is sufficient agreement to justify
the retention of the whole under Tickell's generic name Alsocomus,
which would in this case comprise lanthcenas. Besides the species
here enumerated several Pigeons of the Malay Archipelago, Japan,
and even of Oceania belong to this genus.
Key to the Species.
a. A patch of black feathers with white tips
at back of neck.
«'. Lower parts grey A. elphinstonii, p. 06.
b' , Lower parts lilac A. torrinff tonics, p. 36.
b. Glossy buff feathers, black at base, ex-
tending round neck A. pulchricollis, p. 37.
c. No patch of white- or buff-tipped feathers
on neck.
c'. Mantle chestnut A. piwiceu*, p. 38.
d'. Mantle blackish A. palumboides, p. 39.
D2
36 OOLTJMBID^E.
1299. Alsoconms elphinstonii. The Nilgiri Wood-P'ujeon. ,
Ptilinopus elphin-tonii, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 149; Jerdon, Madr.
Jour. L. S. xii, p. 11.
Columba elphinstonii, Blt/th, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 866; Jerdon, lit.
Ind. Orn. pi. 48 ; Salva'dori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p 304.
Palumbus elphinstonei, Blyth, Cat. p. 233 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii,
p. 405; Hume, N. 8f E. p. 498; Morgan, Ibis, 1875, p. 323;
Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 262 ; v, p. 408 ; Bourdillon, S. F. iv, p. 404 ;
Hume, Cat. no. 786 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 74 ; Butler, ibid. p. 419 ;
Davtson, S. F. x, p. 407 ; Maegmgwt ibid. p. 440 ; Terry, ibid.
p. 479; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 288 ; Oates in Hume's N. > E.
2nd ed. ii, p. 347.
Coloration. Crown, sides of head and neck, and nape prey, with
a slight metallic gloss ; a large patch on the hind neck ot' black
feathers, with glossy edges and white tips ; back reddish brown,
glossed with reddish lilac changing to metallic green ; wings
blackish, most of the lesser and median coverts with brown edges ;
rump and tail blackish brown, feathers of the former with glossy
edges ; lower parts grey ; chin and throat whitish ; breast ashy
with a slight gloss, the abdomen slightly tinged with lilac ; lower
tail-coverts slaty ; wing-lining dark slaty grey.
Corneous part of bill and claws horny white ; fleshy part of bill,
eyelids, legs, and feet pink ; irides pale yellowish red to red-brown
(Davison).
Length about 16*5; tail 6; wing 8*5 ; tarsus 1; bill from
gape 1-1.
Distribution. The higher parts of the Western Ghats or Syhadri
hill-ranges near the Malabar coast from Mahableshwar to Cape
Comorin, in forest. On the Nilgiris this Pigeon is only found
above about 5000 feet in the sholas.
Habits, &fc. This bird has very much the habits of Carpophaya ;
it keeps to the woods singly or in small parties and feeds on frnit,
buds, and, according to Jerdon, snails. It occasionally descends
to the ground outside the forest to feed. It breeds from March
to July, builds the usual loose platform of sticks on large trees in
dense forest, and lays one egg measuring about 1-5 by 1-1.
1300. Alsoconms torringtoniae. The Ceylon Wood-Pigeon.
Palumbus elphinstonei, var., Blyth, J. A. S. B. xx, p. 178 (1851).
Palumbus torringtonii, Kelaart, Prodrom. Faun. Zeyl. pp. 107, 130
(1852), descr. nulla : Bonap. Consp. Av. ii, p. 42 (1854); Blyth,
Ibis, 1867, p. 306 ; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 424 ; id. Cat. no. 786 bis ;
Oates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 348.
Palumbus torringtoniae, Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872; p. 466 ; Legge,
Birds Ceyl. p. 693, pi. xxx.
Columba torringtoniae, Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 303.
Mila-goya, Cing.
Coloration. Very similar to that of the last species, but the
crown and lower parts are more lilac and the brown of the mantle
ALSOCOMUS. 37
is wanting. The head and neck are greyish lilac with a lilac gloss,
changing to green ; the large nuchal patch is black with white
spots ; the base of the neck and upper back are richly glossed
with reddish lilac ; the rest of the upper plumage, including the
interscapulary region with the wings and tail, blackish brown with
a slight gloss ; the rump more leaden grey ; lower parts reddish
grey ; chin whitish ; breast dark, glossed with reddish lilac,
abdomen paler, under tail-coverts darker, and wing-lining blackish
brown .
Basal half of bill plumbeous ; apical or corneous portion bluish ;
irides pale red; orbital skin pink ; tarsus red, paler behind; claws
fleshy white (Leyye).
Length about 14; tail 5-25 ; wing 7*5; tarsus *95 ; bill from
gape I'l.
Distribution. Peculiar to the hill forests of Ceylon.
Habits, 6fc. This also is a fruit-eating bird rarely found away
from, forests. It has, according to Legge, a fine deep note, but not
so guttural as that of the Imperial Pigeon. It drinks in the
morning about 9 A.M. It is said to breed both in spring and
autumn, and to place its nest on high trees.
1301. Alsocomus pulchricollis. The Ashy Wood-Pigeon.
Columba pulchricollis, Hodgs. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 85 (1844),
descr. nulla; Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 866 (1845); Salvadori,
Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 305 ; Stuart Baker, Ibis, 1896, p. 355.
Palumbus pulchricollis, Blyth, Cat. p. 233 ; Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 4G5 ;
Hume, Cat. no. 785.
The Darjiling Wood-Pigeon, Jerdon ; Ka-o, Lepcha.
Coloration. Head above and at the sides ashy grey with a slight
gloss ; round the neck a conspicuous collar of feathers, black at
the base, largely tipped with glossy buff, whitish at the extreme
end ; lower neck all round and upper back blackish, richly glossed
with changeable metallic green and reddish lilac ; middle of back,
wings, and tail blackish brown ; lower back and rump blackish
leaden grey ; chin white, becoming buff on the throat and passing
into the glossy collar ; breast dark slaty blue glossed with green
and dull lilac, passing on the abdomen into the brownish buff of
the vent and lower tail-coverts ; wing-lining blackish.
Bill livid at the base, yellow at the tip ; irides yellow ; legs dull
red, claws yellow.
Length about 14 ; tail 5-25 ; wing 8'25 ; tarsus '9 ; bill from
gape '95.
Distribution. The Eastern Himalayas in Nepal and Sikhim at
elevations from 7000 to 10,000 feet cr higher, and at a lower
elevation in the Cachar hills. The only other known locality is
the island of Formosa. A rare bird.
Habits, 6fc. Two nests taken at Hungrum in Cachar on June 22nd
by Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker were the usual rough platforms of
sticks nearly 9 inches in diameter, sparsely lined with feathers—
38 COLUMMD.I:.
a remarkable character. Each contained a single egg, one measuring
1-55 by 1-15, the other 1-5 by 1-17.
1302. Alsocomus pnniceus. The Purple Wood- Pigeon.
Alsocomus puniceus, Tickell, Blyth, J.A. S. B. xi, p. 461 (1842) ;
~ '
S. F. xi, p. 296.
Coluroba pnnicea, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv, pp. 867, 878 ; Salvador*,
Cat. B. M. xxi,p. :jOfi.
Fig. 7. — Head of A. puniceus. }.
Coloration. Male. Lores, forehead, crown, and nape greyish
white ; neck, cheeks, and throat dull chestnut ; upper and lower
back, wing-coverts, tertiaries, and scapulars rich chestnut ; rump
and upper tail-coverts dark slaty grey ; quills and tail-feathers
blackish brown, some of the quills grey on the outer webs ; lower
parts, including under wing-coverts, vinous chestnut ; under tail-
coverts dark slaty grey ; the whole plumage with a changeable
metallic gloss, green and amethyst, which is peculiarly strong on
the hind neck and upper back, and on the edges of the back and
rump-feathers and of the upper wing-coverts.
Female rather smaller and duller in plumage, the head above
browner grey with a lilac gloss.
Horny portion of bill bluish white ; rest of bill and gape lake-
pink; irides orange; eyelids bright red; orbital skin purplish
pink ; legs and feet pale purplish or lake-pink (Davison). Claws
pale yellow (Jerdori).
Length about 16 ; tail 6'5 ; wing 9 ; tarsus '9 ; bill from gape
1-05. Tenasserim birds are slightly smaller, wing 8-5.
Distribution. Sparingly distributed throughout Burma and the
adjoining countries from Assam and Cachar to Cochin China and
the Malay Peninsula, but not in the Himalayas, though this Pigeon
TURTUR. 39
is found in South-eastern Bengal, in Manbhum and Siughbhum,
and as far west as Sirguja. A specimen appears to have been
obtained by Layard in Ceylon, but it was probably an accidental
straggler, as the species is unknown in Southern India.
Habits, fyc. A fruit-eating Pigeon, generally seen singly or in
small parties of not more than five or six in forest, especially on
the banks of streams or in groves of trees in well-wooded cultivated
country. The call, according to Bingham, is not unlike that of
Carpophaga cenea, but not half so loud. Gates found a nest of a
few twigs on a bamboo, 10 feet from the ground, and containing a
single fresh egg, on July 27th. The male bird was sitting and the
egg measured 1'47 by 1*15.
1303. Alsoconms palumboides. The Andaman Wood-Pigeon.
CarpophaQ-a palumboides, Hume, 8. F. i, p. 302 ; ii, pp. 263, 498 ;
iii, p. 327 ; iv, p. 292 ; id. Cat. no. 781 quat.
lanthoenas palumboides, Walden, Ibis, 1873, p. 315, pi. xiii.
lanthcenas nicobarica, Walden, A. M. N. H. (4) xiv, p. 157.
Columba palumboides, Salcadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 308.
Coloration. Male. Head and neck all round whitish grey, with
slight metallic gloss, the neck rather darker and the lower hind
neck with a metallic emerald-green gloss, remainder of upper parts
blackish; quills blackish brown; rump and up per tail-coverts dark
slaty grey ; borders of feathers on back, wing-coverts, rump, and
upper tail-coverts with an amethystine gloss, changing to green ;
lower parts from neck slaty grey, with slight metallic greenish and
purplish gloss ; wing-lining dark slaty.
In the \ female the head and neck are slightly darker grey than in
the male. In the young (lantliosnas nicobarica} the head and neck
are still darker and brownish, and the colour throughout duller.
Bill pale whitish yellow, basal portion lake-red ; irides orange,
externally light red ; naked orbital region pinkish lake ; legs and
feet red, paler behind ; soles whitish ; claws white.
Length about 16 ; tail 6-5 ; wing 9'5 ; tarsus I'l ; bill from
gape 1-5.
Distribution. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Habits, fyc. This is also a fruit-eating species, so closely re-
sembling CarpopJiaga in appearance and habits that it was referred
to that genus by Hume. It is found singly or in small parties on
the Andamans and Mcobars, keeping much to high trees ; it has
a loud, deep note.
Genus TURTUR, Selby, 1835.
Head small ; bill slender, the horny apex of the upper mandible
much shorter than the soft basal portion. Wing long, pointed,
2nd or 3rd quill longest. Tail rather long, but not exceeding the
wing in length, rounded or somewhat graduated. Tarsus longer
than middle toe ; foot formed for walking, soles of toes narrow.
Sexes similar.
40 COLTJMBID^E.
The true Doves are represented by seven species in British India,
and some of these are amongst the commonest and best-known
birds of the country. They have the flight of Pigeons, but are
less gregarious, and they feed on the ground almost entirely on
grain and other seeds. As a rule they are chiefly found in open
and cultivated country. They breed on low trees and bushes and
make a slight nest of the usual type, consisting of thin twigs or
grass, arranged in a kind of platform, so loose and disconnected
that the eggs can generally be seen from below. The eggs are
always two in number, white and glossy.
This genus contains nearly 30 species spread over Europe, Asia,
and Africa.
Fig. 8. — Sole of foot of T. surafensis. }.
Keif to the Species.
a. A patch of black feathers with white or grey
tips on each side of the neck.
a'. Tips to black neck-patch grey.
a". No white on abdomen; under tail-coverts
and tips of tail-feathers slaty grey . . T. orientalis, p. 40.
b". Middle of abdomen, under tail-coverts,
and tips of tail-feathers white or whitish. T.ferrago, p. 41.
b'. Tips to black neck-patch white T. communis, p. 42.
b. A collar of bUck feathers, each ending in two
white spots, round back of neck.
c'. Back distinctly spotted with rufou? T. suratensis, p. 4.').
d' . Back indistinctly or not spotted T. tiyrinws, p. 44.
A collar of black feathers with ferruginous
tips round front of neck T. cambnyetisis, p. 4-~>.
. A black collar without white tips round back
of neck T. risorms, p. 40.
1304. Turtur orientalis. The llvfous Turtle-Dove.
Colutnba orientalis, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, p. COG (1790).
Columba rupicola, Pall. Zooyr. Rosso-Asiat. i, p. 506 (1811).
Columba meena, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 149.
Columba agricola, Tickell, J. A. S. B. ii, p. 581 (1833).
Columba gelastis, Temm. PI, Col. pi. 550 (1835).
Turtur meena, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 875 ; Jcrdon, B. I. iii,
p. 476; Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 375; Godw.-Anst. J. A. S. B.
xxxix, pt. 2, p. 272; xlv, pt. 2, p. 83; Hume, Ibis, 1870, p. 438 ;
id. Lah. to Yark. p. 277 ; id. N. $ E. p. 501 ; id. S. F. iii, p. 163 ;
Bh th $ Wald. Birds Bunn. p. 146 ; Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 262 ;
Butler, ibid. p. 420; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 292 ; Swinh. $ Barnes,
TUIITUR. 41
Ibis, 1885, p. 130 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 290 ; Hume, S. F. xi,
p. 298 ; Otdes in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd t- 1. ii, p. 3/50.
Turtur orientalis, Bli/th, Cat. p. 236 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves,
p. 66b' ; &?M%, & ^. viii, p. 340 : Wardl. Rams. Ibis, 1880, p. 69 ;
Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 40-3.
Kala fakhta, Baskofakhta, II. ; Sam yhiigu, Beng. ; Yedru poda guwa,
Tel.
Coloration. Head, neck, and back brown, more or less suffused
with vinous, the edges of the feathers sometimes rufous, the crown
and forehead often tinged with bluish grey ; on each side of the
neck a patch of black feathers tipped with bluish grey ; lesser
and median coverts, scapulars, and tertiaries blackish with broad
ferruginous borders : primary and larger coverts brown, tinged
with grey ; quills brown, with linear pale outer edges ; lower back
and rump slaty grey ; upper tail-coverts brown ; tail-feathers
blackish brown, all except the median pair tipped with slaty grey,
the border of the outer web on the outermost pair also grey ;
lower parts vinous, chin and middle of throat paler ; vent, under
tail-coverts, and wing-lining dark slaty grey.
Young birds want the neck- patch ; they are browner and less
rufous than adults, and have pale borders to the feathers of the
back, wing-coverts, and breast.
Bill brown, with a tinge of vinous on the basal half; irides
orange ; eyelids pale blue ; edges of eyelids red ; legs vinous red ;
claws black (Oates).
Length about 13 ; tail 5; wing 7 ; tarsus '85 ; bill from gape 1.
Distribution. A resident species, ranging from the Eastern
Himalayas, through out Assam and Burma, to Northern Tenasserim ;
found also in Bengal, Chutia Nagpur, Central India, and the
Deccan north of about 15° N. lat., but not in the Himalayas west
of Nepal, the N.W. Provinces, ncr Eaiputana, except as an
occasional straggler. To the north-eastward this Dove ranges to
Manchuria, Corea, and Japan.
Habits, 6fc. Although it moves about to some extent, this is not
a truly migratory bird like the next two species. It is more often
seen in flocks than Indian doves generally are, but it is on the
whole not a common bird. It has a very deep, thrice-repeated
note. Hume thinks that the breeding-season is from December
to April ; the eggs are of course two in number, white, glossy, and
oval.
1305. Turtur ferrago. The, Indian Turtle-Dove.
Columba fervago, Evcrsm. Add. Pall. Zooar. Itoss.-Asiat. fasc. iii,
p. 17 (1842).
Columba pulchvara, Hodys. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 85 (1844), descr.
nulla.
Turtur rupicolus, ap\td Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 476 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867,
p. 149; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 66; Beavan, Ibis,
1868, p. 374; Hume, Ibis, 1870, p. 438; Cock $ Marsh. S. F. i,
p. 358 ; Adam, ibid. p. 390 ; Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 262 ; C. H. T.
Marshall, Ibis, 1884, p. 421 ; nee Columba rupicola, Pall.
42 COLUMBIA.
Turtur vitticollis, apud Hume Sf Renders. Lali. to Yark. p. 274, nee
Hodys.
Turtur pulchrata, Hume, N. $ E. p. 500 ; Butler, S.. F. iv, p. 3 ;
Hume, Cat. no. 792; Leave, Birds Cei/l. p. 711 ; Sutler, S. F. ix,
p. 420 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 60 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 315 ; Davison,
ibid. p. 407 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 290 ; Davidson, Jour. Bom.
N. H. Soc. v, p. 330.
Turtur ferrago, War dl. Rams. Ibis, 1880, p. 68; Scully, Ibis, 1881,
p. 584 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1882, p. 286 ; Sakadori, Cat. B. M. xxi,
p. 401.
Turtur pulchrala (Hodus.}, Oates in Humes If. 8f E. 2nd ed. ii,
p. 349.
The Ashy Turtle-Dove, Jerdon ; Koin, Chamba ; Hulaaud, Mahr.
Coloration similar to that of T. orientalis, except that the middle
of the abdomen is whitish and the vent, lower tail-coverts, tips of
the tail-feathers, and outer webs of the outermost rectrices are
white or very pale grey. The general coloration, as a rule, is slightly
less rufous and the head greyer. The tips of the feathers of the
neck -patches are grey, as in T. orientals.
Bill blackish : legs dull purple-lake (Jerdon}. Irides light orange
(Barnes}.
Length 13 ; tail 5-25 ; wing 7'25 ; tarsus '85 ; bill from gape 1.
Distribution. This Dove breeds in the Himalayas from Afghanistan
to Sikhim, and also throughout a large area in Central Asia, in-
cluding Turkestan and South-western Siberia ; it visits Northern
India in the winter, avoiding the desert tracts, and is found as far
south as the Deccan ; whilst rare stragglers have been obtained by
Davidson in the Wynaad and by one or two observers in Ceylon.
Some skins from Nepal and occasionally from the plains of India
are intermediate between this and T. orientalis ; but generally the
two forms are easily distinguished, though closely allied.
Habits, fyc. Very similar to those of the last species, except that
this is a distinctly migratory bird and is less social, though some-
times seen in flocks. It breeds at elevations of 4000-8000 feet in
the Himalayas from May to August, and lays the usual two oval,
white, glossy eggs, measuring about 1-22 by -93, on a smnll plat-
form of twigs on a tree. Davidson found a nest that he believed
to belong to this species in the Satpuras, north of Khandesh, in
March.
1306. Turtur communis. The Turtle-Dove.
Columba turtur, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 284 (1766).
Turtur communis, Selby, Nat. Libr., Ornith. v, pp. 153, 171 (1835),
descr. nulla ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 174.
Turtur auritus, Ray, G. R. Gray, List Gen. B. p. 58 (1840) ; Hume #
Henders. Lali. to Yark. p. 278 ; Scully, S. F. iv, p. 177; Biddulph,
Ibis, 1881, p. 92 ; Scully, ibid. p. 585 ; Sivinhoc, Ibis, 1882, p. 117.
Turtur turtur, Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 396.
Coloration. Head and neck bluish grey above, and the tips of
the black feathers forming the neck-patches white instead of grey;
breast lilac rather than vinous ; abdomen white, the flanks ashy;
TURTUR. 43
whole outer webs of outermost pair of tail-feathers pure white
like the tips ; lower tail-coverts also pure white. In other respects
this species is identical with T. ferrago in colouring, but it is
considerably smaller.
Bill greyish black ; orbital skin purple ; iricles orange-yellow ;
legs and feet purplish red ; claws black (Scull;/}.
Length about 11; tail 4*5; wing 6'5 ; tarsus *85; bill from
gape *85.
Distribution. Migratory in the Western Palaearctic region, visiting
Northern Africa, Southern Persia, &c., in winter. This Dove
ranges to the eastward as far as Tarkand and Kashghar. A few
stragglers have been obtained at Gilgit and at Quetta, at both
places in summer.
1307. Turtur suratensis. The Spotted Dove. (Fig. 1, p. 1.)
Colurnba suratensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 778 (1788).
Turtur vitticollis, Hoays. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 85 (1844), descr.
nulla.
Turtur suratensis, Blyth, Cat. p. 236; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 479;'
Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 376: Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2,
p. 67 ; Goclw.-Aust. J. A. S'. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 112 ; Hume, S. F.
i, p. 218 ; Adam, ibid. p. 390 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 504 ; Butler $
Hume, S. F. iv. p. 3 ; v, p. 231 ; Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 262 ;
v, p. 409 ; Hume $ Bourd. S. F. vii, p. 39 ; Davids. 8f Wend. ibid.
p. 86 ; Ball, ibid. p. 224 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 297 ; Hume, Cat. no. 795 ;
Scully, S. F. viii, p. 341 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 75 ; Butler, ibid.
p. 420; Legc/e, Birds Ceyl. p. 705; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 92;
1882, p. 286; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 585; Reid, S. F. x, p. 60;
Davison, ibid. p. 408 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 291 ; Hume, S. F.
xi, p. 298; Gates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 353 ; Sharpe,
Yarkand Miss., Aves, p. 119; Salvador!, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 444.
Chitroka fakhta, Perki, Chitla, Kanyskiri, Panduk, H. ; Chaval yhuyu,
Telia yhuyu, Beng. ; Kawadd, Mahr. ; Bode, Gond; Poda-bella-yuwu,
Tel. ; Puli-pora, Tarn. ; Mani-praa, Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Kobeya, Allu-
kobeya, Cing. ; Kii-po-hu, Assamese.
Coloration. Head above and at sides and nape vinous grey ; fore-
head and around eye generally greyer ; a black spot in front of
each eye ; back and sides of neck black, each feather bifurcate at
the tip and terminating in two white spots ; upper back brown,
each feather with two rufous terminal spots, the spots gradually
fading out on the lower back and rump, becoming much larger on
the scapulars and wing-coverts, in which the rufous end of each
feather is divided into two by a blackish shaft-stripe, broadest at
the end ; primary and greater secondary wing-coverts ashy ; quills
brown ; the four middle tail-feathers brown, the next pair black
with grey tips, the others with the basal half black, terminal half
whitish or white ; lower surface vinous, whitish on the throat,
vent, and lower tail-coverts ; wing-lining grey near the edge,
further in and axillaries blackish.
Young birds are duller and browner, and want the black white-
tipped feathers of the neck, whilst the rufous spots on the back
and wing-coverts are indistinct.
44 COLUMBID J.
Bill dull leaden-black ; i rides dark hazel, surrounded by a reddish
sclerotic ; legs dark purplish red (Jerdon) : orbital skin red (Leyc/e).
Length about 12 ; tail 5-5 ; wing 5'5 : tarsus '85 ; bill from
gape -85. Females are a little less, and Ceylon birds are slightly
smaller than North Indian.
Distribution. Throughout the whole of India and Ceylon ; most
common in well-wooded countries, rare in drier regions, and wanting
in desert tracts. This Dove is found throughout the Himalayas
up to 7UGO feet and in Gilgit and Ladtik (the statement in the
British Museum Catalogue that it inhabits Yarkand is a mistake).
To the eastward it is found in Assam. Cachar, and Manipur, but
is replaced in Burma by T. tigrinus.
Habits, tyc. A common familiar bird, coming frequently into
gardens about houses and having a plaintive, trisyllabic call. It
breeds almost throughout the year, having two or more broods ;
but in Northern India the principal season for laying eggs is from
October to May. The nest is the usual slight structure placed
on a bush or low tree, and the two white glossy eggs measure
about 1-06 by '82.
1308. Turtur tigrinus. The Malay Spotted Dove.
Columba tigrina, Temm. Pigeons, i, pi. 43 (1808-11).
Turtur suratensis, apud Blylh, Cat. p. 230, part.
Turtur tigrinus, Myth, J. A. S. B. xxiv, p. 480 ; id. Ibis, 1867,
p. I/JO; Bali, S. F. i, p. 80; Hume, A'. # E. p. 50(5; id. S. F. ii,
p. 269; Blyth $ Wald. Bird* Burm. p. 145; Hume, S. F. iii,
p. ] 64 ; Armstrong, 8. F. iv, p. 337 ; Hume fy Dar. S. F. vi, p. 422 ;
Anderson, Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 665 ; Hume, Cat. no. 795 bis ;
Hume fy Intjlis, S. F. ix, p. 258; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 290; id. in
Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 356; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi,
p. 440.
Gyo, Burmese.
Coloration similar to that of T. suratensis, except that there are
no distinct rufous spots on the back, whilst those on the wing-
coverts are much smaller and less distinct, and the shaft-stripes are
not so well marked, the white tips to the tail-feathers also are much
shorter. The difference is not great, and T. suratensis in worn
plumage closely resembles T. tigrinus when freshy moulted ; in fact
these are merely local races.
Bill bluish black ; eyelids and skin of face plumbeous ; irides
reddish ; legs deep red; claws dark horn (Oates).
Length about 12 ; tail 5-5 ; wing 5'5 ; tarsus '9 ; bill from
gape -9.
Distribution. Throughout Burma, extending east to Cochin China
and south through the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago as far as
Celebes. Birds from Upper Burma are sometimes intermediate
between this race and T. suratensis.
Habits, 6fc. Similar to those of T. suratensis. The breeding-
season extends throughout the year, but is especially from August
to March.
TURTUR. 45
1309. Tartar cambayensis. The Little Brown Dove.
Columba cambayensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 779 (1788).
Turtur senegalensis, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 237 ; JJavids. fy Wend. S. F.
vii, p. 86 ; Hume. Cat. no. 794 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 74 ; Barnes,
ibid. pp. 219, 458 ; Butler, ibid. p. 420 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 60 ;
Davidson, ibid. p. 315 ; Daoison, ibid. p. 408 ; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 291 ; Gates in Hume's N. 8f E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 351 ; Sharpe,
Yarkand Miss., Aves, p. 118 (nee Brisson).
Turtur cambayeusis*, Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 478 ; Stolivzka, J. A.
S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 66; xli, pt. 2, p. 248; Hume, S. F. i,
p. 218 ; Adam, ibid. p. 390 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 3 ; Fairbank,
S. F. iv. p. 262 ; v, p. 408 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 224 ; Biddulph, Ibis,
1881, p.' 92 ; 1882, p. 286; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 585 ; C. Swmhoe,
Ibis, 18S2, p. 117; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 174; Salvadori, Cat.
B. M. xxi,p. 451.
Chota fakhta, Perki, Tortrufakhta, Paniuk, H. ; Hold, Mahr. ; Chitti
bella (juiua, Sowata guwa, Tel. ; Touta-pora, Tarn.
Coloration. Head, neck, and breast lilac, tinged with vinous,
paler on the sides of the head ; chin whitish ; on the sides and
front of the lower neck is a gorget of black feathers, bind at the
end and broadly tipped with ferruginous ; back, wing-coverts near
the back, tertiaries, scapulars, rump, upper tail-coverts, and middle
tail-feathers light earthy brown; distal wing-coverts ashy; winglet
and greater primary-coverts blackish brown ; quills dark brown ;
outer tail-feathers with basal half blackish, terminal half white,
outer margin of outermost pair white throughout, the two pairs
next to the middle pair chiefly grey above ; the vinous breast passes
into white on the abdomen ; lower tail-coverts white ; wing-Jining
and flanks dark ashy grey.
Bill blackish ; irides dark brown, with a whitish inner circle ;
legs lake-red (Jerdon).
Length about 10'5 ; tail 4'75 ; wing 5 ; tarsus '85 ; bill from
gape *75.
This Dove has been regarded as identical with the African
T. senegalensis, which, however, is quite distinct and has the upper
surface rufous.
Distribution. Throughout almost the whole peninsula of India
from the base of the Himalayas, rare on the Malabar coast, and
unknown in Ceylon, also wanting in Lower Bengal and to the
eastward. This Dove is found in North-western India and the
Western Himalayas, in Sind, the Punjab, Kashmir, Turkestau,
Afghanistan and Baluchistan, and in Arabia.
J-labits, $c. This and the next species are the most familiar of all
Indian doves, and are commonly found about houses ; they are
also abundant in bush-jungle, and are two of the commonest birds
everywhere. The call of T. cambayensis is "low, subdued, and
musical, a dissyllabic sound, repeated four or five times successively"
(Blytli). The present species breeds throughout the year and has
several broods yearly ; the nest, a slight one, is placed indifferently
on shrubs or low trees or in buildings, or occasionally on the
ground. The white glossy eggs measure about 1 by '85.
46 COLUMBIA.
1310. Turtur risorius. The Indian Ring-Dove.
Columba risoria, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. '285 (1766), partim.
Turlur douraca, Hodys. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 85 (1844), descr.
nullti ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 430.
Turtur risorius, Blyth, Cat. p. 235; id. J. A. S. B. xxiv, p. 261;
Jerdon, B. I. in, p. 481 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 151 ; Stoliczka,
J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 67; xli, pt. 2, p. 248; Godw.-Aust.
J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 272; Hume, S. F. i, p. 218 ; Adam,
ibid. p. 390 ; Hume, N. fy E. p. 506 ; id. S. F. iii, p. 105 ; Walden
in Bli/th's Birds Burin, p. 146; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 3 ; vii, p. 171 ;
ix. p. '420; Fairbank, S. F. iv, p^262; v, p. 409; Ball, S. F. vii,
). 458 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 60 ; Davison, ibid. p. 408 ; Swinhoe, Ibis,
1882, p. 118 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 293 ; id. in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed.
ii, p. 357 ; C. H. T. Marsh. Ibis, 1884, p. 421 ; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 291 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 299 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 174.
Turtur stoliczkse, Hume, S. F. ii, p. 519 (1874).
The Common Ring-Dove, Jerdon : Dhorfakhta, Perki, Panduk, Guyi, H. ;
Kalhak, Kahalaki, Pankf/hugu, Beng. ; Pitha Hola, Mahr. ; Pedda-bella
guwa, Tel. ; Cally-prad, Tarn. (Ceylon).
Coloration. Head and neck grey, tinged with lilac, paler on the
forehead and sides of head, and whitish on the chin ; a black
collar, narrowly bordered above and still more narrowly below with
white, round the hind neck ; upper parts thence to the tail and
middle tail-feathers light brown, passing into ashy grey on the
outer wing-coverts, greater secondary coverts, and secondaries ;
primary-quills dark brown ; outermost tail-feathers with the basal
half grey above, black beneath, the black running some distance
down the outer web, terminal half or rather less and narrow extreme
outer edge throughout white ; other tail-feathers, except median
pair, white at the ends, beneath partly white, partly greyish brown
above ; breast pale lilac, passing into ashy grey on the abdomen and
flanks and slaty grey on the lower tail-coverts ; wiog-lming white,
grey near the edge of the wing.
Bill black ; irides crimson ; orbitnl skin whitish ; feet dark pink-
red (Jerdon); claws horn- colour (Oates).
Length about 12'5 ; tail 5 ; wing 6'75 ; tarsus *9 ; bill from
gape -9.
Distribution. Throughout India and Ceylon, in open and culti-
vated tracts and even in dry parts of the country, but not in
forest ; rare on the Malabar coastland. This Dove occurs, but is
not common, in Assam, Cachar, Upper Burma, and Pegu, but not
in Tenasserim. It is found in the open "Western Himalayas, but
not in the forest-clad ranges of Sikhim. It has been met with in
China and throughout Central and South-western Asia, and as far
west as Turkey in Europe.
Habits, $c. As Jerdon observes, this Dove chiefly frequents
hedges and trees about cultivation and also low bush- or reed-
jungle. It is very common in many parts of the country, and is
almost or quite as familiar as T. cambayensis. The voice is rather
(ENOPOPELIA. 47
deep ; the call trisyllabic. The breeding-season lasts throughout
the year ; the nest, of the usual type, is generally in a bush or tree,
often a thorny one, and not far from the ground, and the eggs
measure about 1-16 by T92.
Salvador!, following Schlegel, has adopted the name of T. douraca,
Hodgson, for this Dove ; but Hodgson's term was published with-
out any figure or description, and Lord Walden has shown that
Liunaeus's name risurius does apply to the present species.
Genus (ENOPOPELIA, nov.
The little ruddy Bing-Dove is distinguished from all other
species by its long wing, with the first primary nearly or quite
equal to the second, and by having the sexes dissimilar in plumage.
Two species are generally attributed to this group, but I cannot
see that they are sufficiently distinct to deserve separation.
1311. (Enopopelia tranquebarica. The Red Turtle-Dove.
Columba tranquebarica, Herm. Obs. Zool. p. 200 (1804).
Columba humilis, Temm. PI. Col. pi. 259 (1824).
Turtur humilis, Blyth, Cat. p. 236 ; id. J. A. S. B. xxiv, p. 261 ;
Lai/cird, A. M. N. H. (2) xiv, p. 60; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 482;
Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 151 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2,
p. 67; xli, pt. 2, p. 249; Hume, Ibis, 1869, p. 19; Ball, J. A.
S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 287; Hume, S. F. i, p. 218; Adam, ibid.
p. 391 ; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 269 ; id. N. fy E. p. 507; Godw.-Aust.
J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. 2, p. 172 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 3 ; Fairbank,
ibid. p. 262 : Hume, ibid. p. 292 ; Armstrong $ Hume, ibid. p. 338 ;
Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 423 ; Hume, Cat. no. 797 bis ; Hume $
Inqlis, S. F. ix, p. 258 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 294 ; Biddulph, Ibis,
1882, p. 286 ; C. H. T. Marshall, Ibis, 1884, p. 421 ; Hume, S. F.
xi, p. 299; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 434.
Turtur tranquebaricus, Walden, Trans. Zool. Soc. ix, p. 219 ;
Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 145 ; Hume, S. F. iv, p. 292 ; Davids. $
Wend. S. F. vii, p. 86; Butler, ibid. p. 186; Ball, ibid. p. 224;
Cripps, ibid. p. 297 ; Hume, Cat. no. 797 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 342 ;
Doicj, ibid. p. 371 ; Lef/ge, Birds Ceyl. p. 708 ; Vidal, S. F. ix,
p. 75 ; Butler, ibid. p. 421 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 61 ; Barnes, Birds
Bom. p. 292 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. i, p. 55 ; v, p. 332 ; Oates in
Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 359 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 437.
Turtur humilior, Hume, P. A. S. B. 1874, p. 241 ; id. S. F. iii, p. 279 ;
iv, p. 292.
Seroti fakhta, Ghirwi fakhta, Biki, H. ; Golabi yhitgu, lihuiya
c/huyu, Tuma khuri, Beiig. ; Rah-yuwa, Peri-aripu guwa, Tel.
Coloration. Male. Head and nape dark ashy grey ; a black
collar round the hind neck ; below this collar the back, scapulars,
tertiaries, and wing-coverts are vinous red, more or less tinged
with ferruginous; primary-coverts and quills dark brown ; rump
and upper tail-coverts dark slaty grey ; middle tail-feathers brown,
often washed with grey, next two pairs dark grey at base, paler at
the ends, the three outer pairs with the larger basal half blackish
above, black below, the smaller terminal half and whole outer web
48 COLUMB1DJE.
of outermost pair white ; lower parts vinous red, whitish on chin
and vent ; under tail-coverts white ; flanks and under wing-coverts
grey.
Females are brown above, greyish on head, rump, flanks, and
edge of wing; breast light brown, sometimes with a vinous tinge ;
a black nuchal collar and the tail as in males.
Young birds are pale brown almost throughout, andhave no collar;
the feathers of the back and wings are pale-edged.
Bill black ; irides dark brown ; eyelids plumbeous ; legs vinaceous
brown ; claws black ; the joints of £he scales on the legs white
(Oates}.
Length about 9 ; tail 4 ; wing 5-5 ; tarsus '75 ; bill from
gape '75.
The Indian form (E. tranquebarica has of late years genernliy
been regarded as specifically distinct from the Burmese and Chinese
bird (E. humilis, on account of the coloration of the latter being
deeper and the wing-lining dark grey instead of pale. Salvadori,
however, has shown that the coloration of the upper parts is not
constantly different, and although Burmese birds have very dark
wing-linings, there is little if any distinction bet\ve?n Chinese and
Indian birds, and the difference is in any case so small as scarcely
to be of specific importance.
Distribution. Throughout India, by no means scarce in the
Punjab, Sind, and Bajputana, though not known farther west.
This Dove was obtained at G-ilgit by Biddulph, and in Ceylon, where
it appears to be very rare, by Layard. It ranges throughout Burma
to the Andarnans and through Cochin China and China to the
Philippines.
Habits, fyc. This is less common in India than some other doves,
but it is widely distributed, except in forest-tracts. Its call is
short and deep. It is not unfrequently found in small flocks.
Eggs have been taken from January to July and in November ;
but Hume believes that this species has only two broods in the
year. The eggs are slightly elongated, two in number, and waxy
white or cream-coloured, and measure about T02 by -8. The nests
are on trees and are of the usual type.
Genus MACROPYGIA, Swainson, 1837.
This genus contains several long-tailed Doves inhabiting the
Oriental and Australian regions, and ranging from the Himalayas
to the New Hebrides and Australia. Thev may at once be dis-
tinguished from all other Indian Columbine by having a graduated
1ail that equals or exceeds the wing in length. The bill is slender,
the head small and Dove-like, the tarsus short and partly feathered,
the feet adapted for perching, the toes being long and the soles
broad ; the feathers of the rump are spinous, and the tail-coverts
elongate.
Twenty-seven species are described in Salvadori's Catalogue,
and twenty-six in a paper by Major Wardlaw Bamsay published
MACUOPYGIA.
in the ' Ibis ' for 1890, but or these only three occur within our
area. They are generally of a rufous-brown colour, partly or
wholly. The habits are thus described by Wardlaw Ramsay, I. c.
p. 215:—
" In habits M tcropyyia is a Ground-Dove of a tame nature,
very partial to open glades and clearings in dense forest, especially
when covered with a secondary growth of low scrubby jungle. It
is generally found singly or in pairs, and on being flushed it only
flies a short distance and alights on some convenient branch,
spreading out its tail like a fan as it does so. Its food is composed
of seeds and berries, one very favourite fruit being the chilli
(Capsieum fastiyiatum}, of which it consumes an enormous
quantity."
Key to the Species.
a. Tail black with rufous cross-bands ; quills brown
throughout M. tusalia, p. 49.
b. Tail brown, unbanded ; quills rufous on inner
borders.
a'. Larger, wing about 7'5 M. rnfipennis, p. 50.
b'. Smaller, wing about 6 M. rujiceps, p. 51.
1312. Macropygia tusalia. The Bar-tailed Cuckoo-Dove.
Coccyzura tusalia, Hodgs. J. A. S. B. xii, p. 937 (1843).
Macropygia tusalia, Blylh, J. A. S, B. xii, p. 936; Jerdon, B. I. iii,
p. 473; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 112; Hume,
N. $ E. p. 500 ; Wold, in BlytVs Bird* Burm. p. 146 ; Ward/.
Hams, Ibis, 1877, p. 468 ; Humefy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 419; Hume, Cat.
no. 791 ; id. S. F. xi, p. 297; Ward/, Rams. Ibis, 1890, p. 217 ; Gates
in Hume's N. $E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 362 ; Saloadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 338.
Macropygia leptoGramraica, apud Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 869 ; id.
Cat. p. 235 ; Walden, Ibis, 1875, p. 459 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 295 ; nee
Temm.
The Bar-tailed Tree-Dove, Jerdon ; Tusal, Nipal ; Ka-er, Lepch.
Coloration. Male. Forehead, lores, cheeks, chin, and throat
buff, tinged with vinous ; crown, hind neck, and sides of head and
neck lilac- grey, overlaid with a changeable metallic gloss, green
and reddish lilac ; sides of lower neck, back, rump, and upper
tail-coverts, wing-coverts, tertiaries, and scapulars black barred
with rufous chestnut, the upper back and sides of neck with
metallic gloss ; primary and secondary quills blackish brown ;
middle rectrices black, with narrow slightly wavy rufous bars
throughout, the next pair barred on the outer webs and tips, outer
rectrices slaty grey, with a black band near the end, outermost
pair usually with a basal chestnut patch ; brenst greyish or
brownish lilac, with a metallic gloss ; abdomen and lower tail-
coverts buff, flanks ashy.
The upper plumage of females resembles that of males, hut the
lower surface is buff barred with dark brown, the bars more or
less obsolete on the chin, throat, middle of the abdomen, and lower
tail-coverts.
TOL. IV. E
50 COLUMBIA.
In the young the head is transversely barred above, with or
Avithout indications of metallic colour, according to age ; the breast
with dark bars in males.
Bill blackish ; iris white, surrounded by a rim of pale lilac ;
orbital skin grey, with an inner rim of purple ; legs purplish pink
( Wardlaw Kumsay}.
Length about 16; tail 8; wing 7'5 ; tarsus -85; bill from
gape 1.
Distribution. Throughout the Himalayas as far west as Simla
from 3000 to about 10,000 feet elevation, also in Assam and the
hills to the southward, and on the hills of Karennee and Tenas-
serim. M. leptogrammwa, from the Malay Peninsula, Java, and
Sumatra, is scarcely distinct, but it is smaller, with broader cross-
bars.
Habits, fyc. Those of the genus. The voice, according to Jerdon,
is a deep, repeated coo. This bird breeds in the Himalayas from
May to July, but a nest was found in the Karen Hills on March
18th by "Wardlaw Ramsay. The eggs, two in number, are creamy
white, nearly equally pointed at both ends, moderately glossy, and
measure about 1-35 by '97. They are laid in a large loose platform
nest of sticks on a branch at no great height from the ground.
1313. Macropygia rufipennis. The Andaman CucJcoo-Dove.
Macrop.vgia rufipennis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 371 (1846) ; id.
Cat'?. 234; Ball, S. F. i, p. 80; Waldm, Ibis, 1878, p. 314;
Hume, S. F. ii, p. 266 ; id. Cat. no. 721 bis ; Wnrdl. Rams. Ibis,
1890, p. 224 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 344.
Coloration. Head all round chestnut, .darker and with a slight
lilac gloss on the crown, whitish on the chin and throat; rest of
upper parts dark brown, more rufous on the edges of the wing-
coverts, and on the rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail ; hind neck
and upper back minutely speckled and barred with black and
rufous buff, and occasionally showing a slight amethystine gloss ;
outer tail-feathers bright rufous at base and tips, blackish between ;
fore neck, sides of lower neck, breast, and abdomen light brown
with wavy black cross-bars, the breast and sides of the neck often
with metallic gloss ; under tail-coverts, wing-lining, and inner
webs of quills, except towards the end, ferruginous red.
The female, according to Wardlaw Ramsay, resembles the male.
Toung birds (formerly described as adults by Hume) have the
feathers of the head light chestnut with black edges, the bars on
the hind neck and back are broader than in adults, the upper
wing-coverts and quills are broadly edged with rufous, and the
lower parts are chestnut throughout, the edges of the feathers
slightly darker, but cross-bars are wanting.
Bill and legs purplish pink ; iris light blue, encircled by a ring
of carmine ; orbital skin leaden blue (Wnrdl. Ramsay}.
Length about 16; tail 8; wing 7'5; tarsus '95; bill from
gape 1.
Distribution. The Andaman and jXicobar Islands.
GEOPELIINJS. 51
1314. Macropygia ruficeps. The Little Malay CucJcoo-Dove.
Columba ruficeps, Temm. PI. Col. pi. 561 (1835).
Macropygia amboinensis, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 234, nee Linn.
Macropygia ruficeps, Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 331 ;
myth, Birds Barm. p. 146 ; Wardl. Rams. Ibis, 1890, p. 225 ;
Satoadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 360.
Macropygia assimilis, Hume, S. F. ii, p. 441 (1874) ; Walden in
Blyttis Birds Sunn. p. 146 ; Wardl. Rams. Ibis, 1877, p. 468 ;
Humefy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 420; Hume, Cat. no. 791 ter; Oates,
B. B. ii, p. 296 ; Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) v, p. 618.
Coloration. Male. Head pale cinnamon, growing darker on the
nape and sides o£ neck and passing into the dull purplish brown,
richly glossed with metallic-green changing to lilac, of the lower
neck and upper back ; rest of upper parts, wings, and tail brown,
wing-coverts edged with ferruginous red ; rump and upper tail-
coverts rusty brown, middle four rectrices the same, outer rectrices
bright rufous with a broad, rather irregular black band near the
end ; lower surface of body light cinnamon, whitish on the chin
arid throat, and with broad white tips to some of the pectoral
feathers ; wing-lining and inner edges of quills towards the base
ferruginous red.
Females are smaller and duller above, there is no metallic gloss
on the upper back ; lower parts browner than in the male ; feathers
of fore neck and breast black with rufous tips, appearing as if
spotted with black.
Young birds resemble females, but have dark edges to the feathers
of the crown and pale edges on the upper back.
Bill pale brown ; iris pearly white (purplish or brown in the
young), orbital skin pale blue ; legs and feet brownish pink or
red.
Length of males about 13; tail 6'75 ; wing 6; tarsus '75';
bill from gape '9 : of females the tail is about 6 ; wing 5*5.
Javan specimens are smaller than Burmese, but do not differ in
any other way.
Distribution. The higher hill-forests of Southern Burma, the
Karen Hills near Toungoo, Kollidoo, and Mooleyit, east of Moul-
mein ; also the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and Borneo.
Habits. This is described by Davison as a shy bird, keeping to
dense forest in small parties of five or six, and having a peculiar
quadrisyllable call repeated several times.
Subfamily GEOPELIINJE.
The genus Geopelia is distinguished from all other Indian Doves
by having 14 tail-feathers ; it has neither ambiens muscle nor
intestinal caeca, and thus agrees with the Treronince, to which it
was referred by Garrod ; but it possesses an oil-gland, and it has
a bare elongate tarsus' and peculiar plumage entirely destitute of
metallic lustre.
E2
52 COLUMBIDJE.
Genus GEOPELIA, Swainson, 1837.
A very small Teiiasserim dove, with part of the plumage closely
banded, belongs io a genus containing five species, and ranging
from Burma to Australia. All the species are small, with a
slender bill, having the apical hcrny portion short and convex ;
the wings are short and rounded, the 1st quill greatly attenuated
near the tip, 2nd and 3rd quills longest. The tail, of 14 feathers,
exceeds the wing in length and is much graduated. The tarsus is
naked, and, in G. striata, is longer than the mid toe. Sexes
alike.
Fig. 0.— Primaries of G. striata. \.
1315. Geopelia striata. The Barred Ground-Dove.
Columba striata, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 282 (1766).
Geopelia striata, Blyth, Cat. p. 235 ; Hume, 8. F. iii, p. 323 : Hume
fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 423 ; Hume, Cat. no. 797 ter ; Gates, B. B. ii,
p. 298 j Sahadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 458.
Coloration. Anterior half of crown, cheeks, chin, and throat
ashy grey ; occiput and nape light reddish brown ; hind neck,
sides of neck and of breast, and flanks closely barred black and
white ; back, wing-coverts, rump, and upper tail-coverts light
brown, each feather with a terminal black bar ; quills darker brown,
the inner webs chestnut towards the base ; middle tail-feathers
brown, the others blackish brown, the four outer pairs with long
white tips ; middle of breast pale vinous, passing into white on
the abdomen ; lower tail-coverts white ; wing-lining chestnut, finely
barred with black.
In the young the whole plumnge is barred above and below.
Bill bluish white; irides generally white, occasionally grey-brown
or pale slaty blue ; orbital skin pale clear blue, tinged with green;
legs and feet pink, claws dirty greenish blue (Davison).
Length about 9 ; tail 4'3 ; wing 4 ; tarsus '75 ; bill from gape !7.
Distribution. The Malay Peninsula and Archipelago to the
Philippines and Celebes. This Dove ranges into the extreme
south of Tenasserim, where it was found by Davison about the
higher parts of the Pakchan.
Habits. Very similar to those of Turtur. This little Dove is
found singly or in pairs about cultivation, and keeps much to the
ground, feeding on seeds. Its note is quite peculiar.
Order XIII. PTEROCLETES.
The Sand-Grouse, or Pigeon-Grouse as they were appropriately
called by Huxley, form a well-marked and distinct group that has
been referred by turns to the Colambce and to the Gallince ; but
since Huxley (P. Z. S. 1808, p. 302) showed how completely
intermediate between the two the Pteroclidce are, they have
generally been classed in a separate order. They • are birds
ot: a yellowish-brown or buff colour as a rule, with somewhat the
build of Pigeons and even swifter flight, but with very different
bills and feet ; the bill, though of small size, resembling that of
the Gallince. The characters of the young are quite Galline.
Some are migratory, others resident.
In the bill there is no soft base to the upper mandible. The
toes are generally four in number, but the hallux is small, and in
one genus wanting; all are on the same level; the anterior toes
are short and rather broad. Oil-gland present and nude. The
contour-feathers have aftershafts. The lateral bare tracts only
extend on the shoulders to the base of the neck, not on to it ;
the dorsal feather-tract has an interscapular fork. Primaries 11,
fifth secondary wanting. Tail-feathers 14 to 16.
Palate schizognathous ; basipterygoid processes present. Cer-
vical vertebrae 15 or 16. There are usually two notches on each
side of the posterior margin of the sternum, but the inner notch
is sometimes reduced to a foramen ; keel of sternum very high.
Deep plantar tendons Galline. Ambiens muscle present; other
muscles of thigh as in Columbce, Caeca present and large. Gall-
bladder present, and two carotids.
Sand-Grouse live on hard seeds, and are, so far as is known,
monogamous. They lay three eggs on the ground, generally with-
out a vestige of nest. The eggs are peculiarly shaped, simply
oval, nearly a prolate spheroid, equally rounded at both ends, grey
or reddish grey and double-spotted. The young are covered with
down, richly marked, and they are able to run on. leaving the
egg-
Family PTEROCLID^.
Tarsus short and feathered. Wings long and pointed. The
family is found throughout Africa and in Western and Central
Asia, some forms migrating to parts of Southern Europe. Several
species occur in India, but none extend to the east of the Bay of
Bengal.
Three genera are recognized, all occurring within the area to
which the present work is restricted.
54 PTEROCLID^E.
Key to the Genera.
a. A hallux present ; tarsi feathered in front
only ; toes naked.
a. Middle tail-feathers not produced PTEROCLES, p. 54.
b'. Middle tail-feathers elongate and pointed. PTEROCLURUS, p. 58.
b. No hallux ; tarsi feathered throughout, toes
feathered ; middle tail-feathers elongate . . SYRRHAPTKS, p. 62.
Many Sand-Grouse, especially the migratory forms, collect in
large flocks. All drink twice a dav, morning and evening, at a
regular time, and all have peculiar clucking notes, dissyllabic or
trisyllabic, uttered especially during flight. The note of course
varies in the different species. The sexes differ throughout the
family.
Genus PTEROCLES, Temm., 1815.
Bill small, arched above ; nostrils elongate, basal, almost covered
by frontal plumes ; wings long and pointed ; tail moderate, rounded
or wedge-shaped, the middle pair of rectrices not produced or
scarcely projecting beyond the others ; tarsi feathered in front,
reticulate behind ; toes short, naked ; a hallux present.
Ten species are known from Africa, S. Europe, S.W. and Central
Asia ; of these four are Indian.
Key to the Species.
a. Abdomen black throughout P. arenarius <5 $ , p. 54.
b. Abdomen banded black and white.
a'. Double black pectoral gorget.
a". Hind neck not banded P.fasciatus ^ , p. 55.
b". Hind neck banded P. lichtensteini $ , p. 57.
b' No black gorget.
c". Chin unspotted ; tarsi speckled or
barred , P. fasciatus 2 , p. 55.
.d". Chin spotted; tarsi unspotted .... P. lichtensteini $, p. 57.
c. Abdomen all buff in $ , spotted with black
in ^ -P- coronatus, p. 57.
1316. Pterocles arenarius. The Large or Black-bellied Sand-Grouse.
Tetrao arenaria, Pallas, Nov. Cone. Petrop. xix, p. 418, pi. viii
(1775).
Pterocles arenarius, Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 299 ; Blyth, Cat.
p. 249 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 496 ; Bcavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 377 ;
Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 249 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 219 ;
Adam, ibid. p. 391 ; James, S. F. iii, p. 418 ; Butler, S. F. iv,
p. 4; v, pp. 222, 231 ; Wise, S. F. iv, p. 230; Hume $ Marsh.
Game B. i, p. 47, pi. ; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 161 ; Butler, ibid. p. 186 ;
Hume, Cat. no. 799; Tufnell, S. F. ix, p. 200; Barnes, ibid.
pp. 219, 458 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 61 ; Swinhoe, Ibis, 1882, p. 118 ;
Biddulph, ibid. p. 287; Swinhoe $ Barnes, Ibis, 1885, p. 131;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 294 ; id. Journ. Bom. N. H. Soc. v, p. 333 ;
St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 174 ; Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 18.
Bhat-titar, Bakht, Bakht-titar, H. ; Banchur, Peshawar; Burra Bhatta,
Jlariana;
PTEEOCLES. 55
Coloration. Male. Throat ferruginous chestnut, extending round
sides of neck and disappearing behind nape, paler also on chin ; a
triangular black patch on the throat, crown, and sides of the head ;
nape, lower neck all round, and upper breast pale earthy brown ;
back, rump, and upper tail-coverts, scapulars, tertiaries, and inner
secondary-coverts blackish grey, each feather tipped with ochreous
yellow and pale fawn-coloured towards the base ; greater secondary
and primary coverts and edge of wing fawn-coloured, shaded darker ;
quills slaty grey externally, the shafts, the outer web of the 1st quill,
and the inner surface black ; tail-feathers buff barred with black,
middle pair tipped with greyish black, the others tipped with white ;
a, black gorget across the breast, which is buff not greyish brown
behind the gorget ; abdomen and flanks black ; wing-lining white ;
thighs, tarsi, and lower tail-coverts buffy white.
female pale fawn, the head, neck, and upper breast spotted with
black shaft-streaks ; chin and throat yellowish, bounded behind by
a black line, beyond which the fore neck is ashy ; back and upper
parts, including the middle tail-feathers, with curved black cross-
bands irregular in direction ; the other reet rices, the quills, and
lower parts from the black pectoral gorget as in the male.
Tail-feathers 16.
Bill bluish grey ; irides brown ; feet grey (Hume).
Length about 14; tail 4; wing 9'5 ; tarsus I'l ; bill from
gape -7.
Distribution. From the Canary Islands and Spain on the west,
through North Africa and South-western Asia to Turkestan and
to North-western India, where this species is a cold-weather
migrant, arriving about the end of September and leaving in
March. It has been found as far east as Lucknow and, it is said,
Allahabad; it has also been recorded from Neeinuch and even
Khandesh, and it is found in Northern Gruxerat, all round the
Kunn of Cutch, and in Sind ; but it is most common in the
Punjab and the neighbouring tracts on the borders of the desert.
Habits, fyc. InN.W. India this Sand-Grouse haunts great sandy
plains, within access of water, in large flocks. It lives on small
seeds, and drinks morning and evening. It does riot breed, so far
as is known, in India ; but Barnes found its eggs in S. Afghanistan
in May.
1317. Pterocles fasciatus. The Painted Sand-Grouse.
Tringa fasciata, Scop. Del. Flor. et Faun. Insub. ii, p. 92 (1786).
Pterocles quadricinctus, apud Jerd. Madr. Jour. L. S. xii, p. 4 ; id.
111. Ind. Orn. pis. 10, 36 ; Burgess, P. Z. S. 1855, p. 30.
Pterocles fasciatus, Elyt h, Cat. p. 249 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 498 ;
King, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 216; Beavan, Ibis, 1868,
p. 378 ; Blanford, J. A. S. B. xxxviii, pt. 2, p. 188 ; Hume,
J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 121 ; McMaster, J.A.S. B. xl, pt. 2,
p. 214 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 249 ; Hume, N. $ E.
p. 511 ; Hayes Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 415 ; Adam, S. F. i, p. 391 ;
Ball, S. F. ii, p. 426 ; iii, p. 293 ; vii, p. 225 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 4 ;
v, p. 231 ; ix, p. 421 ; Fail-bank, S. F. iv, p. 262 ; Davidson $ Wend.
56 PTBROCLID.f:.
S. F. vii, p. 86 ; Hume, ibid. p. 162 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game J3. i,
« ,*rrfc _^1 . i i _ /^y.._£. __ .. o/ \f\ i/r 7". ._ L* TS 'I* /tn^ fn .a* ^v
B". 2nd ed. iii, p. 364 ; Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 27.
Pahdn bhat titar, Mat-ban, H. (N.W.P.) ; Palki, Belgaum ; Handeri,
Southern India ; Kal gowjal haki, Can. (Mysore) ; Sonda polanka,
Tamul.
Coloration. Male. A narrow white frontal band followed by a
broader black band, behind which is a second white band, a black
spot over eye ; crown buff and black mixed ; hind neck buff, with
an olive tiuge ; back, scapulars, inner quills, rump, and tail with
broad buff and black cross-bauds, generally straight, but somewhat
arrowhead-shaped on the rectrices ; scapulars, later secondaries,
and tail tipped with yellowish buff; wing- coverts buff, olivaceous
near the shoulder, the inner coverts banded black and white, with
the tips ochreous buff ; winglet, primary-coverts, and quills dark
brown ; chin, throat, and fore neck ochreous buff ; a broad deep
ferruginous-chestnut gorget, then a pale buff band followed by a
black band ; behind this the abdomen is banded white and blackish
brown ; under tail-coverts buff and black like the tail ; wing-lining
light brown.
Female buffy pale fawn, banded with black above and below, the
scapulars and tail tinged with chestnut ; head spotted with black,
throat more finely spotted ; quills as in the male.
Tail of 16 feathers.
Bill red ; orbital skin lemon-yellow ; irides dark brown ; feet
dull yellow, claws reddish (Jerdon).
Length about 11; tail 3'5 ; wiug 6*5; tarsus -9; bill from
gape -6.
Distribution. Peculiar to India and resident. Found in suitable
places throughout the greater part of the Peninsula, but not on the
Malabar and Bombay coast nor in the forest region north of the
Godavari and east of Haipur, Mandla, &c., nor in the low grounds of
the Carnatic. This Sand-Grouse is found throughout the Deccan
and the Central Provinces and as far south as Mysore, and is.
common in parts of Guzerat,Cutch, Bajputana,the N.'VV. Provinces,
and amongst the Sewalik hills of the N.W. Punjab, but does not
occur west of the Indus nor on the Gangetic alluvium. It is not
often found in thick forest or in alluvial plains, but is common
in scrub-jungle, on small rocky hills arid barren broken ground.
Habits, $c. This, perhaps the most beautifully marked of all
Sand-Grouse, never occurs in large flocks, and is usually seen
singly or in twos or threes that rise with a cackling note from
amongst rocks and grass or bushes. It is crepuscular in its
drinking-habits, flying to water before sunrise and after sunset in
small parties, and often, in the hot weather, before dawn and after
dark. Like other Sand-Grouse, it often utters its trisyllabic call
on the wing. The eggs are similar in shape, gloss, and number to
those of other species of Pterocles, but the ground-colour is pale
PTEROCLES. 57
salmon-pink with darker specks and blotches, and the average size
1'42 by -98. The principal breeding-season is in April and May,
but eggs have been taken in other months.
1318. Pterocles lichtensteini. The Close-barred Sand-Grouse.
Pterocles lichtensteini, Temm. PL Col. pis. 355, 361 (1825) ; Hume,
S. F. i, p. 219 ; Wise, S. F. iv, p. 230 ; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 162 ;
id. Cat. no. 800 bis ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. i, p. 65, pi. ;
Tufnell, S. F. ix, p. 202 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 296 ; Oyilvie
Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 29.
Coloration. Male. Forehead and sinciput white, with a broad
black band across them ; upper parts pale buff or whitish barred
with black ; wing-coverts barred with white ; scapulars, tertiaries,
median wing-coverts, and tail-feathers broadly tipped with buff ;
wiuglet and primary-coverts blackish brown; quills rather lighter
brown ; chin and throat buff, more or less speckled with black ;
breast buff, the upper part narrowly barred, the lower part with
two broad black bars, the upper of which is tinged with ferruginous,
the lower forms a border to the abdomen, which is barred black and
whitish ; tarsi pale buff, not barred ; under wing-coverts pale
earthy brown.
Female light buff, narrowly barred with black throughout, except
on the head, which is spotted, and on the tarsi and quills, which
are like those of the male.
This species resembles P. fasciatus, but both sexes are more closely
and finely barred, and the upper breast of the male is unbarred in
P. fasciatus but barred in the present form. The tail contains only
14 feathers in P. lichtensteini.
Bill lieshy brown ; irides brown, orbital skin yellow ; feet
orange-yellow, claws dusky tipped yellowish (Hume).
Length about 10'5 ; tail 3; wing 7; tarsus 1*05 ; bill from
gape -65.
Distribution. N.E. Africa, Arabia, Baluchistan, and Siiid west of
the Indus.
Habits, fyc. Very similar to those of P. fasciatus. This Sand-
Grouse is found in rocky ground and bushes, and is thoroughly
crepuscular, Hying to water before sunrise and after sunset. It is
probably resident throughout its range, but is said to be a cold-
weather visitor to Sind.
1319. Pterocles coronatus. The Coronetted Sand-Grouse.
Pterocles coronatus, Lie/it. Verz. Donbl. p. 65 (1823) ; Blyth, Ibis,
1872, p. 89 ; Hume, ibid. p. 468 ; id. S. F. i. p. 224 ; Wise, S. F. iii,
p. 267 ; iv. p. 230 ; Stanford, Eastern Persia, ii, p. 272 ; Hume $
Marsh. Game B. i, p. 57, pi. ; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 161 ; id. Cat.
no. 801 ter ; Tufnell, S. F. ix, p. 200 ; Barnes, ibid. pp. 219, 458 ;
Lean, ibid. p. 296; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 174; Sanies, Birds
Bom. p. 299 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. v, p. 336 ; Ogilvie Grant,
Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 23.
Coloration. Male. Chin and a streak on the middle of the
58
throat, a narrow band round the gape and lores, and a stripe
running back on each side of the forehead black ; middle of fore-
head and border to black on cheeks and chin whitish ; crown
vinaeeous buff, surrounded except in front by a band of ashy grey ;
around that, again, is a band of ochreous yellow expanding in front
and covering the cheeks and throat ; upper parts isabelline fawn ;
ends of the wing-coverts, scapulars, and some of the back-feathers
pale, forming buff spots with dusky borders ; a tinge of vinaeeous
on the scapulars and inner quills ; greater coverts, primaries, and
outer secondaries brown, the outer primaries with white shafts,
inner primaries with whitish tips ; middle tail-feathers isabelline
like rump, the others vinaceous buff with a subterrninal black bar
and white tip ; lower parts from throat pale buff, upper breast
tinged with grey.
The female wants the markings on the head and is buff throughout
with crescentic black cross-bars ; lower parts paler, the throat
yellowish speckled with black.
Tail-feathers 16. Colours of soft parts not recorded.
Length about 11; tail 3-5; wing 7 '2; tarsus -9; bill from
gape -6.
Distribution. N.E. Africa, Arabia, Southern Persia, Baluchistan,
and !Sind west of the Indus. This Sand-Grouse has also been
found in Afghanistan and on the western frontier of the Punjab
as far north as the Khyber Pass.
Habits. Similar to those of Pteroclurus exustus and P. seneyallus.
This Sand-Grouse probably breeds in Sind,andthe eggs, measuring
1*5 by 1-06, were taken by Barnes in South Afghanistan about
May and June.
Genus PTEROCLURUS, Bonap., 1854.
This is, by many writers, united to Pterodes, from which it only
differs in having the two middle tail-feathers elongate and pro-
duced into a loug narrow point.
There are always 16 tail-feathers.
Of the four known species, ranging over Africa, S. Europe,
S.W. and Central Asia, three are found within Indian limits.
Key to the Species.
Abdomen white throughout in both sexes P. alchata, p. 58.
Abdomen dark brown throughout in males, barred
brown and rufous in females ; a black gorget. P. exustus, p. 60.
Middle of abdomen dark brown, sides buff in both
sexes : no gorget P. seneyallus, p. 61.
1320. Pteroclurus alchata. The Large Pin-tailed Sand-Grouse.
Tetrao alchata, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 276 (1766).
Pterocles alchata, Blyth, Cat. p. 249; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 500;
Hume, S. F. i, p. 221 ; Bleivitt, S. F. iii, p. 268 ; Hume, S. F. vii,
p. 161 ; id. Cat. no. 801 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B..\, p. 77, pi. ;
PTEROCLURUS. 59
Barnes, S. F. ix, p. 458 ; id. Birds Bom. p. 297 ; St. John, Ibis,
1889, p. 174.
Pteroclurus alchata, Oyilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 7.
Coloration. Male. Crown light brown tinged with yellow ; chin,
throat, and a narrow line running back from the eye black ; rest
of head orange or rufous buff, passing on the neck into olivaceous
huff ; back and scapulars pale brown tinged with olive and marked
with large subterininal pale ochreous-yellow spots, especially on
the scapulars ; primary-coverts and small coverts brown, outer
secondary median and greater coverts with a subterminal chestnut
band bordered with white; innermost coverts brown washed with
yellow and with broad terminal black borders ; quills brownish
grey outside, the outer web of the first primary dark brown,
.the. shafts and the inner surface of all quills black, inner webs of
later primaries blackish externally towards the ends and bordered
with white : secondaries white, with a broad outer band of brown
extending to the tips of the inner webs ; rump and upper tail-
coverts narrowly banded pale yellowish and black ; rectrices greyish
brown tinged yellow and with partial bars of fawn-colour, the long
tips of the middle pair black, the other feathers tipped with white ;
two narrow black bars a considerable distance apart across the
breast, the space between them pale rufous ; lower breast, abdomen
and lower tail-coverts, axillaries and inner under wing-coverts
white, larger coverts and the border of the wing brown.
Female. Upper parts barred black and yellowish buff, on the
back and scapulars each feather with a band, usually broad and
conspicuous, of pearly to slaty grey ; outer secondary-coverts white
with a black border ; on the inner coverts there is a ferruginous -red
band inside the black; upper tail-coverts with V-shaped bars; chin
and middle of throat white ; cheeks, sides of upper neck, and band
across throat dull ochreous-buff, followed by a broad black gorget,
then an ochreous and then a grey band, after which is a narrow
black gorget (the anterior one of the male), so that there are three
black bands altogether in the female. Remainder of lower parts,
quills, and tail as in the male.
In young birds the upper parts- and breast are all narrowly and
irregularly barred. Immature males retain some of the bars ;
immature females have black instead of pearly-grey bars on the
back and coverts.
Bill very stout, greenish brown to slate-colour ; irides brown ;
feet dusky green (Hume).
Length about 15 ; tail in males 5-7, in females 3'75-6 ; wing 8 ;
tarsus 1 ; bill from gape '65. The middle tail-feathers are about
2 inches longer than the others in both sexes.
Distribution. South-western and Central Asia ; a cold-season
visitor to the extreme North-west of India. This Sand-Grouse
occurs abundantly from October till March in the Western Punjab
and Northern Sind, and has been found as far as Delhi, Sambhar,
and Karachi. In North Africa and Southern Europe a more richly,
coloured race occurs.
60 PTEEOCLID^E.
Habits, <$fc. This handsome Sand-Grouse is usually seen in India
in very large flocks ; it is shy and wary, flies swiftly, and frequently
utters a loud clanging cry. It does not breed in India.
1321. Pteroclurus exustus. The Common S'and-Grome.
Pterocles exustus, Temm. PL Col. nos. 354, 360 (1825) ; Blyth, Cat.
p. 249 ; Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 502 ; Stanford, J. A. ti. B. xxxviii,
iv, p. 4; ix, p. 421 ; Hume 8f Marsh. Game B. i, p. 69, pi. ; Hume,
S.F. vii, p. 161; Ball, ibid. p. 225; Hume, Cat. no. 802; Reid,
S. F. x, p. 61 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 300 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. If.
Soc. i, p. 55 ; v, p. 336 ; Oaten in Humes N. Sf E. 2nd ed. iii,
p. 361.
Pteroclurus exustus, Ball, S. F. ii, p. 426 ; Oyilvie Grant, Cat. B. M.
xxii, p. 12.
Bhat-titar, Bakht-titar, Kumartit, Kahar, H. ; Buiabur, Batibun,
Sind ; Popandi, Bhil ; Pakorade, Mahr. ; Jam polanka, Tel. ; Kal aowjal
haki, Can. (Mysore) ; Kal kondari, Tarn.
Fig. 10.— Head of P. exustus.
Coloration. Male. Upper parts brownish buff to isabelline ; fore-
head, lores, and sides of head, chin, and throat dull ochreous-buff ;
ends of the scapulars and tertiaries and all the secondary-coverts
pale buff, the scapulars and some of the median coverts tipped with
reddish brown, a few of the coverts thus tipped with a white streak
inside the tip ; primary-coverts, primaries, and most of the second-
aries blackish brown, the later primaries obliquely tipped with
white ; middle tail-feathers brown with long black tips, the other
rectrices darker brown with white tips ; breast buff with a slight
rufous tinge, crossed by a black gorget narrowly edged with white
in front ; the buff passes into the dark brown of the abdomen and
flanks, blackish in the middle of the abdomen ; tarsal feathers,
vent, and under tail-coverts very pale buff; wing-lining dark
brown.
Female buff ; crown and neck all round spotted with black
shaft-stripes, broader at the end ; rest of upper parts, except
greater secondary-coverts, barred with black ; scapulars and some
of the coverts with larger yellowish-buff ends tipped with brown ;
quills as in male ; tail-feathers barred, the middle pair with black,
the others with white tips ; chin, throat, and sides of head,
PTEROCLmUS. 61
including supercilia, yellowish buff unspotted ; upper breast spotted
with dark brown down to a rather broken blackish gorget, behind
this a broad band of plain buff; abdomen barred dark brown and
rufous, darkest in the middle ; tarsi and lower tail-coverts buff ;
wing-lining brown.
Young birds are at first rufous with black markings, then barred
rather irregularly and much like the adult female, but without a
gorget ; the abdomen is dark from an early age.
Bill and feet pale slaty grey to plumbeous or lavender-blue :
irides dark brown ; orbital skin pale yellow to pale yellowish
green.
Length of male about 12-5 ; tail 4 '4-5-8 ; wing 7 ; tarsus
•85; bill from gape -65. Length of female about 11*5; tail
4 to 4-8 ; wing 6*75. The middle tail-feathers are 1*5 to 2'5
longer than the others in males, about an inch or less in females.
Distribution. Resident throughout a large portion of Africa,
South-western and Central Asia, and the Indian Peninsula, with
the exception of the Bombay and Malabar coastland, the forest
regions east of 80° E. long., and Bengal, in which only stragglers
are occasionally found. I have seen this Sand-Grouse near
Eaneegunje, and Dr. G. King once saw one in the Botanical
Gardens, Calcutta. To the south I have seen many, and shot
some a little north of the Cauvery near Trichinopoly. This bird
is common in North-western India and the Deccan.
Habits, $*c. The Common Sand-Grouse keeps to open country ;
it is never found in forest, and but rarely amongst bush. It flies
to water and drinks between 8 and 10 o'clock in the morning,
earlier in summer than in winter, and from 4 to 6 in the evening.
The birds feed before and after drinking, and keep in open sandy
ground during the day. Hume, in the admirable account in
' Game Birds,' says they feed in different ground after drinking.
They rest about midday, each in a nook beside a clod of earth or
tuft of grass, but they sleep at night in flocks huddled together,
and but rarely fall a prey to foxes or jackals. They have a double
clucking note, uttered on the wing when they are alarmed or when
they are flying to or from water. The principal breeding-season
in the North-west is from April to June, but earlier in the Deccan,
and eggs have been found at all seasons. The eggs are grey
or pinkish or pale olive-brown, double-spotted, and measure about
1-45 by 1-03.
1322. Pteroclurus senegallus. The Spotted Sand-Grouse.
Tetrao senegallus, Linn. Mantissa, p. 526 (1767-71).
Pterocles senegallus, Jerdon, B. 1 iii, p. 504 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 221 ;
ii, p. 331 ; iv, p. 4 ; James, S. F. iii, p. 418 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 508 ;
v, p. 2'2'2 ; Hayes Lloyd, Ibis, 1876, p. 280 ; Hume, S. F. v, p. 60 ;
vii, p. 161 ; id. Cat. no. 801 bis ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. i,
p. 53, pi. ; iii, pi. 3 (eg?) ; Tufnell, S. F. ix, p. 200; Swinhoe, Ibi*,
1882, p. 118; Barnes,' Birds Bom. p. 297 ; Oates in Hume's N. fy
E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 366.
62 PTEROCLIDjE.
Pterocles guttatus, Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 64 (1823) ; Blyt7i, Ibis, 1872,
p. 89.
Pteroclurus senegallus, Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 14.
Nandu Katingo, Gutu, Sind.
Coloration. Male. Crown, back, and rump Isabel! ine ; forehead,
supercilia (with narrow band below eye), and nape, forming a band
surrounding the crown, dull pale ashy ; lores whitish ; scapulars,
tertiaries, median and greater secondary-coverts purplish brown,
buif at the tips, the tips of the longer scapulars ochreous yellow ;
lesser coverts, primary-coverts, and primaries buff, the latter brown
towards the end, all except the first two or three with oblique pale
tips ; greater coverts dark, except on the edge ; upper tail-coverts
isabelline washed with yellow ; middle tail-feathers the same with
long black points, the other tail-feathers dark brown with oblique
white tips; chin, throat, cheeks, and sides of neck deep ochreous
yellow ; lower parts from throat buff, greyish on the upper breast ;
middle of abdomen to vent blackish brown.
Female buff, the upper parts and upper breast spotted with
black, the spots becoming bands on the scapulars, tertiaries, and
middle tail-feathers ; tertiaries tinged with yellow towards the
ends ; wings, outer tail-feathers, and lower parts except upper
breast as in male.
Bill bluish grey ; irides brown : orbits yellowish ; feet bluish
white (Hume).
Length of male about 14 ; tail 5'75 ; wing 7'75 ; tarsus -9 ; bill
from gape '65. Length of female about 13 ; tail 4-25 : \ving
7'75. The middle tail-feathers are about 2 inches longer than the
others in males, 1 inch or less in females.
Distribution. Northern Africa to south of the Sahara and South-
western Asia. Common in Sind west of the Indus, rare to the east-
ward, but recorded from the neighbourhood of the B/urm of Cutch,
including Kattywar, and from Jamboghora, west of Ahmedabad ;
also from Pokaran between Jeysuhnere and Jodhpore, and from
Shahpur district in the Punjab. Mhow is given as a locality
in the British Museum. Catalogue for a specimen received from
Col. Swinhoe, but in error ; the specimen thus marked is really
from Pirchoki, below the Bolan Pass.
Habits. Similar to those of P. exustus. Generally resident, but
not known to breed east of the Indus ; and it is said that even in
Western Sind the majority are cold-weather visitors. I obtained an
egg, fully formed and measuring 1'5 by 1*05, from a female I shot
\\est of Shikarpur on March 20, 1875.
Genus SYERHAPTES, Illiger, 1811.
The present genus is distinguished by wanting the hallux and
by having very short broad toes feathered above, the tarsus is
thickly feathered throughout, the middle tail-feathers are long and
/pointed, and the wings long.
Only two species are known ; both inhabit Central Asia, and one
just comes within our limits in Western Tibet.
8YRRHAPTES. 63
1323. Syrrhaptes tibetanus. The Tibetan Sand- Grouse.
Syrrhaptes tibetanus, Gould, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 92 ; id. B. Asia, vi,
p. 61 ; Stanford, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 71 ; Hume fy Henders.
Lah. to Yark. p. 279: Hume, S. F. vii, pp. 162, 425; id. Cat.
no. 802 bis ; Hume Sf Marsh, Game B. i, p. 43 ; hharpe, Yarkand
Miss., Aves, p. 119 ; Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 5.
Kuk, Kaling, Ladak.
Coloration. Forehead, lores, cheeks, and chin white, or whitish,
sometimes speckled ; crown rather irregularly barred across, black
and white ; sides of head, throat, and a band extending nearly or
sometimes quite round the neck, deep ochreous yellow ; lower neck
all round narrowly barred with whitish and black ; this passes into
Fig. 11.— Sole of foot of S. tibetamis.
the pale fawn with fine dusky vermiculation of the back, scapulars,
tertiaries, and wing-coverts ; inner webs of scapulars partly black,
forming large black spots ; primary-coverts light brown, greater
coverts and quills black, later primaries with oblique pale tips, later
secondaries and tertiaries passing gradually into the colour of the
back; rump and upper tail-coverts whitish, rather more coarse! v
vermiculated with black ; middle tail-feathers the same but tinged
with rufous, the loug tips black, outer tail-feathers light chesinut
with a few distant black cross-bars and white tips ; upper breast
finely barred ; lower breast uniform pale greyish brown, passing
into white on abdomen ; wing-liuing brown, whitish near ed^e.
In the females the markings on the upper parts, especially on
the back and scapulars, are coarser, being irregular bars, not mere
vermiculation ; and the whole breast is barred.
Bill and nails bluish, soles whitish (Hume).
Length of male 19 ; tail 7'5 to 9'5 ; wing 10'2o : tarsus 1-1 ;
bill from gape '6. In females the length is about 17 ; tail 7-8-4;
wing (J'75.
Distribution. Resident in Tibet and on the Pamir at elevations
above 12,000 feet, perhaps lower in winter, extending to the
country north of Sikhim and to Koko-nor. Common in Ladak
and the Upper Sutlej valley.
Habits, $c. The Tibetan Sand-Grouse is found on barren saudv
plains near water, fresh or brackish. It is a very noisy bird, often
repeating its clanging double note when on the. wing. Some caged
birds that were given to me on the N. frontier of Sikhim constantly
uttered this call. The flight is swift. This species drinks before
sunrise and at dusk in the evening. The eggs have not been taken.
'.'.i'V
Fig. 12. — Argusianus argits. (From the group in the British Museum.)
Order XIV. GALLING.
The true Game-birds, the Grouse, Fowls, Peacocks, Pheasants,
Turkeys, Partridges, Quails, and Guinea-fowls, with Megapodes,
Curassows, and Guans, form a well-defined and easily recognizable
order. They have a stout bill, strong legs and feet, suited for
progress on the ground, a plump body and rounded wings, in which
the 5th secondary is present, and there are 10 primaries. There
is frequently a spur, sometimes more than one, on the tarsus in
males, and, in a few genera, in females also. The hallux is always
present; the nails are short, blunt, and but slightly curved. An
aftershaft is always developed to the body-feathers. The spinal
feather-tract is well defined on the neck and not forked on the
back. Oil-gland present, except in the genus Argusianus.
The deep plantar tendons are joined by a fibrous vinciilum, but
GALLING. 65
their distribution is normal, the fle.vor perforans digitorum supply-
ing the three anterior digits, whilst the flexor longus hallucis passes
to the hallux or posterior digit alone (see Vol. I, p. 3). The ambiens
muscle is present, as are also the accessory femoro-caudal, the
semitendinosus, the accessory semitendinosus, and, except in Pea-
fowl and Turkeys, the femoro-caudal, so that in general all the
thigh-muscles are developed (see Vol. Ill, p. viii). Caeca of the
intestines are large. Both carotids are present, except in Mega-
podius, which has only the left one.
The palate is schizognathous ; the nasals holorhinal. True
hasipterygoid processes are wanting, but there are sessile facets
situated far forward on the sphenoidal rostrum. Cervical ver-
tebra 16. The sternum has two deep incisions in the posterior
border on each side of the keel ; the inner xiphoid process be-
tween the two is shorter than the outer, which is bent over the
hinder ribs and expanded at the end. The episternal process of
the rostrum is completely perforated to receive the inner ends of the
coracoids.
Fig. 13.— The sternum of Lophophorus rrfulgem (Huxley, P. Z.S. 1868, p. 297):
r, rostrum; c.p., costal process; pt.o., metosteon; e.x.} external xiphoid
process; i.x., internal xiphoid process; l.o., lophosteon, bearing the carina,
[or keel), aud ending behind in m.x., the middle xiphoid process.
All members of the order nest on the ground (the nidification
of the Meyapodiidce is peculiar) and lay numerous eggs. The young
are hatched covered with down, usually coloured with a pattern,
and are able to run very soon after leaving the egg.
Gallince are generally distributed, but are divided into two sub-
orders, one of which is essentially northern, the other southern,
being almost confined to the Australian and Neotropical regions
(see Huxley, P. Z. S. 18(38, p. 294). The former is well repre-
sented in India ; of the latter a single species is found in th-3
Nicobar Islands. The suborders are thus distinguished : — -
Hallux raised above the level of the other toes . ALECTOROPODES,
Hallux on a level with the other toes PERISTEROPODESC
TOL. IV. F
66
Suborder ALECTOEOPODES.
The inner posterior notch on each side is more than half the
length of the sternum. The hallux (hind toe) is raised above the
level of the other toes and is short, its basal phalanx being shorter
than that of the third or middle toe.
In Mr. Grant's British Museum Catalogue, as in Prof. Huxley's
paper already quoted, this suborder is divided into two families—
the Tetraonidce or Grouse, distinguished by having the nostrils
and tarsi feathered and the toes feathered or pectinate; and the
Phqsianidce, with those parts naked. The latter are well repre-
sented in India, the Grouse being found only in the northern
parts of both hemispheres. It is doubtful whether the differences
between the two groups are sufficient to justify their distinction
as families.
Family PHASIAN1BJE.
Nostrils naked. Tarsi naked (except in Leriva), and often
armed with spurs, especially in males ; toes naked, not pectinate.
It is very difficult to divide the Indian members of this family,
for although Peafowl, Pheasants, Partridges, and Quails are easily
distinguished, there are intermediate forms that are difficult to
classify in distinct subfamilies. The generic distinctions are largely
founded on characters peculiar to the males.
Key to tJie Genera.
a. First primary considerably shorter than 10th
(except in Phasianus in which the wing is
always much shorter than the tail) ; sexes
generally very different. (Phasiunince.}
a . Upper tail-coverts in males exceed tail in
length : an erect occipital crest PAVO, p. C8.
I'. Upper tail-coverts shorter than tail.
a". Secondaries much longer than pri-
maries ABGUSIANUS, p. 71.
I". Secondaries not exceeding or only just
exceeding primaries.
a?. An elevated fleshy comb on head of
male , . GALLUS, p. 74.
Z»3. No comb.
«4. Tail longer than wing in both sexes,
much longer in males and much
graduated.
«*/ Tail-feathers 20-24, with round
metallic ocelli POLYPLECTRUM, p. 72.
PHASIANIDvfi. 67
b\ No ocelli on tail ; 1C to 18 tail-
feathers.
«°. No occipital crest ; 1st primary
longer than 10th PHASIANUS, p. 80.
b°. An occipital crest; 1st primary
shorter than 10th CATREUS, p. 82.
It'1. Tail graduated, a little longer than
wing in males, subequal or shorter
in females; 16 tail-feathers.
r\ Sides of head feathered PUCRASIA, p. 84.
d''. Sides of head naked.
c°. Crest an erect brush-like tuft
of subequal feathers ; rump of
male fiery red LOPHURA, p. 87.
eft. Crest long, recumbent, of un-
equal feathers; no red .... GENN^EUS, p. 88.
c*. Tail rounded, not longer than wing
in either sex.
e5. Size large, wing 9 in. or more ;
18 tail-leathers.
eG. Bill strong, culmen longer than
hind toe and claw LOPHOPHORUS, p. 95.
/°. Culmen shorter than hind toe
and claw TRAGOPAN, p. 98.
f5. Wing 7 to 8*5 in. ; breast tinged
with apple-green in males; 14
tail-feathers ITHAGENES, p. 103.
•g5. Winsr less than 7 in. ; r.o green
on breast ; 14 tail-feathers.
y6. Sexes different ; 2 or 3 spurs
on each tarsus in males and
sometimes 1 or 2 in females . GALLOPEHDIX, p. 106.
7zc. Sexes alike, no spurs BAMBUSICOLA, p. 110.
h5. Wino about 3-5 in. ; 10 tail-
feathers OPHRYSIA, p. 104.
/>. First primary not shorter than 10th (generally
considerably longer) ; tail shorterthan wing;
sexes, as a rule, though not always, similar.
(Perdicince.}
<•'. Size small ; wing less than 4 in. [p. 112.
c". Tail-feathers 8 EXCALFACTORIA,
d". Tail-feathers 10 to 12.
c3. 1st primary longer than 4th, and often
as long as 2nd COTURNTX, p. 114.
d3. 1st primary between 7th and 9th . . PERDICULA, p. 117.
e3. 1st primary equal to 10th MICROPERDIX, p. 120.
d' . Wing exceeding 5 in.
e". Tail-feathers 12 ; wing about 5*5 in.
/J. Upper parts green ; male crested. . . . ROLLULUS, p. 111.
ff. Upper parts grey or isabelline ; no
crest AMMOPERDIX, p. 133.
/". Tail-feathers 14; wing 55 to 7-5 in.
A3. Tarsus naked.
d*. Tail less than half length of wing.
i3. Hind toe with a claw ; no spurs.
/;. A supraorbital chain of bones;
no white axillary tuft ARBORICOLA. p. 123.
&6. No snpraovbital detached bones; [p. 129.
a white axillary tuft TROPICOPERDIX,
68 PHASIANIDJE.
k*. Hind claw rudimentary ; tarsi of
males spurred * CALOPERDIX, p. 130.
e4. Tail more than half length of wing;.
/«;'. Flanks strongly barred with
black CACCABIS, p. 131.
/5.. Flanks without conspicuous bars FRANCOLIXUS, p. 134.
t3. Tarsus half clad with feathers LERWA, p. 145.
g". Tail of 16 to 18 feathers ; wing about
6 in. PERDIX, p. 142.
h". Tail with 20-22 feathers; size large?
wing 10 to 12 in TETRAOGALLUS, p. 143.
•
Genus PAVO, Linn., 1766.
Peafowl are distinguished by the peculiar erect occipital crest of
elongate feathers in both sexes. The tail is long, wedge-shaped,
and composed of 20 feathers, but it is far surpassed in length by
the train of the male birds, which consists of the modified upper
tail-coverts. Wings rounded, 1st quill much shorter than 10th.
Tarsus very long, and in males armed with a spur.
This genus inhabits India and the Indo-Chinese countries with
part of the Malay Archipelago, and contains- two species, both found
within our limits.
Key to tlie Species.
a; Crest-feathers fully webbed at the end only .... P. cristatus, p. (58.
b. Crest-feathers lanceolate, webbed throughout . . P. muticus, p. 70.
1324. Pavo cristatus. The Common Peafowl.
Pavo cristatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i,p. 267 (1766) ; Blyth, ftrf.p.239;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 506 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 151 ; Stoliczka,
J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 67; xli, pt. 2, p. 249; Blanf.
J. A. S. B. xxxviii, pt. 2, p. 189 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxi'x,
pt. 2, p. 272 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 5 ; vii, p. 177 ; ix,p. 421 ; Ball,
S. F. vii, p. 225; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. \, p. 81 ; Hume, Cat.
no. 803 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 342 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 731 ;
Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 75 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 302 ; Hume, 8. F.
xi, p. 300; Gates in Hume's N. Sf E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 405; -Ogilvie
Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 368.
Mor, Martjur, H. &c>; Tans, P.; Landuri £, Mahr. ; Manja J,
Manir $ , Uriya ; Mabja, Bhot. ; Mong-yung, Lepcha : Moir, Assam ;
Dodc, Garo ; Myl, Tamul ; Nimilit Tel. ; Nowl, Can. ; Monara, Cing.
Coloration. Male. Crown of head covered with short curly
feathers, metallic blue changing to green ; feathers on lores, super-
cilia, chin, and throat similar but less curly and dull green ; crest
of long almost naked shafts terminated by fan-shaped tips that are
black at the base, bluish green at the ends ; neck all round rich
blue ; back covered with scale-like bronze-green feathers with black
borders, coppery inner areas, and green shaft-stripes, these pass on
the rump into the bronze-green of the train, changing in the middle
in certain lights into coppery bronze, each feather, except the outer-
most at each side arid the longest plumes, ending iii an " eye "
or ocellus, consisting of a purplish-black heart-shaped nucleus
PAVO. 69
surrounded by blue within a coppery disk, with an outer rim of
alternating green and bronze ; scapulars and outer surface of wicig,
including tertiaries, mostly barred black and buff, a few of the outer
median secondary coverts blapk glossed with green and purple;
primaries and their coverts pale chestnut, secondaries black ; tail
dark brown ; breast and flanks dark glossy green ; thighs buff ;
abdomen and downy lower tail-coverts blackish brown.
Females have the head and nape rufous brown, tips of the crest-
feathers chestnut edged with green ; lower neck metallic green ;
the upper surface brown, faintty mottled paler in parts ; quills and
tail-feathers dark brown, the latter with whitish tips ; breast and
abdomen buffy white, inner portion of each breast-feather dark
brown glossed with green ; vent and downy under tail-coverts dark
brown.
Young males resemble the females, but have the primaries partly
or wholly chestnut.
Bill brownish horny ; naked skin of face whitish ; irides dark
brown ; legs and feet greyish brown.
Length of male in full plumage 6| to 7-| feet, without train
40 to 46 inches ; tail 20 ; wing 18; tarsus 575; bill from gape V9.
Females measure : length about 38 ; tail 13; wing 16 ; tarsus 5.
Distribution. Throughout India proper and Ceylon except in a
few localities, such as parts of Lower Bengal, that appear too damp
or otherwise unsuited. The Common Peafowl abounds at the base
of the Himalayas, ascending the hills to about 2000 feet, and
locally somewhat higher, and it inhabits the whole Assam valley
up to Sadiya, but no Peafowl is found in Sylhet, Cachar, or Manipur,
and P. muticus replaces the present species farther south. To the
westward, Peafowl abound in Gruzerat, Cutch, and Kajputana, being
protected and regarded as a sacred bird ; but they have probably
been introduced in many places and certainly in Sind, as in all the
countries named they are found about villages in a semi-domesti-
cated state. In Southern India the Peafowl ascends the hills to
an elevation of at least 5000 feet, but in Ceylon it is essentially a
bird of the low dry country forming the northern part of the
island. As is well known, it is found domesticated in many
tropical and temperate countries.
Habits, <Sfc. Where truly wild, Peafowl are generally found in
small parties in forests, or bushy, broken ground near water.
They are often met with in cultivation, especially where, as
is the case in many parts of JN"orth-western and Western India,
they are protected by particular castes of Hindus. They feed
on grain, buds, shoots of grass, insects, small lizards and snakes.
The call of the Peacock is a loud sonorous cry, having a distinct
resemblance to a cat's mew and audible at a great distance. Pea-
fowl roost on trees and they are in the habit, like most Pheasants,
of returning to the same perch night after night. The males
moult their long trains after the breeding-season, with the other
feathers, about September in Northern India, and the new train
is not fully grown till March or April. In the South of India the
change of plumage and breeding-season are several months later.
70 PHASIAN1DJE
Peafowl are polygamous ; several males, with their tails and trains
raised vertically and expanded, may be seen strutting about and
" showing off " before the hens. The latter Jay usually 6 or 7 eggs,
for the most part in the rainy season from June to September.
The nest is a hollow scratched in the ground, lined with a fe\v
twigs or leaves or a little grass, and the eggs are strong and
glossy, closely pitted, whitish to reddish buff in colour, and they
measure about 2-74 by 2-05.
1325. Pavo muticus. The Burmese or Javan Peafowl.
Pavo muticus, Linn. Si/st. Nat. i, p. 268 (1766) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 239 ;
id. Ibis, 1867, p. 152 ; Hume $ Oates, S. F. iii, p. 165 ; Myth ^
Wald. Birds Bunn. p. 147 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. \ i, pp. 425,' 520 ;
Pavo spicifer, 8haw fy Nodd. Nat. Misc. xvi, pi. 641 (circa 1800).
Pavo javairicus, Horsf. Tr. Linn. Sac. xiii, p. 185 (1821).
Doun, Udoun, Burm. ; Marait, Talain ; Tuxia, Karen ; Bourony marcih,
Malay.
This Peafowl is distinguished from the preceding by the crest,
which is composed of lanceolate feathers webbed throughout and
green changing to blue in colour. The neck in both sexes is covered
<vUh scale-like feathers, olive-bronze in colour, with purple and
green centres and a narrow black border. In the male of P. muticvs
all the outer surface of the wings is blackish brown, glossed with
green and purple, without bars ; the primaries are rufous buff,
paler than in P. criatatus ; all other quills and the tail-feathers
blackish brown. The train is more tinged, especially in the middle,
with copper, bronzy-violet in certain lights ; the thighs are coloured
like the abdomen.
The female has the head, neck, wings, and lower surface like the
male, but the back, scapulars, and tertiaries are dark brown with
paler mottled cross-bars ; the upper tail-coverts are as long as the
tail, golden green with pale rufous mottled cross-bars ; there are
similar cross-bars on the blackish-brown tail-feathers.
Bill and legs horny brown ; irides brown ; facial skin blue on
the upper, yellow on the lower and posterior parts.
Length of males with full-grown train 6 to 7| feet, without
train about 45 inches ; tail 22 ; wing 18-5; tarsus 6'25 ; bill from
gape 2*25. Female : tail 16 ; wing 17'5; tarsus 5'5.
Distribution. Chittagong and Arrakan, and thence locally and by
no means abundantly throughout Burma to JSiam, Cochin China,
and the Malay Peninsula, also in Java. The occurrence of this
Peafowl in Sumatra is doubtful.
Habits, Qc. Very similar to those of P. cristatus, but, probably
owing to persecution, this species is a very shy bird. Little is
known of the nidification, except that near Moulmein the breeding-
season is in the monsoon, whereas in Pegu the eggs are laid about
March.
ARGUSIANUS. 71
Genus ARGUSIANUS, Rafinesque, 1815.
The true Argus Pheasants are large birds distinguished by the
enormous development of the secondary quills, which are of great
breadth, nearly twice as long as the primaries in males, and
decidedly longer than the primaries in females, and by the long
median tail-feathers of the males, more than twice the length of
the next pair. There are 12 feathers in the tail, which is
graduated ; the tarsus is long, without any spur ; and the sides
of the face, the chin, throat, and fore parts of the neck are naked.
The plumage is spotted with black, brown, buff, and white,
forming singularly beautiful patterns.
Two species are known — one from South Tenasserim, the Malay
Peninsula, and Sumatra, the other from Borneo ; a third is in-
dicated by some feathers of unknown origin. An allied form,
liheinardtius ocellatus, is found in Tonquin.
1326. Argusianus argus. The Argus Pheasant. (Fig. 12, p. 64.)
Phasianus argus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 272 (176fi).
Argus giganteus, Tcmnt. Pit/, et Gall. ii. p. 410 (1813), iii, p. 678;
Blylli, Cat. p. 242; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 481, iii, p. 324; Hume $
Dav. S. F. vi, p. 427 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. i, p. 99, pi. ;
Hume, Cat. no. 803 ter; Sclater, P. Z. S. 1879, p. 115, pi. vii
(chick), viii, tig. 1 (egg).
Argus pavoninus, Gray in Hardw. III. Ind. Zool. i, pi. 36 $> (1830-
32).
Argusianus giganteus, Blyth, Birds Bnrm. p. 148.
Argusianus argus, Oates, B. B. ii, p. 313; Ogiluie Grant, Cat. B. M.
xxii, p. 363.
Q«ou, Borong quou, Kwang, Malay ; Kyek-ioah, Siamese (Bankasoon).
Coloration. Male. Middle of crown and shorb hairy occipital
crest black; back of neck speckled grey; upper back, scapulars,
and wing-coverts black with buff spots and streaks ; lower back
and rump clear buff with scattered black spots ; quills buff or
grey, varying in tint, and variously spotted and banded ; a band of
rufous, minutely speckled with white, along the basal portion
of the inner web of each primary near the shaft, and a row of
peculiar ocelli, shaded like a ball in a socket *, along the shaft on
the outer web of each secondary ; inner edges of most secondaries
unspotted white ; large middle tail- feathers blackish, shading into
slaty grey on the inner web and into chestnut on 'he onto;-, tipped
with dirty white and speckled throughout with small black-
bordered white spots; other rectrices the same, but blackish
nearly throughout and much spotted ; lower parts rufous brown,
with narrow undulating bars of black, rufous, and buff.
Female. Crown and cresb-feathers buff with black edges, the
* Darwin ('Descent of Man,' ii, pp. 141-151) has shown that there is
on the secondaries of this Pheasant a complete gradation trom simple spots to
these wonderful ocelli.
t'2 PHASIAIS'IDJE.
crest fuller than in the male ; lower neck all round chestnut,
passing on the back into black veriniculated and mottled with
chestnut and buff, which form mottled bars on the lower back,
rump, and upper tail-coverts ; scapulars, wing-coverts, and second-
aries black, more coarselv vermiculated with buff than the back ;
primaries chestnut, speckled with black; tail-feathers black with
chestnut vermiculation ; lower parts from neck chestnut, speckled
with black, paler and greyer on the abdomen.
Bill and claws \vhite with a bluish tiuge ; irides brown ; facial
kin dull blue ; legs and feet red, bright in males, paler in females
(Davison}.
Length of male about 6 feet ; tail 50 inches ; wing (primaries)
]8, to end of secondaries 34; tarsus 4-5; bill from gape 17.
Length of female 29 ; tail 13 ; wing 12 ; tarsus 3'6.
Distribution. The Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, with the Laos
Mountains in Siam, and the extreme southern portion of Tenas-
serim, around Bankasoon, Malewoon, and the Upper Pakchan.
Habits, $c. Much of our knowledge of this remarkable Pheasant
in the wild state is derived from Davison. The Argus is only
found in evergreen forests, and both males and females are solitary.
They feed on fruit, insects, &c., and both sexes have loud but
different calls, repeated ten or a dozen times, that may be heard
at a great distance. Each male clears a level open spot six or
eight yards square, which he keeps scrupulously clean from dead
leaves, weeds, &c., and here the bird remains all day, only roaming
in the morning and evening in search of food, and roosting at
night on a tree close by. These birds do not pair, and are said to
have no regular breeding-season ; the hen lays, it is said, 7 or 8
eggs in a rude nest on the ground- The eggs laid in confinement
are of a rich coffee-colour, finely punctured throughout, and
measure about 2-6 by 1-9.
Genus POLYPLECTRUM, Temm., 1813.
The Peacock Pheasants have a speckled plumage, and in typical
forms the wings and tail are ornamented with glossy purple and
green ocelli, especially in males. The sexes differ. The tail is of
moderate length and much rounded ; it contains 20 to 24 feathers,
the middle pair being twice as long as the outer in males, and
about half as long again in females. The sides of the face are
nearly or quite naked. The 1st primary is much the shortest of
all, the 2nd is shorter than the 10th, and the 6th generally longest.
The tarsus is much longer than the middle toe and claw, and there
are two, sometimes three, spurs on each leg in males.
Six species are known, rangingthrough the Indo-Chinese countries
and the Malay Archipelago. None occurs west of the Bay of Bengal,
and only a single species is known to be found wild within the
Indian Empire.
POLTPLECTRUM. 73
1327. Polyplectrum chinquis. The Grey Peacock- Pheasant.
Pavo chinquis, Midler, Natursyst. Suppl. p. 121 (1785).
Pavo tibetanus, Gm, Syst. Xat. i, pt. 2, p. 731 (1788).
Polyplectron chinquis, Temm. Pig. et Gall, ii, p. 363 ; Blyth, Cat.
p. 241 ; Blyth # Wold. Birds Burin, p. 148 ; Hume $ In'glis, S. F.
v, p. 40; Sdater, P. Z. S. 1879, p. 116, pi. viii, fig. 2 (egg) ;
Salvador*, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) v, p. 019; Ogiloie Grant, Cat.
B. M. xxii, p. 354.
Polyplectron albocellatum ( Temm.), Cuv. Reg. An. ed. 2e, i, p. 474
(1829).
Polyplectron cyclospilum, atelospilum, & enicospilum, G. R. Gray,
List Sp. Birds B. M., Galling, pp. '23, 24 (1867).
Polyplectron thibetanum, HumefyDav. S. F. vi, pp. 432, 521 ; Hume
<$• Marsh. Game B. i, p. 105, pi. ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 315.
Polyplectrum tibetanum, Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2,
p. 272 ; xlv, pt. 2, p. 83 ; JIume, Cat. no. 803 quat. ; Bimjham, S. F.
ix, p. 195 ; Fasson, ibid. p. 203 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 300 j Waddell,
Gazetteer, Sikhim, p. 229.
Polyplectron helense, Oates, Ibis, 1883, p. 136, pi. v.
Munnowur, Deyodahuk, Assam ; Deo-dwug, Deo-dirrik, Garo hills ;
I\at-mor, Chittagong; Doun-kalah, Arrakan and Pegu ; Shwe-dony,
Tenasserim.
Fig. 14.— Head of P. chinquis, tf . f.
Coloration. Male. Coronal feathers lengthened, hair-like. Whole
plumage, except the chin and throat which are white, dull greyish
brown, with small white or whitish spots that unite to form
broken bars on the neck and upper breast ; each feather of the
upper back, scapulars, and later secondaries, and nearly all the
wing-coverts, tipped by a large rounded ocellus of glossy violet
changing to green, with a border of black and a broader outer
rim of greyish white ; a pair of similar ocelli, but larger and oval
and green changing to purple, near the end of each tail-feather
and of each of the longer upper tail- coverts.
Female. Dull dark brown, mottled and speckled with pale
brown ; the ocelli of the male represented by blackish-brown
spots or blotches, with a slight violet or green gloss, and by the
tips of the feathers being thickly speckled with white, sometimes
tinged with rufous on the scapulars and tertiaries ; these patches
are most glossy on the secondaries and on some of the tail-
74 PHASIANID.E.
feathers, but are wanting on the middle rectrices, on several of the
outer pairs, and on the longer tail-coverts ; chin and throat
whitish.
In males the upper inaudible and tip of the lower are black,
rest of lower mandible and facial skin pale yellow ; irides white ;
legs and feet blackish. In females the bill is brown, paler beneath ;
facial skin pale dingy fleshy yellow ; irides deep grey ; legs plum-
beous (Davison).
Length of male about 25 ; tail 14 ; wing 8'5 ; tarsus 3 ; bill from
gape 1'3. Length of female 19 ; tail U ; wing 7'5 ; tarsus 2'75.
Distribution. Hill-ranges of Assam, extending along the base of
the Himalayas west to Sikhim, where specimens were recently
obtained by Dr. Waddell ; also south of the Assam valley and
throughout the whole of Burma, except Pegu, as far south as
Mergui and the Laos Mountains in Si;im.
Habits, tyc. A shy bird, inhabiting dense hill-forest, and but
rarely seen, though more often heard ; it has a harsh call, something
like a bark often repeated, and generally uttered whenever the
bird hears the report of a gun. The breeding-season is about
April and May, but very little is known of the nidification. In
captivity these birds pair ; the hen lays always two eggs and has
two or three broods in the year, but in the wild state the number
of eggs is said to be larger. The eggs are buff in colour, and
measure about 2 by 1*45. The young when hatched run behind
the hen, concealing themselves beneath her broad tail.
P. bicalcaratum, L., distinguished by having the upper parts
pale brown spotted with black, and by the male having a violet
crest and only one ocellus on each of the outer tail-feathers,
inhabits the Malay Peninsula, and may perhaps occur in Southern.
Tenasserim, but its existence there is extremely doubtful.
Some tail-feathers of a Polyplectrum, found in a Lushai village,
were at first referred by Hume (S. F. i, p. 36) to a new species,
P. intermedius, but were subsequently regarded by him (S. F. v,
p. 118, vii, p. 426 ; Grame B. i, p. Ill) as belonging to P. germaini,
Elliot, a Cochin-Chinese species. The small pale spots on these
tail-feathers are less closely set than in P. chinquis, and are pale
buff on a hair-brown ground, not greyish white on a grey-brown
ground; the ocelli, too, are more elongate and etnerald-green.
It, of course, remains to be seen whether a distinct form inhabits
the Lushai country, for it is not very probable that these tail-
feathers were brought from a great distance.
Genus G-ALLUS, Brisson, 1760.
This well-marked genus contains the Jungle-fowl, the typical
species, G. ferrugineus, being clearly the form from which domestic
fowls are derived. The Jungle - fowl are closely allied to
Pheasants, and exhibit the same sexual difference of plumage.
The males have a fleshy longitudinal coronal crest, known as the
GALLUS. tO
"comb," which is small or rudimentary in females; and males of
all Indian species have a wattle or lappet on each side of the throat,
whilst the sides of the face are mainly or wholly naked in both
sexes. The tail is laterally compressed and composed of 14 or 16
feathers (14 in all Indian species) ; the middle pair in the male
are about twice as long as the next pair and nearly four times as
long as the outer rectrices ; the ends of these long middle tail-
feathers diverge and droop when the tail is raised. The feathers
of the neck and of the sides of the rump form long hackles in the
males. The 1st primary is considerably shorter than the 10th.
Tarsus much longer than the middle toe and claw, and armed in
males with a long sharp spur.
Jungle-fowl are forest birds, found singly or in small parties
in woods or bushy tracts or high grass, and especially in bamboo-
jungle. Though essentially polygamous they are often found in
pairs. They teed on grain and other seeds, fruit and insects,
worms, snails, &c. Four distinct wild species, besides some
doubtful forms, are known, ranging throughout the greater part
of the Oriental region ; three occur within British limits.
Key to the Species.
A. Comb and spurs developed.
a. Neck-hackles yellow or red, without spots.
a'. Breast black .................... G. ferrugineus $ , p. 75.
b'. Breast reddish orange ............ G. iafayettii tf , p. 77.
b. Neck-hackles blackish, with glossy white
and yellow spots .................. G. sonnerati <$ , p. 78.
B. No spurs, and a rudimentary comb.
a. Breast rufous, with narrow pale shaft-
lines ............................ G. ferrugineus $ , p. 76.
b. Breast mottled, with white shaft-stripes. G. Iafayettii $ , p. 78.
c. Breast black, with broad white shaft-
stripes .......................... G. sonnerati § , p. 79.
1328. Gallus ferrugineus. The lied Jungle-fowl.
Phasianus gallus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p.. 270 (1766).
Tetrao ferrugineus, Gm. tSyst. Nat. i, '2, p. 761 (1788).
Gallus bankiva, Temm.Pig. etGall. ii.p. 87 (18 J 3) ; Gray in Hardw.
III. 2nd. Zool. i, pi. 43, tig. 3 $ .
Gallus ferrugineus, Blyth, Cat. p. 242 j Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 536 ; Blyth,
Ibis, 1867, p. 154 ; Blanford, J. A. S. B. xxxvi, pt. 2, p. 199 ;
Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 381 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2,
p. 272 ; xlv, pt. 2, p. 83 ; Hume, N. Sf E. p. 528 ; Ball, 8. F. ii,
p. 426 ; vii, p. 225 ; Blyth Sf Wald. Birds Burm. p. 148 ; Hume
* Marsh. Game B. i, p. 217, pi. ; Anders. Yunnan Exped.,
p. 669 ; Hume $ Duv. S. F. vi, pp. 442, 521 ; Hume, Cat. no. 812 j
Scully, S. F. viii, p. 348 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 322 ; Marshall, Ibis,
1884, p. 423 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 304 j Oates in Humes N. % E.
2nd ed. iii, p. 417.
Gallus gallus, Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 344.
Janyal-nwrgh $ , Jangli-murghi J , Ban murghi, H. ; Kuknr, Kukra
76 PHA.SIANIDJE.
Bankukar, Bengali, &c. ; Ganja tf , Uriya ; Tang-Ming, Lepcha ; Nay-
t*e-ja, Bhot. ; J3ir-aim,Kol. ; 6rcra yo^or J, JTuru $, Goud. ; Tau-kyet,
Burm.
Coloration. Male. Crown and long hackles at back and sides
of neck and on lower throat golden brown to orange-red, pale-
fihafted, passing on the longer neck-hackles into straw-yellow,
generally with lanceoJate dark brown shaft-stripes ; upper back
with the smaller and greater secondary-coverts black, glossed green
or purple : scapulars and median coverts glossy chestnut-red ;
quills anel priinary-co verts blackish brown, with metallic gloss on
the tertiaries ; narrow outer edges of primaries pale, and broad
outer borders of secondaries and tertiaries dull cinnamon ; lower
back and rump very dark chestnut, shading into golden red or
orange on the ends of the long lanceolate feathers at the sides of
the rump ; long upper tail-coverts and tail black with green or
purple gloss ; lower parts from neck brownish black with little
or no gloss.
After the breeding-season, about June, the long hackles and
tail-feathers are replaced by short black feathers, but are resumed
by a second moult in September.
Female. Crown dull rufous, dark-shafted ; forehead and super-
cilia, continued as a band round the fore neck, bright chestnut;
back and sides of neck blackish, the feathers edged with dirty
yellow ; upper parts finely vermiculated black and brown, with
narrow yellowish-white shaft-lines ; quills and tail dark brown,
the outer webs of the secondaries and of the inner tail-feathers,
and both webs pf the median rectrices, finely mottled with pale
yellow ; lower plumage light rufous brown, with paler shaft-stripes ;
chin and throat light brownish grey.
Chicks have a fawn-coloured head, with a deep rufous black-
edged triangular patch on the nape, pointed in front ; a black
stripe from behind each eye ; a chestnut back, bordered by creamy
and black stripes ; and grey wings, spotted with white.
Bill dark brown, reddish towards the base in males, horny
brown in females ; irides light red to orange-red ; comb arid wattles
crimson ; sides of face paler red. There is in this species a second
pair of lappets, one beneath each ear, white or pinky white in
Indian, red like the comb in Burmese and Malayan birds. Legs
and feet plumbeous or slaty.
Length of male about 26; tail 11 to 13; wing 9 ; tarsus 3;
bill from gape 1*25. Length of female about 17; tail 6; wing
7'25 ; tarsus 2-4 ; bill from gape 1.
Distribution. Throughout the Lower Himalayas from Assam to
Kashmir, also throughout Bengal, Orissa, the Northern Circars,
Assam, and the countries to the southward, all Burma and the Malay
Peninsula, with Sumatra, Siam, and Cochin China. In the Penin-
sula of India, south of the Gangetic plain, the limit of this species,
as Capt. Porsyth showed, is approximately the same as that of the
sal-tree (Slwrea robusta), the Ked Jungle-fowl being found as far
west as Mandla, E-aipur, and Bastar, and south to the Godavari
GALLUS. 7/
above Rajahmundry. An isolated wood of sal-trees in the Denwa
valley, close to Pachraarhi, is inhabited by Gallus ferrugineus,
though O. sonnerati occurs all around and for 150 miles to the
eastward. G. ftrrugineus occurs in Java and in many of the
other Malay islands besides Sumatra, but it has probably been
introduced. No Jungle-fowl are known to occur on the Anda-
raans or Nicobars, but some wild birds, doubtless descended from
tame progenitors, are met with on the Great and Little Cocos.
The Burmese race has a red ear-lappet, as have most domestic
birds ; its crow, too, is more like that of tame cocks, and it is said
to be more easily domesticated than the Indian form with a white
ear-lappet.
Habits, fyc. Though essentially a forest bird this Jungle-fowl is
often found feeding in cultivated ground near forest in the
mornings and evenings. It ascends the Himalayas and breeds up
to an elevation of about 5000 feet, keeping much to the valleys.
The calls of both sexes resemble those of tame birds, but the
cock's crow is shorter, especially the concluding note. The cocks
are highly pugnacious, especially in the breeding-season, which
lasts from the end of March to July in the Himalayas, but com-
mences rather earlier to the southward. The hens lay usually
5 to 6 pale buff eggs, sometimes more (9 and even 11 have been
found in one nest), in a hollow on the ground, sometimes well
lined with grass and dead leaves, but often with little or no lining.
The eggs measure about 1'78 by 1'36. Juugle-fowl afford fair
shooting when they can be driven by men or elephants and made
to fly, and young birds in the cold season are excellent to eat.
1329. Gallus lafayettii. The Ceylon Junyle-fowl.
Gallus lafayettii, Less. Traite, p. 491 (1831) ; Hume, N. fy E. p. 530 ;
id. S. P. vii, p. 429 ; id. Cat. no. 812 bis ; Hume 8f Marsh. Game
B. i, p. 241, pi. ; Lec/ye, Birds Ceyl. p. 736, pis. xxxi, xxxii ; Oate*
in Humes N. $ E. L'rid ed. iii, p. 422 ; OyUvie Grant, Cat. B. M.
xxii, p, 348.
Gallus stanleyi. Gray in Hardw. 111. Ind. Zool. i, pi. 43, fig. 2 $
(1830-32); Blyth, Cat. pk 243; Laijard, A. M. N. H. (2) xiv,
p. 62 ; JBlyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 307 ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872,
p. 468.
Weli-kukula rf, Weli-kikili $,Cing. ; Kdda Koli, Tarn.
Coloration. Male. Hackles of neck and all small wing-coverts
deep straw to golden yellow, dark-shafted, passing into dull
brownish red on the crown and into bright ferruginous red on the
back, scapulars, elongate median wing-coverts, and long feathers
at the sides of the rump, all with blackish shaft-stripes ; lower
back, middle of rump, and upper tail-coverts glossy violet, the
two former with chestnut edges to the feathers ; greater vviii^-
coverts black, part of the outer webs chestnut ; primaries dark
brown ; secondaries black, slightly glossed with purple ; tail-feathers
black, the middle pair and outer webs of the next three or fouj;
.' O PHASIANIDJE.
richly glossed with purple ; fore neck glossy violet ; breast ferru-
ginous red with dusky shaft-stripes, passing on the abdomen into
dark brown.
Female. Crown dark brown, rufescent anteriorly ; feathers of
neck mottled dark brown and buff and bordered with light brown ;
back and wing-coverts finely mottled dark brown and buff, with
narrow whitish shaft-stripes ; rump and tail the same, but more
rufous and without the pale shafts ; primaries dark brown, with
pale spots on the outer webs ; secondaries and greater coverts
black, with mottled buff cross-bars, especially on the outer webs ;
upper breast mottled black and bro*wn, with broad buff shaft-
stripes that become broader on the lower breast, which, with the
abdomen, is chiefly white with black or dark brown edges and
submarginal bands, disappearing towards the vent; under tail-
coverts like tail.
Young males resemble females except that the upper parts are
more rufous and the lower parts without any white.
In males the bill is brownish red, lower mandible paler ; iris
light golden yellow ; comb bright red, with a large interior yellow
patch ; face, throat, and wattles livid or purplish red ; legs and
feet wax-yellow, brownish anteriorly. Females have the upper
mandible dark brown, the lower yellowish ; iris yellowish olive ;
tarsi and feet brownish in front, yellow behind (Legge}.
Length of males with fully-grown tails 26 to 28 ; tail 13 to 15 ;
wing 9-5 ; tarsus 3 ; bill from pipe 1-3. Length of females 14 ;
tail 5 ; wing 7'5 ; tarsus 2'5 ; bill from gape 1*1.
Distribution. Throughout Ceylon, more common in the dry
jungles of the North and in the hills of the Southern Province.
Habits, Sfc. Very similar to those of G.ferrugincus. The crow
of the cock is different, being commonly represented by " George
Joyce " with a low preliminary cluck. Either the breeding-season
in various parts of Ceylon varies greatly or these birds breed at all
seasons. The eggs vary in number from two to four according to
Legge, six to twelve teste Layard, and much resemble those of other
species of Jungle-fowl.
1330. Gallus sonnerati. The Grey Jungle-fowl.
Gallus sonnerati, Temm. Pig. et Gall ii, p. 246 (1813) ; iii, p. 659 ;
id. PI. Col nos. 232, 233; Blyth, Cat. p. 243; Jerdon, B. L iii,
p. 539 ; Blanford, J. A. S. B. xxxvi, pt. 2, p. 199; Hume, N. $ E.
p. 531 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 5; v, p. 222 ; ix. p. 421 ; Hume $
Bourd. S. F. iv, p. 404 ; Hume 8f Marsh, Game B. i, p. 231, pi. ;
Hume, Cat. no. 813 ; Vidal, & F. ix, p. 76; Butler, ibid pp. 205,
421 ; Davidson, S. F. x, p. 316; Davison, ibid. p. 409; Barnes,
Birds Bom. p. 304 ; Gates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 420 j
Offline Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 350.
Janyli-murghi, H. ; Komri, Mt. Abu ; Pardah Komri, Gondhi, Chanda;
Ran-kombadi, Mahr. ; Kattu kozhi or koli, Tana. ; Adavikode, Tel. ;
Koli, Kad-koli, Can.
Coloration. Male. Crown and neck-hackles blackish, the feathers
GALLUS. 79
with white shafts, a white spot near the eiid, and a glossy brownish-
yellow spot at the 1ip, both resembling sealing-wax, and formed
by the wrebs of the feathers being soldered together ; back, rump,
and lesser wing-coverts black, the feathers with \vhite shafts and
grey edges, the long feathers at the side of the rump and some of
the upper tail-coverts with yellowish wax-like spots along the shafts
and with ferruginous edges ; scapulars and median wing-coverts
black, with white shaft-stripes, which expand into long, lanceolate,
brownish-orange, wax-like spots, fringed at the end with chestnut ;
greater coverts black, with white shafts ; primaries dark brown,
with pale shafts and outer borders ; secondaries black, slightly
glossed ; upper and lower tail-coverts and tail black, the shorter
upper coverts glossed with purple-bronze, the longer with purple,
and the median rectrices and outer edges of the others with bluish
green ; lower parts blackish grey, the feathers with broad white
shaft-stripes and pale grey edges, passing into uniform brownish
grey on the lower abdomen, the flanks tinged with ferruginous
red. The neck-hackles are replaced by black feathers, and the
long rectrices by shorter plumes after the breeding-season, as in
G. ferrugineus.
Female. Crown and neck speckled brown, with pale shafts and
borders to the feathers ; upper parts finely mottled with blackish
brown and buff, the upper back and wing-coverts with fine whitish
shaft-lines ; quills and tail-feathers dark brown, mottled on the
exposed portions of the secondaries and rectrices ; chin and throat
whitish ; breast and abdomen white, the feathers with black borders,
broad on the upper breast, gradually disappearing on the abdomen.
Bill yellowish horny ; comb, face, and wattles red ; irides orange-
brown ; legs and feet horny yellowish (Jerdon). Irides in male
orange-red to wax-yellow (Davison}.
Length of males 24 to 32 ; tail' 12 to 18 ; wing 9'5 ; tarsus 3 ;
bill from gape. 1*3. Length of female 18; tail 6; wing 8;
tarsus 2-4.
Distribution. Throughout Southern and Western India in hilly
and jungly ground. This Jungle-fowl is found near the eastern
coast as far north as the Godavari, and in the Central Provinces
its limit is some distance east of Sironcha, Chanda, and Seoni.
It is found throughout the Nerbudda valley west of Jubbul-
pore, and in parts of Central India and Eajputana, as far as the
Aravalis and Mount Abu, but no farther to the northward or
westward. It is met with near Baroda, but has not been observed
in Kattywar. It is common throughout the Western Ghats and
8atpuras, and it is found, though riot abundantly, on the tops of
the Nilgiri and Puluey hills.
Habits, $c. Except that the present is a more shy and wary bird,
a characteristic probably due to greater persecution, there is but
little difference between the habits of the Red and Grey Jungle-
fowl. The crow of G. sonnerati, however, is quite distinct. It is
difficult to convey an idea of the sound ; Davison represents it as
•resembling *' Icuck-lcaya-kya-lcuck" followed by a low double-
80 PIIASIANID.E.
syllable, like " kyukun, kyukun" repeated slowly and very softly,
so as only to be heard at a short distance. The time of breeding
varies : March and April on the eastern side of the Nilgiris,
October to December on the western, but generally from March
to July. From seven to thirteen buff eggs, measuring about 1-84
by 1'3S, are laid on the ground, with a few dry leaves, as a rule,
beneath them.
Genus PHASIANUS, Linn., 1766.
In the true Pheasants the tail is lyng in the males and greatly
graduated, shorter in the females, but still longer than the wing,
and composed in both sexes of 16 or 18 feathers. There is no
crest, but there are small " ear-tut'ts " in the male, one on each
side of the occiput. The area round the eye is naked. "Wing well
rounded ; first primary about equal to the 8th and longer than the
10th.
Sexes very dissimilar; a spur on each tarsus in the male.
This genus contains 20 species and ranges throughout temperate
Asia from Eastern Europe to Japan. It is not represented in the
Himalayas, but two species are found in Mauipur and Burma.
Key to the Species.
a. 16 tail-feathers ; cross-bars on middle rectrices
about an inch apart in female, much more in male. P. humiee, p. 80.
b. 18 tail-feathers; black cross-bars on middle rec-
trices much less than an inch apart in both sexes. P. eleyans, p. 81.
1331. Phasianus humiae. Mrs. Hume's Pheasant.
Callophasis humiae, Hume, S. F. ix, p. 461 (1881) ; xi, p. 302.
Phasianus humijc, Godwin- Austen, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 715, pi. li;
W. Sclater, Ibis, 1&9I, p. 152; Offiloie Grant, Cat. B.M. xxii,
p. 335 ; Gates, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. x, p. 112.
Loe-nin-koi, Mauipur.
Coloration. Male. Crown brown, tinged with olive and with
traces of green metallic gloss : chin dark brown ; neck all round,
upper back, and upper breast black, the feathers near their edges
glossed with steely blue, the velvety-black centres only showing
slightly ; smaller wing-coverts and interscapulars copper-coloured,
shot with glowing fiery red ; a broad band of white feathers with
black tips and bases across each wing and the scapulars ; parallel
to this is a black band, glossed with bronze-green, formed by the
tips of the chestnut median coverts ; greater coverts chestnut,
tipped with white, forming a second white band ; quills dark brown,
edged outside with chestnut, which grows broader on the second-
aries and tertiaries, each of which has a subterminal black bar
and white or buff tip ; lower back and rump black with metallic
purplish gloss, each feather fringed with white ; upper tail-
coverts and tail grey, the latter with bars, rather far apart, of
black more or less mixed with chestnut, the outer feathers,
PHASIANUS. 81
beginning with about the third pair from the middle, having a
subterminal black band that grows broader on each pair, until on
the outermost pair it nearly covers the feathers ; lower parts from,
middle of breast to vent chestnut, some breast-feathers with a
black crescentic subterminal spot and both breast- and flank-
feathers fringed with fiery red in some lights ; vent and lower
tail-coverts black with a greenish gloss.
Female. General colour greyish brown, blotched with black and
mottled with pale sandy : crown rufous, with dark brown centres
to the feathers ; hind neck and upper back blotched with black,
the feathers with irregular arrowhead-shaped white shaft-spots ;
lower back and rump speckled and mixed with black and pale
rufous ; inner scapulars mostly black, and some large black blotches
on the wing-coverts, some of which have pale shafts, and the
median and greater coverts whitish tips ; primaries blackish brown
slightly speckled rufous, with white spots on the outer webs and
mottled tips ; secondaries black, mottled and banded with brown
arid tipped with rufous ; middle tail-feathers brown, speckled black,
with black and whitish cross-bands ; outer tail-feathers chestnut,
with imperfect black bars, each with a subterminal black band and
white tip ; lower parts pale brownish rufous, with whitish bars
and edges to feathers of the breast, upper abdomen, and flanks ;
lower abdomen whity brown ; under tail-coverts black, white, and
chestnut mixed.
Hectrices 16. Bill of male greenish horny ; naked sides of face
intense crimson ; irides orange ; legs and feet pale drab (Hume).
Length of a male 33 ; tail 20'5 ; wing 87 ; tarsus 2-75 ; bill
from gape 13. Females smaller : wing 8-25 ; tail 7 ; tarsus 2-3.
Distribution. Hill-forests of Manipur, both north and south of
the valley, and a considerable area in Upper Burma, specimens
having been obtained by Gates near the Euby Mines east of
the Irrawaddv, and the occurrence of the species ascertained at
Tounggyi in the southern Shan States. Only a very few skins of
this species have hitherto been collected.
1332. Phasianus elegans. Stone's Pheasant.
Phasianus eleg-ans, Elliot, A. M. N. H. (4) vi, p. 312 (1870) ; id.
Mon. Phas. ii, pi. 8 ; Offilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 329.
Phasianus sltideni, Anderson, Elliot, P. Z. 8. 1870, pp. 404, 408
(descr. nulia) ; Anderson, P. Z. 8. 1871, p. 214 ; id. Yunnan
Exped., Aves, p. 671, pi. lii.
Coloration. Male. Crown and nape bronze-green ; remainder of
head, neck, and breast dark green, passing more or less into blue
at the sides of the neck ; upper back and innermost wing-coverts
chestnut, with wide paler tips ; scapulars the same, with black,
buff-mottled centres ; the upper feathers of the mantis notched at
the end ; lower back and rump-feathers dark green, broadly edged
with greenish grey, their centres black with a concentric buff
band; upper tail-coverts greenish grey, the outermost at each side
VOL. IV. G
S2 PITASIANIDJE.
rusty red ; wing-coverts greenish grey, pale-shafted ; inner greater
coverts br«mdly edged outside with purplish chestnut; quills
brown, with a few pale markings, the innermost with black centres
and chestnut edges ; tail-feathers rufous brown, middle pair gene-
rally greyer with purplish-red edges, all with broadish black cross-
bars not far apart ; sides of breast chestnut, with black tips ;
abdomen dark brown in the middle, green at the sides ; lower
flanks dark chestnut.
Female. Upper plumage mostly black, edged with whity brown ;
feathers of the hind neck and upper neck with rufous centres and
pale shafts, those of the rump wit!? buff cross-bars and broad light
greyish-brown edges ; quills dark brown, with pale cross-bands ;
tail with undulatiug narrow black and light greyish-brown cross-
bars, that are broader on the middle pair of rectrices, and traversed
by ill-denned narrow whitish bands ; chin and throat whitish, rest
of lower parts whity brown, the feathers banded and speckled with
blackish.
Legs and feet of a male lead-colour, inclining to flesh-colour ;
naked skin around eye scarlet (Elliot}.
E-ectrices 18. Length of a male 27*5; tail 16; wing 9;
tarsus 2-4 ; bill from gaj)e 1'25. Length of a female 21 ; tail 9-f> :
wing 8 ; tarsus 2' 3.
Distribution. Szechuen in China. This Pheasant was obtained
also by Anderson in Yunnan, and by Gates from the Shan Sates
of Burma, where a specimen was shot by Lieut. H. R. Wallis.
Genus CATREUS, Cabanis, 1851.
The Cheer Pheasant was formerly referred to Phasianus, but
appears to deserve separation on account of being crested, and of
its very different plumage. There is a simple occipital crest of
considerable length in the male, shorter in the female. The tail,
of 18 feathers, is in the male twice as long as the wing, and but
little less in the female, the middle feathers four or five times as
long as the outer pair. A large area on each side of the head is
naked. The wing is rounded, and the male is armed with a strong
spur on each tarsus.
A single species.
1333. Catreus wallichi. The Cheer Pheasant.
Phasianus wallichii, Hardwickc, Tr. Linn. Soc. xv, p, 166 (1827) ;
Blyth, Cat. p. 245 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 527 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B.
xxx vii. pt. 2, p. 68; Hume, N. $ E. p. 524; Hume $ Marsh.
Game B. i, p. 169, pi ; Hume, Cat. no. 809 ; Scully, S. F. viii,
p. 345 ; C. H. T. Marshall, Ibis, 1884, p. 423 j Gates in Humes
N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 412.
Phasianus staceii, Gould, Cent. pi. 68.
Catreus wallichii, Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 499; Mitchell, ibid.
p. 545, pis. 147 (young), 149, fig. 4 (eg-«r) ; Ogilvie Grant, Cat.
B. M. xxii, p. 317.
Chihir, Chir, Nepal, Kumaun, Garlnval, &c. ; Bunchil, Herril. hills
north oiMussooiee; C'Mman, Kulu, Chamba.
CATREUS. 83
Coloration. Male. Crown and crest brown, each feather edged
and tipped paler ; sides of head, where feathered, including the
*/
Fig. 15.-Head of C. wallicki, rf. f
ear-coverts, brown, slightly more rufous ; neck all round, except
behind, chin, and throat sullied white ; back of neck and upper
back black, the feathers barred and tipped with white ; wing-
coverts pale-shafted and barred buffy white and black, the colours
broken up and mottled on the greater coverts and scapulars ; lower
back, rump, and upper tail-coverts dull rufous, each feather with
a subterminal black band, glossed with green ; quills dark brown,
irregularly edged and speckled with buff ; tail-feathers with alter-
nating subequal broad cross-bars of white or buff and black mottled
with grey, and replaced in parts by chestnut on the inner webs oi:
the outer feathers, generally a narrow detached black stripe in
front of each black bar, the white or buff bars often speckled with
black ; breast and Hanks buff or buffy white, the feathers barred
with black ; middle of abdomen blackish, lower abdomen grey
tinged with rufous on lower flanks and under tail-coverts. s
Female. Feathers of crown and crest dark brown, with buff
edges ; supercilia and sides of head brown, with broader whitish
edges to the feathers ; chin and throat white ; neck all round and
upper breast black, with broad whitish edges ; feathers of the
upper back barred black and chestnut, with whitish shaft-stripes
and tips ; wing-coverts mixed black and buff, white-shafted, and
with whitish edges ; scapulars and greater coverts with whitish
ends ; quills black, barred with buff on the outer webs and with
rufous on the inner ; lower back and rump greyish brown, mixed
with black and buff ; tail brown, mottled and blotched with
black, and with rather narrow, irregular, more or less black-edged
whitish cross-bars ; lower breast rufous, the feathers pale-edged ;
abdomen and lower tail-coverts isabelline, more or le.*s with black
crescentic subterminal bars, especially on the lower flanks and
tail-coverts.
Bill pale horny ; nude sides of head bright red ; irides yellowish
hazel ; legs and feet brown (Jerdon}.
Length of males 34 to 40 (some are said to reach 46) ; tail 20
to 23; wing 10; tarsus 2'9 ; bill from gape 1*4. Length of
females 24 to 29-5 ; tail about 14-5 ; wing 9 : tarsus 2'6.
Distribution. Prom the neighbourhood of IChatmandu in Nepal
to Chamha, at elevations of from 4000 or 5000 to 10,000 feet in
the outer Himalayas, not in the drier upper valleys.
G2
84 PHASIASID^.
Habits, cj-c. The Cheer is found chiefly at elevations of about
GOOO to 7000 feet on precipitous wooded hill-sides, but is
capriciously and locally distributed. It generally, except in the
breeding-season, associates in small parties and its presence is
usually betrayed by the loud crowing of both sexes morning and
evening, and sometimes during tue day. The crow is loud and
peculiar, and is said by " Mountaineer" (Mr. F. "Wilson), in whose
admirable accounts the habits of this and several other Himalayan
Pheasants are fully described, to sound like chir-a-pir, chir-a-pir,
chir, chir, chirwa, chirwa, but mifch varied. This Pheasant feeds
on roots, which it digs up, grubs, insects, seeds, berries. &c., but is
far inferior to the Koklas as food. It breeds from April to June,
laying in a hollow scratched in the ground 9 to 14 pale stone-
coloured eggs, almost devoid of markings, or slightly speckled,
and measuring about 2-13 by 1-5. There is no nest.
Genus PUCRASIA, G. E. Gray, 1841.
This genus of Pheasants, of which the Himalayan Pukras or
Koklas is the type, is readily distinguished by having the upper
tail-coverts nearly as long as the tail, and the sides of the head
feathered. The tail, equal to the wing in length in the female,
and a little longer in the male, consists of 16 feathers, and is
wedge-shaped, the middle pair of rectrices being twice the length
of the outer pair. The male has an elongate occipital crest, con-
sisting of a median anterior tuft, differing in colour from the very
elongate lateral posterior tufts ; the crest in the female is short.
The wings are much rounded. Tarsus about equal to the middle
toe and claw in the female, longer and armed with a spur in
males.
Pucrasia ranges from Nepal to Afghanistan, and two species are
found in China, but none in the Eastern Himalayas. The birds
found within Indian limits appear to be varieties of one specific
form.
1384. Pucrasia macrolopha. The Koldas or Pukras Pheasant.
Satyra macrolopha, Less. Diet. Sci. Nat. lix, p. 196 (1829).
Phasianus pucrasia, Gray, in Hardw. 111. 2nd. Zool. i, pi. 40 (1830-32).
Tra^opan pucrasia, Temm. PI. Col. text to pi. 545 ; Blyth, Ibis, 18(35,
p. 28, note.
Pucrasia macrolopha, Gray, Gen. B. iii, p. 503 ; Hutton, J. A. S. B.
xvii, pt. 2, p. (594; Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 500; ]859, p. 186 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 524; Blyth, Ibis, 1*67, p. 152; Stoliczka,
J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 68 ; Hume, fy Marsh. Game B. \,
p. 159, pi. ; Hume, Cat. no. 808 ; C. H. T. Marsh. Ibis, 1884,
p. 422 ; Oates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 411 : Ogilvie Grant,
Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 311.
Phasianus macrolopha, Blyth, Cat. p. 245.
Pucrasia nipalensis, Gould, P. Z. S. 1854, p. ]00; Hume, S. F. vii,
p. 428; Hume 8f Marsh. Game B. i, p. 165, pi. ; Hume, Cat.
no. 808 ter ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 343.
Pucrasia duvauceli,' Bonap. C. R. xlii; p. 879 (1856); Elliot, Mon.
PUCK ASIA. 85
Phas. i, pi. 28 ; id. Ibis, 1878, p. 125 ; Hume, S. F. v. p. 138 ; vii,
p. 124.
Pucrasia biddulphi, G. F. L. Marsh. Ibis, 1879, p. 461 ; id. S. F.
viii, p. 445.
Plus, Kashmir ; Kukrola, Chamba ; Koak, Kulu, Mandi ; Koklds,
Kokla, Simla to Almora ; Pokrds, Bhote Pergunnahs of Kumaun and
Uarhwal and Western Nepal.
Fig. 16. — Head of P. macrolopha, J. \.
Coloration. Male. Median occipital crest fawn-coloured, the
very elongate lateral posterior tufts with the whole head, nape,
and throat black, richly glossed with dark green ; a large oblong
white spot at each side of the neck ; upper parts to the rump grey
with a brownish tinge, browner on the wing-coverts and scapulars,
each feather with a broad black lanceolate shaft-stripe, varying
greatly in breadth, and confined, in old birds of the typical variety,
to the basal half of the feathers on the sides of the lower back and
rump ; scapulars and rump-feathers often with rufous shaft-stripes ;
quills dark brown, with isabelline-buff outer borders ; later second-
aries more or less mottled with rufous near the shafts ; long
upper tail-coverts and middle tail-feathers varying from dull rufous
to chestnut, with grey tips ; outer rect rices black, shading into
chestnut on the outer webs towards the base, and narrowly tipped
white ; fore neck, middle of breast and of upper abdomen chestnut ;
sides of breast and flanks like back ; lower abdomen dull rufous,
pale-shafted ; under tail-coverts mixed chestnut and black.
Female. Crown black, mixed with rufous or buff; a short
occipital crest, dark brown in front, buff with black spots behind ;
supercilia buff; forehead and sides of head buff, with blackish
borders to feathers ; ear-coverts black and rufous ; upper parts
generally brown, the feathers with rufous-buff shaft-stripes, black
lateral blotches, and the tips and edges much mottled with pale
grey and buff, especially on the wings and rump ; tips of scapulars
and of some wing-coverts whitish ; quills brown, mottled with
buff on outer webs and tips ; longer tail-coverts and middle tail-
feathers greyish brown speckled with black, and with irregular,
black-edged, rufous-buff cross-bar?, sometimes indistinct ; outer
tail-feathers black, more or less replaced by chestnut on outer
webs, except near the ends, the tips white ; chin and throat white;
86
PHASIANID.E.
feathers of fore neck and sides of throat black-edged ; breast
rufous buff, the lanceolate feathers with lateral subrnarginal black
streaks and pale tips ; flanks similar, but less rufous ; middle of
abdomen white, the anterior feathers with dark brown centres ;
vent-feathers and lower tail-coverts \vhite at the end, mixed
chestnut and black near the base.
Bill black or dusky in males, dark horny in females ; irides dark
brown; legs and feet grey, tiuged purplish in some males.
Length of male about 24 ; tail 9 to 11 ; wing 9-5 ; tarsus 2'6 ;
bill from gape 1-4. Length of female about 21 ; tail 8 ; wing 8'5 ;
tarsus 2-25.
Distribution. On the Himalayas at elevations between about
4000 feet and the upper limits of forest, from Jumla in Western
Nepal to Kashmir. The supposed occurrence of this species in
Bhutan is due to error.
This species, as Hume and others have shown, is very variable.
The chestnut on the breast and the black lanceolate stripes on the
feathers of the back vary greatly in breadth. In typical P. macro-
lopha, from the N.W. Himalayas, the chestnut of the lower throat
does not extend round the neck, and the feathers of the back,
wing-coverts, and sides of the breast have their black shaft-stripes
narrow, very often narrower than the grey edges.
In P. nipalensis, from Western Nepal, these feathers of the
back, &c., are black, with narrow grey edges, and sometimes the
shafts are whitish, there being even in some individuals a narrow
pale shaft-stripe. Sometimes also the feathers at the back and
sides of the neck are partly chestnut. There is a gradual passage
from P. macroloplia to P. nipalensis, and both are highly variable.
In the female of P. nipalensis there is often much chestnut on the
tail-feathers. A skin with rather more chestnut than usual on
the neck appears to have been figured in the ' Planches Coloriees,'
no. 545, as Tragopan duvaucel.
The variety from Western Kashmir, P. ?>iddulp7ii, has the
chestnut of the breast mixed with black and extending round the
neck; the middle tail-feathers are greyer. This race resembles
P. nipalensis, but the black shaft-stripes on the back are narrow ;
it leads to P. castanea.
This last species, P. catttanea (Gould, P. Z. S. 1854, p. 90;
Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 314), is only known by two skins said to
have been obtained from Kafiristan, and now in the British
Museum. The neck all round, upper back, breast, and flanks are
chestnut, and the middle of the abdomen black. This form appears
wjrthy of specific distinction, and it is said to occur in Tassin,
Ohitral, and Swat ; but I cannot learn that any specimens from
those countries have been clearly identified, so I do not for the
present include P. castanea in the Indian fauna.
Habits, Sfc. The Koklas is a forest bird, usually found in coveys
throughout the autumn and winter, singly or in pairs at other
times. Jt keeps much to well-wooded slopes, lies well, and wThen
flushed often rises with what "Mountaineer" calls a low screeching
LOP nun A. 87
chatter. The crow of the male, which is said to sound liko
44 /cok-kok-pokrass," is often heard in wild parts of the hills in the
morning and evening, and, as with several other Pheasants, is
frequently uttered when a gun is fired in the neighbourhood or
after a peal of thunder. This bird is swift and difficult to shoot,
as it, like other Himalayan Pheasants, often flies with great rapidity
down the steep hill-sides ; it is said to be the best of all for the
table. It lives chiefly on leaves and buds, but it also feeds on seeds,
berries, fruit, and insects. It breeds from April to June, and lays
about 9 pale buff eggs, often speckled or thinly blotched with
brownish red, and measuring on an average 2'Od by 1*47. They
are laid in a hollow scraped in the ground without any nest.
Genus LOPHURA, Fleming, 1822.
The Fireback Pheasants, which form the present genus, only
differ from Gennceus (1) in having a fuller crest, which occupies
the greater part of the crown instead of being confined to the
occiput, and forms a brush of bare shafted feathers ending in hair-
like plumes ; (2) in the rump of the male being riery bronze-red.
The male, too, is more richly metallic in colour, and the female is
chestnut above, not brown.
The tail, of 16 feathers, is laterally compressed, and in the male
the median feathers diverge considerably at the ends, the third
pair from the middle being slightly the longest ; outer pairs much
shorter.
Three species are known, ranging from South Tenasserim
through the Malay Peninsula, Siam, and Cambodia to Sumatra and
Borneo. Only one occurs in British Burma.
1335. Lophura rafa. Vieillot's Fire-backed Pheasant.
Phasianus rut us, Raffles, Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 321 (1822).
Euplocamus iguitus, apud Gray, in Hai'dw. III. Ind. Zool. ii, p. 39 ;
myth, Cat. p. 243; id. Birds Bunn. p. 140; nee Shaw $ Xodder.
Euplocamus vieillotti, G. It. Gray, List Gen. B. 2nd ed, p. 77 (1841) ;
Hume, S.F. v, p. 119 ; id. fy Uav. S. F. vi, p. 438; id. # Marsh.
Game B. \, p. 213, pi.; Hume, Cat. no. 811 quint; Gates, B. B.
ii, p. 320.
Euplocamus rufus, Hume, & F. v, p. 121.
Lophura rufia, Oyilcie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p, 286.
Coloration. Male. Plumage above and below deep metallic violet,
except on the lower back, which is fiery metallic red, passing into
chestnut on the rump ; the median two pairs of tail-feathers and
the tips or inner webs of the next pair, which are white; the
feathers of the sides of the breast and the flanks, which have
fusiform white shaft-stripes ; and the quills, outer tail-feathers,
middle of breast, and abdomen, which are black.
Female. Upper plumage chestnut-rufous, finely vermiculatecl
with black ; the head, hind neck, and upper back sometimes
not. vermiculatecl ; quills and tail-feathers the same, inner webs
of quills darker, the rufous mottling disappearing on the first
88 THASIANIDJE.
primaries ; chin and throat thinly clad with white feathers ; fore
neck and upper breast chestnut, the feathers with narrow white
edges, passing into the black feathers, with white borders all round,
of the breast and flanks; abdomen white ; vent and under tail-
coverts black and dull chestnut mixed. Young males resemble
females.
Bill whitish in males, upper mandible dark horny brown, lower
horny white in females; irides red; facial skin smalt-blue; legs
and t'eet vermilion-red (Davixon).
Length of male about 28; tail J.1 ; wing 11-5; tarsus 4-7;
bill from gape 1*7. Length of female 23; tail 8 ; wing 10;
tarsus 3'6.
Distribution. Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, with the
southernmost part of Tenasseritn, south of Tenasserim town.
Habits, &fc. By Davison this Pheasant was found inhabiting the
evergreen forests in parties of five or six, the males sometimes
apart. The males make a whirring sound with their wings, but
were not heard to crow. On one occasion Davison saw an Argus
Pheasant (Argusianus argus) driven from its clearing by a Eire-
back. An egg of this species laid by a captive hen in July was
coloured pale ca/e-au-lait and measured 2*25 by 1'68.
Crossoptilum, which approaches Loplmra and its allies, is a very
remarkable genus, with the sexes alike in plumage, black or slate-
blue and white in colour, with a large tail of 20 to 24 feathers,
the extremities of the middle pairs much curved. Two or three
species are said to have been obtained in Tibet, but none of these
has hitherto been found in the Himalayas, although Surgeon-
Major AVaddell was informed by Bhoteas that one species, probably
C. tibetanum, inhabits some of the passes in Bhutan.
Genus GENNJEUS, Wagler, 1832.
The Kalij Pheasants of the Himalayas and the Silver Pheasants
form a very natural genus. The head is crested in both sexes, the
crest being formed of long narrow feathers, more loose-textured,
hairy, and elongate in males. The sides of the head are naked in
both sexes, arid crimson in colour ; the naked area ends beneath in
a lappet in males. The tarsus is considerably longer than the
middle toe and claw, and armed with a stout and long spur in cock
birds. The tail, of 36 feathers, is lengthened, compressed, and
much graduated, the middle pair of feathers usually the longest,
and divergent in males. The 1st primary is shorter than the 10th.
Young males assume the adult plumage in the first year.
All are forest birds, and with a tropical or subtropical habitat,
the Himalayan species being found lower down the hills than other
Pheasants. The genus inhabits the Himalayas, Burma, China,
and Formosa, and he majority of the species occur within Indian
i mits.
GENX.EUS.
Key to the Species.
a. Upper parts to rump glossy black.
a'. Feathers of breast lanceolate, whitish.
a". Lower back and rump with white
edges to feathers.
a3. Crest white G. albicristatus d , p. 89.
b3. Crest black G. leucomelanvs J , p. 90.
b". Lower back and rump without any
white G. melanonotus $ , p. 91.
b' . Feathers of breast black, not lanceolate,
white bars on rump G, hortfieldi <3 , p. 92.
b. Upper parts black and white.
c'. Upper surface finely vermiculated .... G. lineatus tf , p. 92.
d'. Upper surface with concentric bars
on feathers G. andersoni <$ , p. 94.
c. Upper parts brown.
( G. albicristatus $ , p. 89.
, , ) G. leucomelanus $ , p. 91 .
e . No white V-shaped marks round neck. . -j Q melanonotus g f £ yl.
( G. horsfteldi $ , p. 92.
\ G. lineatus 9 , p. 93.
/ . White V-shaped marks round neck . . j Q andersoni$ Jp. 94.
1336. Gennaeus albicristatus. The White-vested Kalij Pheasant.
Phasianus albocristatus, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1830, p. 9.
Euplocomus albocristatus, Hutton, J. A. S. 11. xvii, pt. 2, p. 698 ;
£lyth, Cat. p. 244.
Euplocamus albocristatus, Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 499; Hume 8?
Marsh. Game B. i, p. 177, pi.; Hume, Cat. no. 810 ; C. H. T.
Marsh. Ibis, 1884, p. 423 ; Oates in Humes N. Sf E. 2nd ed. iii,
p. 413.
Gallophasis albocristatus, Mitchell, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 544, pi. 148,
fig. 1 (young), & pi. 149, fig. 3 (egg) ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 532 ;
Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii,' pt. 2, p. 68 ; Beavan, Ibis, 1868,
p. 380 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 526.
Gennaeus albocristatus, Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 298.
Kdlij, Kukera, Mirghi Kdlij, Kaksur $ , Kalesi $ , H., in various parts
of theN.W. Himalayas; Kolsa, Western Punjab and Chamba.
Fig. 17. — Head of G. albicristatus, <$ . ?.
Coloration. Male. Long hairy crest white ; forehead, sides of
crown, nape, sides and back of neck, upper back, and wing-coverts
black glossed with purplish steel-blue, the feathers of the upper
back with narrow whitish borders ;, lower back, rump, and upper
90 PHAS1ANIDJE.
tail-coverts black with broad white edges ; quills dark brown,
secondaries with green gloss on the outer webs ; tail-feathers
blackish brown with a slight greenish gloss ; chin, throat, abdomen,
and lower tail-coverts dark brown, passing into sullied white on the
lanceolate breast-feathers ; sometimes the whitish tint extends
over part of the abdomen, bases of feathers brown throughout ;
feathers with pure white shafts, especially on the upper back and
the breast.
Female. Upper parts, crest included, reddish brown ; shafts and
edges of feathers whitish, and all feathers minutely subobsoletely
vermiculated with black ; lower surface similar bub paler ; chin,
throat, and middle of abdomen whitish ; middle pair of tail-
feathers rufous brown with fine whitish or buff vermiculation ;
other tail-feathers black with a slight bluish gloss.
Bill greenish white ; irides orange-brown ; bare eye-patch
scarlet to crimson : legs and feet livid white, with a purplish or
brownish tinge (Hume).
Length of male "24 to 29 ; tail about 11 ; wing 9'5 : tarsus 3 ;
bill from gape I1 4. Length of female 20 to 23 ; tail 8 ; wing 8 ;
tarsus 2'7.
Distribution. The Himalayas, from Kumaun to Hazara ; not
west of the Indus, according to Biddulph, nor in Nepal, or only
in the westermost part, ranging from about 2000 feet, close to
the base of the hills, up to about 5000 or 6000 feet in winter and
9000 or 10.000 in summer.
Habits, fyc. This is the most familiar of the Himalayan Pheasants,
being frequently seen about villages and cultivation in the lower
Himalayas ; it has a preference for low coppice, bushes, or wooded
ravines near water. It is not very gregarious ; its call is a loud
whistling chuckle, which is generally uttered when the bird flies
away. The males are very pugnacious, and make a drumming
noise with their wings as a challenge. This species breeds from
April till June, forming a slight nest of grass &c. on the ground,
and laving usually about nine eggs, creamy white to reddish buff,
and measuring about 1*94 by 1*44.
1337. Gennaeus leucomelaims. The Nepal Kalij Pheasant.
Phasianus leucomelanos, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, p. 633 (1790).
Gallophasis leucomelanus, Hutton, J. A, S. B. xvii; pt. '2, p. 694 ;
Scully, 8. F. viii, p. 345.
Euplocamus leucomelanus, Hume, S. F. vii, p. 428 ; id. Cat. no. 810
bis ; id. 8f Marsh. Game B. i, p. 185, pi.
Gennaeus leucomelanus, OgilvieGrant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 300.
Kdlij, H. ; Rechabo, Bhutia.
The male is distinguished from that of the last species by having
a black crest glossed with purplish blue, and the white terminal
bars on the lower back and rump are, as a rule, narrower. The
female shows no constant distinction from that of G. albicristatus,
but is generally darker and the middle rectrices more rufous.
GENNJ2US. 91
Bill greenish horny; irides dark brown; orbital skin crimson ;
feet brownish grey-horny (Scully).
Dimensions less than those of G. albicHstatus : length of male
23 to 26 ; tail about 11-5 ; wing 9 ; tarsus 2'9 ; bill from gape
1*3 : length of female about 20 ; tail 8 ; wing 8.
Distribution. Almost throughout Nepal, from the extreme or
nearly the extreme west, to the Arun River, at all events, on the
east, and from the base of the hills to 9000 feet near Khatmandu.
Mandelli obtained specimens, now in the British Museum collec-
tion, from " Dholaka," probably on the Arun River.
Habits, §c. Similar to those of the last. The eggs do not
appear to have been described. Two young males brought up in
confinement were found to assume the black plumage when about
rive months old.
This Kahj \vas regarded by Blyth and Jerdon as a hybrid
between G. albicristatus and G. melanonotus ; but Scully has shown
that G. leucomelanus is constant in plumage throughout the
greater part of Nepal, where neither of the other two races is
found.
1338. Gennseus melanonotus. The Black -baclced Kalij Pheasant.
Euplocomus melanotus, Blyth, Hutton,J. A. S. B. xvii, pt. 2, p. 694
(1848) : Bhfth, Cat. p. 244 ; Hume, S. F. v, p. 42.
Gallophasis melanotus, Mitchell, P. Z. S. ] 858, p. 545, pi. 149, fig. 2
(egg) ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 534 ; Hume. N. $ E. p. 527.
Euplocamus melanonotus, Hume fy Marsh. Game B. i, p. 191,
pi. ; Hume, Cat. no. 811 ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii,
p. 415.
(irennseiis muthura, Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 301.
Kar-rhyak, Lepcha.
The male differs from the last species in wanting entirely the
white bars on the lower back and rump, where the feathers have
velvety-black edges. There are no whitish edges on the upper
back. The whole upper plumage is black, richly glossed with
violet, and on the wings and tail with greenish, and conspicuously
white-shafted. The female is similar to that of G. levcomelanus.
Bill yellowish or greenish horny ; irides brown ; orbital skin
bright red ; legs and feet pale horny brown (Hume).
Dimensions as in G. leucomelanus.
The name G. muthura cannot, I think, be used for this species ;
it was founded on Latham's " Chittvgong Pheasant," which, it'
it was, as stated, an inhabitant of the Chittagong hills and known
to the natives as " muthurau" should have been G. horsfieldi.
But it was said to have a white breast, and to be as large as a
Turkey, three feet eight inches in length, with an even tail.
It is impossible to identify any species of Gennceus with this
description.
Distribution. Sikhim Himalayas, from about 1000 to 8000 feet
elevation, chiefly from 2000 to 6000 feet. This species extends
92 PHA.SIA.NID.E.
into Eastern Nepal on the west, and into Bhutan on the east, but
how far is not known.
Habits, &fc. Similar to those of other species. This Kalij breeds
at low elevations at the end of March, at higher levels later, up to
July, and lays usually six to ten eggs, without any nest. The
eggs vary from creamy pink to brownish, and measure about
1-91 by 1-47.
1339. Gennaeus horsfieldi. The ^lack-breasted Kalij Pheasant.
Gallophasis horsfieldi, Gray, Gen. JX iii, p. 498, pi. cxxvi (1845) ;
Mitchell, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 544, pis. 148 (young), 149 (e«rg) ; Godw.-
Austen, J. A. 8. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 272 ; xlv, pt. 2, p. 83.
Euplocomus horsfieldi, Blyth, Cat. p. 244.
Euplocamus horstieldi, Hume # Inyli*, 6". F. v, p. 42 : Hume 8f Marsh.
Game B. i, p. 197, pi. ; Hume, Cat. no. 810 ter ; Fasson, S. F. ix,
pp. 203, 205; Saivadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) iv, p. 611;
Hume, S. F. xi, p. 303 ; Oates in Humes N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 410.
Gennaeus horsfieldi, Oyilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 302.
Mathura, Chitlagong and Sylhet ; Duniy, Dirrik, Garo hills ; Dorik,
Dibrugarh.
Coloration. The upper parts in the male are similar to those of
G. leucomelanus — black, richly glossed with violet-purple, — and the
feathers of the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts have
terminal white bars ; the lower parts are black throughout, glossed
with purple, except on the abdomen and lower tail-coverts ; there
are no white shafts to the feathers above or below, and the breast-
feathers are rounded at the end, not lanceolate.
In old females the middle pair of tail-feathers are uniform dull
rufous brown, not mottled, and the next pair are often tinged with
rufous on the outer webs. The feathers of the breast have narrow
buff shaft-lines ; otherwise there is no difference from, the hens of
the other Kalij Pheasants.
Soft parts and measurements as in the last species.
Distribution. North of the Assam, valley in the lower hills of
Eastern Bhutan and the Daphla country ; and throughout the
ranges south of the Assam valley as far south as Chittagong and
Northern Arrakan, Southern Manipur, and the neighbourhood of
Bhamo in the Irrawaddy valley.
Habits, §c. The eggs have been taken twice towards the end of
March by Mr. Cripps in Sylhet. They are precisely similar to
those of G. melanonotas.
1340. Gennaeus lineatus. The Burmese Silver Pheasant.
Phasianus lineatus, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 24.
Gennaeus lineatus, Wayl. Isis, 1832, p. 1228 ; Oyilvie Grant, Cat.
B. M. xxii, p. 304.
pi.
S. F. ix, p. 195; Saivadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) v, p. 620;
93
vii, p. 425; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 316; id. in Hume's AT. # E.
2nded. iii,p. 416.
Nycthemerus lineatus, Blyth fy Wald. Birds Burm. p. 149.
Arrakan race intermediate between G. lineatus and G. horsfieldi.
Lophophorus cuvieri, Temm. PL Col v, pi. 10 [no. 1] (1820) ; Blyth,
Ibis, 1867, p. 153 ; Hume, S. F. iii, p. 166, note.
Enplocamus cuvieri, Oates, 8. F. iii, p. 343 ; Hume fy Marsh. Game
B. i, p. 201, pi. ; Hume, Cat. no. 811 bis; Sanderson, S. F. viii,
p. 493; Oaten, B. B. ii, p. 318.
Gennaeus cuvieri (G. horsfieldi. subsp.), Ogilvie Grant. Cat. B. M.
xxii, p. 303.
Gennaeus oatesi (subsp.), Of/ilvie Grant, t. c. p. 306.
Yit, Kayit, Burin. ; Rak, Arrakan ; Synklouk, Talain ; Phuyyk, Karen.
Coloration. Male. Forehead, crown, and crest black, glossed
with steely purple or green, remainder of upper surface finely
vermiculated with alternating black and white lines, more or
less transversely to the feathers, quills and tail-feathers similarly
but more coarsely marked ; inner webs and tips of middle pair of
tail-feathers entirely white ; lower parts black, with a slight purple
gloss on the throat, breast, and flanks ; feathers of sides of breast
and flanks, and sometimes the whole breast, with white shaft-
stripes, broader and fusiform and mottled with black at the
sides.
Female. Above, including the crest, brown, all the feathers
minutely stippled and vermiculated with yellow- buff ; the fore-
head, supercilia, ear-coverts, cheeks, and sometimes the wing-
coverts, with white shaft-stripes, which become y-sh^ped or arrow-
head-shaped white marks on the back and sides of the neck and
upper back ; quills brown, with buff vermiculation on the outer
webs ; outer tail-feathers blackish, with narrow wavy white cross-
bars, some chestnut or brown marks in the middle of each black
interspace, the two or three middle pairs brownish buff, streaked
and mottled with rufous brown, inner webs and tips of middle
pair entirely buff ; chin and throat whitish ; rest of lower parts
brownish rufous, with lanceolate white shaft-streaks.
Bill greenish horny, dusky at the base ; irides reddish brown ;
sides of head crimson ; legs plumbeous brown to pinkish fleshy.
Length of males 25*5 to 30; tail about 12; wing 10; tarsus
3-2 ; bill from gape 1/35. Length of females about 23 ; tail 9 ;
wing 9'2o.
Distribution. Throughout the greater part of Burma except
Southern Tenasserirn, also in N.W. Siam.
Varieties. G. cuvieri is found in the Arrakan ranges and in Pegu
\vest of the Irrawaddy. The male is black with deep violet gloss,
the upper parts sparingly and minutely speckled and vermiculated
with white, the black greatly predominating ; lower back and rump
with broad white bars ; the white speckling appears to be wanting
on the outer tail-feathers.
The female resembles that of G. horsfieldi, except that the outer
94 PHASIA3TID.E.
tail-feathers are more or less rufous and not entirely black. In
the variety called G. oatesi they are rufous throughout.
This race, which occupies the country between the areas
inhabited by G. horsfieldi and G. lineatus, is not only perfectly
intermediate between those two forms, but is, so far as the few
skins in the British Museum show, excessively variable. It was
regarded by Blyth (J. A. S. B. xviii, p. 8 17; "Cat. p. 244 ; Birds
Burm. p. 149) as a hybrid between the two. He showed, and he
was, I think, right, that there is a complete passage from one
species to the other in Arrakan. Oat^ ascertained that G. cuvieri
occurs throughout the Arrakan bills, buc his specimens vary so
much that two of them are distinguished by Ogilvie Grant as a
different subspecies, G. oatesi. Of the two males (one collected by
Gates, the other received from the Indian Museum) referred to
G. oatesi, one has white rump -bars and no white streaks on the
breast, as in G. "horxficldi ; the other has no white bars on the
rump, but it has white streaks on the breast as in G. lineatus.
Habits, $c. " This Pheasant occurs abundantly wherever the
ground is hilly or broken, and it is most numerous on the higher and
wilder parts of the hills. It keeps to dense cover, seldom showing
itself, runs with great speed, and takes wing unwillingly. The
male during the breeding- season makes a curious drumming sound
with his wings, as a challenge to other cocks. The breeding-season
commences in March and is over by the end of April. The nest
is merely a hollow in the ground, lined with a few dead leaves,
under a shrub or at the foot of a tree. The eggs, which are seldom
more than seven in number, are of a pale buff colour" (Oates).
They measure about 1/85 by 1/45.
1341. Gennaeus andersoni. Anderson's Silver Pheasant.
Euplocamus andersoni, Elliot, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 137; Anders.
Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. (570, pi. liii ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 319.
Nycthemerus andersoni, Blyth fy Wald. Birds Burm. p. 149.
Euplccamus crawfurdi, apud Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 437 ; Hume
fy Marsh. Game B. i, p. 203, pi. ; id. Cat. no. 811 quat. ; nee Gray.
Gennaeus andersoni, Oyilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 306; Gates,
Journ. Bom. N. H. Soc. x, p. 112.
Gennseus davisoni (G. hcrsfieldi, subsp.), Oyilvie Grant, t. c. p. 304.
Coloration. Male. Forehead, crown, and crest black with
purplish or green gloss ; leathers of the upper surface marked on
each web with subequal curved concentric black and white bars ;
quills and tail-feathers rather irregularly barred with black and
white, the black bars disappearing on the inner webs and tips of the
middle tail-feathers; lower parts black with bluish metallic gloss.
Female of typical form unknown. That of a variety from Tenas-
serim only differs from G. lineatus in being larger and in having
much broader lanceolate white stripes on the lower surface.
Bill pale green (Elliot}, pale bluish horny (Davison) ; facial
skin crimson ; irides brown ; legs and feet greyish (Elliot), dark
pinkish fleshy (Davison).
LOPHOPHORUS. 95
Length of male 30 to 36 ; tail 13-5-20 ; wing 10-5 ; tarsus 3-5 ;
bill from gape 1*6. Length of female 24 ; tail 10 ; wing 9 ; tarsus 3.
Distribution. This Pheasant was originally obtained by Anderson
in Yunnan. It has since been found near Bhamo, around the
Ruby Mines, and through the Shan States to Northern Tenas-
serim, Davison having procured a male and three females that
are referred to this species about Kollidoo and Dargwin, north of
Pap won.
But few specimens have been collected, and these show material
differences. The male obtained by Davison at Dargwin has white
stripes on the breast, and has the inner webs and tips of the
middle tail-feathers nearly white, as in G. lincatus, and is clearly
intermediate between that species and typical G. andersoni : the
tail is about 14 inches long. Yet another link nearer to G. lineatus
is furnished by a male collected by Wardlaw Ramsay in Karennee.
The skin of another male, from the typical locality Yunnan,
mentioned by Anderson as one of his original specimens, and sent
by him to the British Museum, is intermediate between G. andersoni
and G. horsfieldi, and is the type of Ogilvie Grant's subspecies
G. davisoni. A skin from the Ruby Mines has coarser markings
on the wings and a tail of nearly 20 inches. I strongly suspect
G. andersoni to be merely an intermediate race between G. lineatus
and the Chinese Silver Pheasant (G. nycthzmerus).
Mr. Gates has sent to the British Museum a Pheasant from the
Shan States, that forms yet another link between the Chinese and
Burmese Silver Pheasants. In male G. nycthemerm from China
the upper surface is white, with narrow wavy concentric black
lines on the feathers ; the crown, crest, and lower parts black with
a purple gloss. The female is light rufous brown ; the crown and
crest darker, the lower parts paler, most of the feathers finely
vermiculated with buff, more coarsely barred on the wing and tail-
feathers. Bill greenish brown ; facial skin red ; legs and feet
scarlet. The male is about 40 inches long ; tail 24 ; wing 10'5 ;
tarsus 3*6 : female 20 inches long ; tail 10 ; wing 9.
Genus LOPHOPHORUS, Temm., 1813.
The Monal or Impeyan Pheasant is the type of this well-marked
genus, distinguished by the richly metallic plumage of the males,
which have either an elongate occipital crest or, in one species
(L. sclateri), all the feathers of the crown short and curled. The
bill is long and stout, with the culmen well curved, the tarsi
stout, feathered above, and armed in the male with a stout spur.
There is a naked space around each eye. The tail, of 18 feathers,
is well rounded at the end and a little shorter than the wing ; the
1st quill is considerably shorter than the 10th, and the 5th is
usually longest.
Four species are now known, ranging throughout the Himalayas
from Afghanistan to beyond Assam, and thence to the provinces
of China lying east of Tibet.
96 PHASIANIDJE.
Key to the Species. (Males only.)
a. Lower back white, rump purple L. refulgens, p. 96.
It. Xu white on back or rump L. impeyanns, p. 97.
c. Lower back and rump white L. sclateri, p. 98.
1342. Lophophorus refulgens. The Mondl.
Lophophorus refulgens, Temm. Pig. et Gall, ii, p. 355 (1813) ; iii,
p. 673 ; Ogilpie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 278.
Lophophorus impevamis, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 246 ; Adams. P. Z. S.
1858, p. 500 ; Mitchell, ibid. p. 545, pis. 147 (young), 149, fig. 5
(esg) ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 510 : moHctkat J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2,
p.e? ; Blanf. J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 71 ; Hume, N. # E. p. 520 ;
Hume # Marsh. Game B. i, p. 125, pi. ; Hume, Cat. no. 804 ;
Scully, S. F. viii, p. 342 ; Fairbrother, S. F. ix, p. 203 ; Wardlaw
Ramsay, Ibis, 1880, p. 70 ; Oaten in Hume's 3~. $ E. 2nd ed. iii,
p. 407 ; nee Lath.
The Monanl Pheasant, Jerdon ; Lont $ , Ham $ , Nil-mor, Janyli-mor,
Kashmir ; Nilgur, Chamba ; Mnnal, Xil, tf , Karari £ , Kulu ; Mimal,
Ghar-mundl, Ratia Kairun, Rat/iff/, Rathap, X.W.Himalayas; Datii/a,
Kuniaun and Garhwal ; Dajia, Nepal ; Fo-donq, Lepcha ; Chamdony,
Bhot. (Sikhim).
Fig. 18.— Head of L. rcfulyens, <$ .
Coloration. Male. Head and crest of spade-shaped feathers,
bend of wing, and upper tail-coverts brilliant metallic green : at
the sides behind the ear-coverts is a purple patch ; back and sides
of neck coppery bronze, passing into the bronze-green of the
upper back; mterscapulars, scapulars, wing-coverts, and rump
metallic purple, with the tips of the feathers blue or greenish
blue ; lower back white ; quills black, secondaries glossed with
green on the outer webs ; tail-feathers pale cinnamon, darker
towards the ends ; lower parts dull black, glossed with metallic
green on the throat and fore neck, along a stripe on each side of
the upper breast, and on the lower tail-coverts.
Female. Brown ; the feathers of the head and neck above and at
the sides, upper back and wing-coverts black, with buff streaks
and mottling on each side of the shaft or along it ; crest short,
the feathers of equal breadth throughout ; lower back and rump
buff, with black bars ; upper tail-coverts more or less tipped with
white; quills blackish brown, secondaries with rufous-buff bars
and whitish tips ; tail-feathers like secondaries, but the rufous-
LOrHOPHORUS. 97
buff bars are broader and more regular ; chin and throat white,
remainder of lower parts blackish brown, speckled and streaked
with buffy white and with more or less distinct white shaft-streaks.
The young resemble the female except that young males have
the throat more or less black and generally are darker throughout.
The adult male plumage appears to be gradually assumed, some of
the feathers changing in colour without a moult ; and the bird,
according to Mr. Wilson, does not attain its full plumage until the
second year, whilst the 7th primary remains brown for a year longer.
Bill dark horny ; irides brown ; naked orbits blue ; legs and
feet dull ashy green (Jerdoii).
Length of males about 28 ; tail 9*5 ; wing 11-5 ; tarsus 3 ; bill
from gape 2. Length of females about 25 ; tail 8'5 ; wing 1O5.
Distribution. Throughout the Himalayas, from Bhutan to
Kashmir and even farther west, this Pheasant having been
recorded from Chitral and from the Safed Koh in Afghanistan.
In Sikhim in summer the range of the Montal is from 10,000 to
15,000 feet ; in winter lower. In the "Western Himalayas the
usual range is from 8000 to 12,000 feet, though the bird may be
found in summer up to 15,000, and in winter as low as 4500.
Habits, <$fc. In summer this gorgeous Pheasant is found near
the upper limits of forests, and frequently on the hill-sides above
the forests in small numbers ; it is not met with in flocks or
coveys, but singly or in twos or threes, females keeping together
more than males do ; it lives on insects, seeds, berries, leaves, &c.
The call is a loud plaintive whistle. The breeding-season is in
May and June, and four, five, or rarely six eggs are laid in a small
depression beneath a bush or tuft of grass. The eggs are dull
huffy white, speckled with reddish brown, and measure on an
average 2-55 by 1/78.
1343. Lophophorus impeyaniis. The Bronze-lacked Mondl.
Phasianus impejanus, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, p. 632 (1790).
Lophophorus impeyanus, v. Pelz. Ibis, 1873, p. 120 ; Oyihie Grant,
Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 280.
Lophophorus chambanus, C. H. T. Marshall, Ibis, 1884, p. 421, pi. x.
The male differs from that of the last species in having no
white on the back, the lower back being greenish bronze, the
feathers shot and edged with purple ; in the upper tail-coverts
being brownish chestnut, tipped with metallic green; and in having
the whole of the under surface more or less glossed with metallic
green. The female is not known.
Hitherto the only known locality is Chamba, south-east of
Kashmir, where this species was obtained by Col. C. H. T. Marshall.
I feel sceptical as to a bird of this rare form having come iuto
Latham's hands instead of the Common Monal ; but after examining
Latham's description and coloured figure, I am obliged to agree
with Mr. Ogilvie Grant that they correspond with the present
form and not with L. refulyens.
YOL. IT. H
98 PHASIANIDJE.
LophopJiorus sclateri, Jerdon (Ibis, 1870, p. 147; id. P. A. S. B.
1870, p. 60 ; Hume & Marsh. Game B. i, p. 135, pi. ; Godwin-
Austen, P. 2. S. 1879, p. 681, pi. li, $ ; Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii,
p. 282), has hitherto only been obtained from the Mishmi hills,
beyond British limits. It has DO crest, but the crown is covered
with crisply curled metallic green feathers ; the hind neck and
sides of the neck are coppery bronze ; upper back, median and
greater coverts metallic green shot with purple ; smaller coverts
coppery bronze shot with green ; lower back, rump, and upper
tail-coverts white ; the rump-feathers black-shafted; tail chestnut
tipped with white, lower parts black. The female, as described
and figured by Godwin-Austen, is rich dark umber-brown, the
feathers closely mottled ; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts
ochraceous white, mottled with dark brown ; tail black, with narrow
whitish bars and a broad black tip.
Genus TRAGOPAN, Cuv., 1829.
The Horned Pheasants or Trngopans are amongst the most
beautifully coloured of all game-birds, the males being more or
less clad in red, with white or grey spots, and the females in
brown, formed by a minute intermixture of black and buff. The
bill is short and stout ; the tarsus equal to the mid-toe and claw,
or slightly longer, and armed in the male with a stout spur. The
tail, of 18 feathers, is nearly or quite equal to the wing in length,
and the middle feathers are considerably longer than the outer ;
the wing is rounded, the 1st primary shorter than the 10th, 4th
or 5th longest. The male has an occipital crest of lengthened
feathers and two elongate erectile subcylindrical fleshy horns one
from above each eye: these usually lie concealed by the crest, and
are only erected when the bird " shows off." There is also a
brilliantly coloured apron-shaped gular wattle or lappet, that can
be spread or withdrawn at pleasure. Both horns and wattle only
reach their full development in the breeding-season. Sides of the
head and throat naked in all species except T. satyra, in which
they are thinly clad with feathers.
ilve species are known, inhabiting the Himalayas and Assam
hills and the greater part of China. Three are Himalayan or
Assamese, and a fourth is said to occur at a short distance beyond
the Assam frontier.
Key to the Species.
a. Sides of head rind throat thinly clad ;
breast red, with white black-edged
ocelli T. satyra rf, p. S9.
b. Sides of head and throat naked.
«'. Breast chiefly black, with white
spots T. melanocephalus $ , p. 100.
b'. Breast smoky grey T. blythi <$ , p. 102.
The females of all species closely resemble each other.
TBAGOPAJ*. &9
1344. Tragopan satyra. The Crimson Horned Pheasant.
Meleagris satjra, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 269 (1760).
Tragopan satvrus, Cuv. Reg. Ati. 2e ed. i, p. 479.
Ceriornis satyra, Bli/th, Cat. p. 240 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii. p. 516 ; Blanf.
J. A. S.B. xli, pt. 2, p. 71 ; Murie, P. Z. 8. 1872, p. 7-30, pis. Ix, Ixi
Hume, N. $ E. p. 521 ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. i, p. 137, pi. ;
Hume, Cat. no. 805 ; Scully, S. F, viii, p. 343 ; Gates in Hume's
N. Sf E. 2nd ed, iii, p. 409.
Tragopan satyra, Oyilme Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 271.
The Sikim Horned Pheasant, Jerdon ; Lungi, H. Garhwal and
Kuiuaun ; Mondl, H. (Nepal) ; Omo, Bap, Bhotia ; Tar-rhyak, Lepcha.
Fig. 19.— Head of T. satyra, tf. f.
Coloration. Male. Head, sides of nape, throat, and forerneck black ;
two streaks, one on each side of the occiput, meeting at the nape,
the middle of the nape itself, the neck except in front, bat with
broad bands running to behind the ear-coverts, upper back, bend of
wing and coverts near it, and all the lower parts from the neck
crimson ; the upper back and all the lower parts, except the upper-
most breast, spotted over with white black-edged ocelli, small and
sharply defined on the breast and back, larger, ill-defined, and
grey instead of white on the abdomen ; wing-lining, except the
larger coverts, buffy red ; interscapulars, scapulars, and the
neighbouring wing-coverts, lower back and rurnp-t'eathers black
with rufous-buff veriniculation, each feather with a subterminal
white ocellus, broadly edged with black, and a large rounded brown
spot on each side of the ocellus ; most of the wing-coverts and the
sides of the rump the same, but with deep crimson patches ; quills
black, with rufous-buff imperfect bars and vermiculations ; upper
tail-coverts brown with black tips ; tail-feathers black, vermicu-
lated with buff on the basal two-thirds.
Female. General colour rich ochreous brown, paler below, above
black in blotches or mixed with rufous buff, and in parts with
greyish brown ; pale shaft-stripes on the crown and throat, passing
into angular ill-defined buff shaft-spots on the body, much broken
by mottling and generally larger below than above ; quills as in
male ; tail-feathers barred, mottled, and vermiculated with buff
throughout.
n2
100 PJ1ASIANID.E.
Young birds of both sexes resemble females, but have distinct
buff shaft-stripes above and below. The adult male plumage is
gradually assumed, the feathers round the neck becoming red, and
the pale shaft-spots changing to ocelli before the crimson garb is
acquired by moult.
Bill of male blackish brown, horns bright lazuline blue, orbits
and uppar throat fine purplish blue, irides deep brown, legs and
toes pale fleshy ; bill of female dusky horny, legs brownish grey,
more or less fleshy (Hums). The gular apron-like wattle can be
expanded during the breeding-season to a length of several inches ;
it is usually blue with lateral bars, which, under excitement, become
orange or scarlet ; but it is described by Hume as orange with
lateral blue bars, and it probably varies in colour. The horns are
larger in the breeding-season, and measure at times over 3 inches
in length.
Length of male about 27 ; tail 10-5; wing 10-5: tarsus 3*25 ;
bill from gape 1*5. Length of female about 23 ; tail 8 ; wing 9.
.Distribution. Throughout the Himalayas from the AUknanda
valley in Garhwal to well into Bhutan, and perhaps somewhat
farther east, between about 6000 and 12,000 feet ; in summer
chiefly from 8000 to 10,000 feet. This Pheasant was formerly
not rare near Dnrjiling.
Habits, tyc. This is a thorough forest-bird, shy, and rarely seen,
keeping to thick cover, and often found in " ringal," the small
upland bamboo that covers the hill-sides in many parts of the
Himalayas. The call, described by Jerdon as a deep bellowing,
and by Hume as a loud bleating cry, is chiefly heard in spring.
At this time the males show off by raising their horns and
expanding their wattles, and in other wavs, as described by
Mr. Bartlett in Dr. Murie's paper (/. c.). The eggs, laid in May,
are like large hen's eggs, nearly white, slightly freckled here and
there with pale dull lilac, and measuring about 2-6 by 1*8.
T. temmineld, Gray, the Chinese Crimson Horned Pheasant, is
found in South-western and Central China, and a specimen in the
Hume Collection is said to have been brought from the Mishmi
hills, just beyond the frontier of E. Assam (S. F. viii, p. 201 ; ix,
pp. 198, 205). The male resembles that sex of T. satyra, but
differs (1) in having the pale spots 011 the lower surface larger,
pearly grey in colour throughout, and without black edges, and (2)
in each feather of the back and of most of the upper parts being
dark red at the end, with a small subterminal grey ocellus ; the
red of the neck, too, is less rich and paler towards the head. The
female is very similar to that of T. satyra.
1345. Tragopan melanocephalns. The Western Horned Pheasant.
Phasianus melanocephalus, Gray, Griffith's An. Kingd.} Aves, iii, p. 29
(1829).
Ceriornis melanocphala, Bli/th, Cat. p. 240 ; Ac/ams, P. Z. S. 1858,
p. 498 : 1859 p. 185 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 517 ; Stoliczka, J. A, S. B.
TRAGOPAN.
xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 07 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 522 ; Hume 8? Marsh
Game B. i, p. 143, pi. ; Hume, Cat. no. 800 ; C\ H. T. Marshall,
Ibis, 1884, p. 422 : Gates in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 410.
Tragopan melanocephalu?, Oyiloie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 273.
The Simla Horned Pheasant, Jerdon ; Jewar, Jowar, Garhwal ; Jaghi
Jqjhi, Bashahr ; Sing-mortal, II. (N.W. Himalayas); Jigurana rf,
Bvdal 5> Kulu, Mandi, Suket; Falyur, Chamba ; Art/us of European
sportsmen.
Coloration. Male. Head black ; occipital crest-feathers longer
than in T. satyra, some of them tipped red ; no red streaks on the
sides o£ the occiput ; nape and neck all round red, deep Indian red
behind, brighter, almost scarlet in front ; upper parts from the
neck black, ver mi culated with whitish buff and dotted over with
white ocelli ; upper tail-coverts each with a black tip and a large
subterminal white spot that passes into a brown patch on each
side ; bend of wing Indian red : quills black, with buff vermicu-
lations and irregular bars ; tail the same, the buff markings
disappearing towards the end : lower surface from neck black
with round white spots, larger behind, basal portion of feathers
deep red on. breast and upper abdomen, mottled black and buff on
lower abdomen and flanks.
Females differ from those of T. satyra in being much greyer in
colour, and in the pale elongate shaft-spots of the lower surface
being white instead of buff, and well-defined with dark brown,
borders.
In the male, bill blackish, irides hazel-brown, naked orbits bright
red, horns pale blue ; the gular wattle purple in the middle,
spotted and edged with pale blue and fleshy on the sides ; legs
and feet fleshy ( Wilson). In the female, the legs and feet are
greyish ashy (Hume). The horns ai>d lappets shrivel up and
almost disappear in winter.
Length of male about 28 ; tail 10'5 ; wing 11 ; tarsus 3'1 ;
bill from gape 1'5. Length of female about 24 ; tail 8 ;
wing 9*5.
Distribution. The Xorth-western Himalayas from Garhwal to
Hazara. The Eastern limit, according to Hume, is between tin*
Kattor and Billing Hirers in Native Garhwal, the Western is east
of the Indus.
Habits, 6fc. These have been admirably described at length by
Wilson (" Mountaineer "), whose notes are quoted by Jerdon and
Hume. They are very similar to those of T. satyra. This
Horned Pheasant is a forest bird, feeding chiefly on leaves of
trees and bamboos : it keeps at elevations near the snow in summer,
descending lower in winter, and has a bleating call, which, how-
ever, is very rarely uttered except in the breeding-season. Six
eggs were found in a rough nest of grass and sticks on May 25th,
by Capt. Lautour, when shooting in Hazara : the eggs were pale
buff, finely and minutely freckled, and averaged 2-51 by 1*7.
l-G'4 PHASIANID^E.
1346. Tragopan "blythi. The Grey-bellied Horned Pheasant.
Ceiiornis temmincki, apud Jerdon, Ibis, 1870, p. 147, nee Gray.
Ceriornis blythii, Jerdon, P. A. S. B. .1870, p. 60 ; Sclater, P. Z. S.
1870, p. 163, pi. xv ; Godw.-Aust. P. Z, S. 1872, p. 496; id.
J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. 2, p. 172 ; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 472; id. Cat.
no. 806 bis: Hume 8f Marsh. Game B. i, p. 151, pi. ; Godw.-Aitst.
P. Z. S. 1879, p. 457, pi. xxxix ; Cran, S. F. x, p. 524 ; Hume, S. F.
xi, p. 301.
Tragopan blythi, Ogiloie Grant, Cat. JS. M. xxii, p. 276.
Hiir-Mria, Sansaria, Assam ; Gnu, Angami Naga ; Chingtho, Kuki.
Coloration. Male. Forehead, vertex, lores, a band through the
ear-coverts behind the naked side of the head continued across
the throat, and joining another band that extends round the nape,
black ; broad supercilia meeting behind across the occiput and
neck all round, with upper breast and bend of wing, Indian red ;
crest short ; feathers of upper parts black, streaked with buff,
each with a subterminal white spot shading into brown all round,
and on each side of it a much larger deep red spot; terminal
portion of upper tail-coverts white, shading all round into chestnut
and tinted with black ; quills and tail as in T. satyra • breast and
greater part of abdomen light «epia to smoky grey, the edges of
the feathers slightly darker ; flanks passing into the coloration of
the back ; under tail-coverts smoky grey, edged with red and
tipped with black.
Female (as described by Hume) much less grey than that of
T. melanocephahts, and distinguished from that of T. satyra by
being blacker and less ferruginous on the upper surface and
greyish creamy instead of ferruginous buff on the lower. I have
not been able to examine a specimen, but young males are more
finely vermiculated on the upper surface than either of the other
species, and have no black blotches at all. Young males have at
first the plumage of the female, nnd gradually assume the adult
male plumage ; and on the whole it is most probable that the
bird with a red neck figured by Godwin- Austen as a female must
have been either a very old female assuming the male dress or a
young male.
Bill dusky ; skin of face and throat yellow, more or less mixed
wdth orange and emerald-green at the lowest part ; it is bordered
laterally by a very narrow black line ; legs fleshy (Jerdon). Irides
deep brown, orbital skin orange, horns azure, lappets brimstone
tinged with blue ; orbital skin in female light brown (Danuint).
Wing of male 10-5; tail 8; tarsus 3-2; bill from gape 1-4;
wing of female 8-5 to 9. The length of the male is said by
Dr. Wood to be 30 inches, but this appears large. Skins ireasure
only 21 to 24.
Distribution. Throughout the Naga hills south of Assam from
the neighbourhood of Paona Peak in the Burrail range on the
west to the high ranges south-east of Sadiya, and as far south as
Manipur, at elevations from 5000 to 10,000 t'eet and upwards in
summer. Dr. B-. Cran wrote to i Stray Feathers ' that a specimen
was sent to him from the Dafla hills north of Assam ; but the
TTHAGENES. 103
species was not found there by Godwin-Austen, and the occurrence
of this Pheasant north of Assam requires confirmation.
Habits, $c. Very similar to those of other species. A few
details are given by Godwin-Austen (Z.c.) and by l)r. H. S. Wood
in the 'Asian' (June 15th, 1894, p. 173). The food is said to
consist chiefly of berries, and the bird inhabits high forests of
oak and other trees.
Genus ITHAGENES, Wagler, 1832.
The Blood Pheasants are peculiar to the higher ranges of the
Eastern Himalayas, Eastern Tibet and the neighbouring parts of
China. They resemble the typical Pheasants in structure and
in the difference of coloration between the sexes, the female
being very modestly clad, as in most Pheasants, whilst the males
are handsome birds, grey above and apple-green below.
The tarsus is longer than the middle toe and claw, and bears two
or more spurs (sometimes as many as 4 or 5) in males, not in
females : the bill is stout, and there is a considerable naked area
round the eye. The 1st primary is much shorter than the 10th,
the 5th usually longest ; the tail, of 14 feathers and slightly
rounded, is about -£• the length of the wing. The plumage is long
and soft, and the feathers lanceolate, and there is a full but not
long crest on the crown.
Three species are known, but only one is Indian.
1347. Ithagenes cruentus. The Blood Pheasant.
Phasianus cruentus, Hardtcickc, TV. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 237(1822), £.
Ithaginis cruentus, Wat/I. Isis, 1832, p. 1228; JMyth, Cat. p. 241 ;
Jet-don, J5. I. iii, p. 522 ; Blanf. J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 71.
Ithagenes cruentus, Hume fy Marsh. Game B. i, p. loo, pi. ; Hume,
Cat. no. 807 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 343 ; Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. M.
xxii, p. 268.
The Green Blood PJieasanf, Jerdon ; ChiUmc, Xepal ; Semo, Bhot. ;
Su-mong, Lepch.
*"- /•''--'' ?;r-/^^f^y
Fig. 20. — Head of Z cruentus,
Coloration. Male. Forehead, lores, and a band above and below
each eye black, these two bands often mixed with crimson where
they meet behind the eye ; crown buffy white ; upper parts from the
104
nape slaty grey, with white shaft-stripes that become broader and
black-edged behind, and are tinged with green on the rump and
upper tail-coverts ; on most of the median and major wing-coverts,
besides the pale shaft-stripe, the terminal portion of each feather
is washed with green, and the upper tail-coverts have crimson
lateral edges ; quills brown with white shafts, the secondaries
with white shaft-stripes and buff edges ; tail-feathers white at the
ends, shading into dusky brown with crimson borders towards the
base ; chin, throat, and lower cheeks crimson ; fore neck and sides
of neck whitish, the feathers black at the base ; breast and abdo-
men to the thighs apple-green, the colour deepest on the edges of
the feathers, a few irregular crimson spots on the upper breast;
lower abdomen and flanks like the lower back; under tail-coverts
crimson, tipped with greenish white.
Female. Brown, finely vermiculated with black ; lower surface
paler, pale-shafted and more rufous; occiput and nape dark slaty
grey ; forehead, sides of head, chin, and throat brownish rufous ;
quills dark brown, only mottled on outer webs of secondaries.
Bill black; cere, gape, legs, feet, and spurs red; irides brown ;
orbital skin scarlet to orange-red.
Length of male about 18; tail 6*75; wing 8'5: tarsus 2'75 ;
bill from gape '85. Female smaller : length 17 ; tail 5*7-5 ; wing
7'6 ; tarsus 2'd.
Distribution. The higher ranges of the Nepal, Sikhim, and Bhu-
tan Himalayas, at elevations of 10.000 to 14,000 feet. Neither
the Eastern nor Western limits of this Pheasant are correctly
known, but the range does not extend to Kumaun.
Habits, $-c. The Blood Pheasant in Sikhim inhabits pine-forests,
and is found about September in small flocks, doubtless families, of
10 to 15 birds, males and females in about equal numbers. It is
said by Hooker to feed on the tops of pine and juniper, and the
berries of the latter, but those killed by me in September had fed
on various leaves, seeds, small fruits, &c., not on conifers. It has
a peculiar long call, something like the squeal of a Kite, and also a
shorter monosyllabic alarm-note. It is by no means shy and is very
averse to flying. Nothing precise is known of the breeding-habits
except that Hooker states that he sa\v the young in May. The
spurs appear not to be assumed the first year ; they vary greatly in
number. Hooker notices that he has seen as many as 5 on one
leg, and 4 on the other. I found these Pheasants fair eating in
September, but according to Hooker they have usually a strong
flavour of turpentine derived from, their food.
Genus OPHRYSIA, Bcuap., 1856.
This little-known Himalayan bird, the only member of the
genus, is difficult to classify. It has been placed with the Quails
or with Rollulvs, but it does not show much resemblance to either.
The sexes are quite dissimilar and the plumage is long and lax,
with the feathers somewhat lanceolate. The tarsus is a little
OPHRYSIA. 105
shorter than the middle toe and claw ; the bill is stout. The tail
contains 10 feathers, and is well developed, much rounded, and
not much shorter than the wing ; the 1st primary is shorter than
the 10th ; 5th or 6th longest. On the whole this bird conies
as naturally as anywhere where Grant has placed it, with the Spur-
fowls and Blood Pheasants, being neither partridge, quail, nor
pheasant.
1348. Ophrysia superciliosa. The Mountain Quail.
Rollulus superciliosus, Gray, Knowsl. Menag., Aves, pi. xvi (1846).
Ophrysia superciliosa, Bonap. C. R. xliii, p. 414 ; Hume, 8. F. vii,
p. 434 ; id. Cat. no. 827 bis ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 105,
pi. j Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 266.
Malacortyx'superciliaris, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 313.
Coloration. Male. Forehead and broad superciliary stripe white;
sides of head, chin and throat, and a band above each white
supercilium black, with a silky-white spot in front of the eye and
another behind it, and a whitish band, more or less broken and
sometimes indistinct, running back from beneath the eye ; crown
pale brownish grey with black shaft-stripes ; nearly the whole
upper and lower plumage dark brownish grey with black lateral
margins to the feathers ; lower tail-coverts black, tipped and
spotted on both webs with w^hite ; quills and tail-feathers uniform,
brown.
Younger males have buff mottling on the wings.
Females are cinnamon-brown throughout, the sides of the head
with a greyish tinge, a small white speck before and a larger one
behind the eye ; chin and throat whitish ; some of the crown- and
all the nape-feathers with black shaft-stripes that pass into trian-
gular black spots bordered with buff on the back, scapulars, rump,
and upper tail-coverts : wing-coverts, lower back, rump, and upper
tail-coverts much mottled with buff ; quills brown mottled with buff,
especially on the outer webs ; tail-feathers black, mottled with buff
towards the edges, and with buff cross-bars near the shafts : breast,
abdomen, and lower tail-coverts paler than the upper parts, with
lanceolate black spots.
Bill coral-red in the male, dusky red in the female : legs dull red
(Huttori).
Length about 10 ; tail 3 ; wing 3'5 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from
gape -6.
Distribution fy Halits. All that is known of this bird is that a
few specimens were shot in 1865, 1867, and 1868 close to Mus-
sooree, between 5000 and 6000 feet above the sea, and in 1876 a
single specimen was shot, and another seen, close to Nairn Tal.
The bird is extremely rare, and appears to be an occasional visitor
to the North-west Himalayas. Whence it comes is unknown.
The long soft plumage may indicate an inhabitant of a cold climate.
Nothing was known as to the origin of the type in the Knowsley
Menagerie, except that it was believed to be from India.
106 PHASIAMDJE.
The birds near Mussooree as observed by Hatton and others
occurred in small coveys of six to ten, that kept to high grass and
scrub, fed on seeds of grass, were difficult TO flush, and had a
shrill whistling note when flushed. They appeared to arrive
about November, but in one case stayed as late as June, after
which they disappeared.
Genus GALLOPERDIX, Blyth, 1844.
The Spur-fowls, as they are commonly called in India, have some-
what the appearance of Partridges, to which they approximate in
size, but the longer tail, more rounded wings, and the wide differ-
ence in the coloration between the sexes indicate relationship with
the Pheasants and Jungle-fowls.
In GaUoperdix the tarsus is longer than the middle toe and claw,
and bears two or three spurs in the male (even four on one leg
have been found in G. spadicea} ; it is frequently unarmed in the
female, but sometimes bears one spur or occasionally two, there
being generally in that case two spurs on one leg, one on the
other. The 1st primary is shorter than the 1 Oth, 5th or 6th generally
longest. The tail, of 14 feathers and considerably rounded at the
end, is two-thirds or more than two-thirds as long as the wing.
A large naked space around the eye.
Three species are known, all confined to India and Ceylon.
None occurs east of the Bay of Bengal or west of the Indus.
Key to the Species.
a. Two or three spurs on each tarsus.
a . Breast chiefly chestnut or rufous G. spadicea c?, p. 107.
b'. Breast buff with black spots G. lunulata <5 ? P- 108.
c'. Breast chiefly white G. bicalcarata <5 ,
b. No spurs, or one on each leg, or two on [p. 101).
one leg and one on the other.
d'. Breast chestnut, with black tips and
feathers G. spadicea £ , p. 107.
e' . Breast ochreous brown G. lunulata $ , p. 1C8.
/'. Breast chestnut without black tips .... G. bicalcarata $ ,
[p. 110.
1349. GaUoperdix spadicea. The Red Spur-fowl.
Tetrao spadiceus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. \, pt. 2, p. 759 (1788).
Galloperdix epadiceue, Blyth) Cat. p. 241 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 541 ;
p. 225 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game E. i, p. 247 ; Hume, Cat. no. 814 ;
Vidal, S. F. ix p. 76 ; Damson, S. F. x, p. 410 : Taylor, ibid. p. 464 :
Terry, ibid. p. 479 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 305 ; Gates in Hume's
N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 423 ; Davidson, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi,
p. 340.
Galloperdix spadicea, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 157 ; Blanf. J. A. S. B.
xxxviii, pt. 2, p. 189 ; Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 261.
GALLOPERDIX. 107
Choti janyli Murghi, IT. Central Prov., Belganm, £c. ; Chakotri,
Kokatri, Mahr. (Syhadri Range) ; Kastoor, Mahr. (Deccan) 5 tiarrava
Koli, Tarn. ; Yerra-Kodi, Jitta-Kudi, Tel.
Coloration. Male. Crown dark brown, paler and greyer on the
forehead and sides of head and all round the neck ; chin whitish ;
feathers of the upper back and sometimes of the whole back and
rump light chestnut with grey edges, but generally all the upper
parts except the upper back are closely vermiculated with black
and rufous buff, varying occasionally to pale buff and even whitish
in parts; middle tail-feathers and outer margins of the next two
Fig. 21.— Head of G. spadicea,
or three pairs and of the secondary quills the same ; quills dark
brown ; tail-feathers blackish brown ; breast and upper abdomen
like the upper back ; lower abdomen and thighs brown ; under
tail-coverts rufous brown, vermiculated like the lower back.
There is frequently a patch of feathers in the middle of the
breast with greyish-brown centres.
The female differs in having the feathers of the upper parts
black, edged and rather irregularly barred with buff, the buff some-
times predominating; the feathers of the fore neck are black with
buff tips: the rest of the lower parts as in the male, but with
broken and irregular black tips on the breast.
The race from Abu and the neighbourhood is much paler, there
is less vermiculation on the upper parts of the male, and the female
has no distinct black bars on the feathers of the back, wing-coverts,
&c. ; these are all rufous or even greyish buff, with black vermicu-
lation and broken intramarginal streaks to the feathers. Skins of
females from Matheran and Mahableshwar, in the Hume Collection,
though richly rufous, not pale and greyish like Abu specimens,
have the same markings, whilst Belgaum and Goa skins are like
those from the Nilgiris. It is evident that the Bombay Presidency
bird is a well-marked and peculiar race, and might be called
G. spadicea var. cav.rina.
Bill dusky red at base, horny towards the tips ; iris dull yellow
to brown ; orbits and legs red, varying in tint.
Length of male about 14-5; tail 6; wing 6-5; tarsus 1*75 ;
bill from gape 1. Females are rather less.
Distribution. Here and there throughout the peninsula of India
south of the great Indo-Gangetic alluvial plain, almost wherever
108 PHASTANLD.E.
there is fairly thick forest on hilly or broken ground, but not in.
open or cultivated country nor in alluvial flats. This species also
occurs at the foot of the Himalayas in Oudh throughout a con-
siderable area. It is unknown except in India.
Habits, $c. A shy bird, often solitary, keeping much to wooded
ravines near water and to bamboo-jungle. It is rarely seen flying,
except into a tree when disturbed on the ground, and it is said
always to perch at night ; it runs very fast. Its food consists of
small fruit, seeds, and insects ; it runs when disturbed or flies up
with a harsh cackle ; the call of the i^ale is described by Davison
as partridge-like, whilst Jerdou. says it is a sort of cro wing-cry
imitated by the Mahratta name Xokatri, and he adds that the call
of the female is quite fowl-like. It breeds between the end of
February and June according to locality, and perhaps again in
October and November, and lays from 4 to 7 eggs (according to
Davidson always 3 in Kanara and Nasik), buff or greyish in colour
and measuring about 1*67 by 1*28, in a slight nest of grass and
leaves on the ground. At the proper season, the cold weather,
Spur-fowl are excellent eating if they can be kept a few days
before being cooked.
1350. Galloperdix lunulata. The Painted Sjpur-fowl.
Perdix lunulata, Valenc. Diet. Sci. Nat. xxxviii, p. 446 (1825).
Galloperdix lunulosa, Blyth, Cat. p. 241 ; Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 543 ;
Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 382; Blanf. J. A. S. B. xxxviii, pt. 2,
p. 189.
Galloperdix lunulatus, Hume, N. $ E. p. £33 ; Ball, S.F. vii, p. 225;
Hume $ Marsh. Game B. i, p. 255, pi.; Hume, Cat. no. 815 ; Butler,
S. F. ix, p. 422 ; Davison, S. F. x, p. 410 ; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 306 ; Oatcs in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 425.
Galloperdix lunulata, Oyilrie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 263.
Kainjer, Uriya; Askol, Oris.«a and Sirghboom; Hut ka, Gond. (Chanda);
Kul-koli, Tarn.*.; Jitta kodi, Tel.
•
Coloration. Male. Forehead and crown black glossed with
metallic green, each feather with an elongate white drop, that has
sometimes a black centre ; sides of head and neck all round black
with broader white subterminal spots; chin buffy white viith
black tips to feathers; back, rump, and wing-coverts chestnut, the
feathers tipped with white black-edged ocelli, smaller or replaced
by small black tips or sometimes wanting on the lower back and
rump : scapulars and some wing-coverts metallic green ; quills
dark brown ; upper tail-coverts and tail blackish brown with a
slight green gloss ; breast and upper abdomen buff, with triangular
black tips to each feather ; lower abdomen and flanks chestnut,
with white black-edged spots ; under tail-coverts chestnut mixed
with black.
Female. Crown black, with chestnut shaft-stripes ; forehead,
supercilia, and sides of head dark chestnut ; chin and throat
chestnut mixed with buff, the latter prevailing on the chin and
GALLOPERDIX. 109
on a moustachial stripe from the gape ; body and wings, including
quills, dark brown with an olive tinge, paler and yellower or
rufescent on the breast; tail blackish brown.
Bill blackish; irides red- brown, orbits red; legs horny brown.
Length of male about 12-5 ; tail 5 ; wing 6 ; tarsus 1'75 ; bill
from gape *8. Females a little smaller.
Distribution. This Spur-fowl occurs in parts of the area inhabited
by G. spadicea, but does not range so far to the west or north. It
is met with in Western and South-western Bengal, Orissa, Clmtia
Nagpur, Chhattisgarh, and locally throughout the hills of Bundel-
cund and the Central Provinces as far west as Jhansi, Lalitpur,
and Ellichpur west of JX~agpur, and in many of the hilly and
jungly tracts of the Madras Presidency, as on the eastern base of
the Nilgiris; but it is not known to occur in the Bombay Presidency
north of Belgaum, nor anywhere north of the Ganges, nor in
North-western India (the localities Nepal and N.W. India in the
British Museum Catalogue are probably due to some mistake).
It does not appear to have been observed on the Malabar coast.
Habits, fyc. Very similar to those of G. spadicea, except that the
Painted Spur-fowl keeps more to rocky hills. As noticed by
several writers, this bird is most generally seen when the hills of
granitoid gneiss, so common in parts of India, are being beaten
for large game. It breeds from March to May, laying not more
than five eggs in a slight hollow in the ground. The eggs are glossy,
pale greyish-brown in colour, and measure about 1-62 by I'll.
1351. Galloperdix bicalcarata. The Ceylon Spur-fowl.
Perdix bicalearatus, Penn. Ind. Zool. p. 40, pi. vii (1769).
Perdix zeylonenais, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, pt. 2, p. 759 (1788).
Galloperdix zeylonensis, Blyth, Cat. p. 241 ; Hume, N. fy E. p. 53o.
Galloperdix hicalcarata, Layard, A. M. N. H. (2) xiv, p. 105 ; Blyth,
Ibis, 1867, p. 308 ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 469 ; Hume, S. F.
vii, pis. 430, 453 ; id. Cat. no. 815 bis ; H^ume 8f Marsh. Game
B. i, p. 261, pi. ; Leqqe, Birds Ceyl. p. 741, pi. xxxiii ; Oatvs in
Hume's N. fy E. 2nd'ed. iii, p. 426; Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. M.
xxii, p. 264.
Haban-Kukida, Saban-Kukula, Cing1.
Coloration. Male. Forehead, crown, nape, hind neck and sides
of neck, upper back, sides of breast and flanks black with white
shaft-stripes, narrow on the head, broad on the flanks ; inter-
scapulars, scapulars, and wing-coverts the same, but with the sides
of the feathers chestnut, vermiculated with black, and the white
shaft-stripes represented on the wing-coverts by subterminal pear-
shaped spots ; lower back and rump chestnut, finely vermiculated
with black ; quills dark brown, secondaries mottled with chestnut on
outer webs ; tertiaries throughout, upper tail-coverts, and tail black ;
sides of head and throat white, feathers edged with black, chin pure
white ; lower parts to mid-abdomen white ; feathers of fore neck
and sometimes of breast with black edges, broader towards the sides
110 PILYSIANID/E.
of the breast ; lower abdomen and lower tail-coverts blackish brown
with white or buff terminal spots.
Female. Crown blackish brown, forehead and sides of head brown
with pale centres to the feathers, chin whitish ; body above and
below and outer surface of wings dull chestnut, vermiculated with
black except on the breast ; quills and tail as in the male : upper
tail-coverts like rump but darker.
Bill, legs, feet, and naked skin round eyes red ; irides brownish
yellow or brownish red (Legc/e}.
Length of male about 13*5 ; tail 4-5 ; wing 6'5 ; tarsus 2-1 ;
bill from gape 1. Females are smaller : \ving t>.
Distribution. Peculiar to Ceylon, and not found in the dry
northern portion of the island.
Habits, <$fc. Very similar to those of the last two species. This
also is a shy bird, rarely seen outside the forest except in the
early morning, and generally making its presence known early and
late by its cackling call. It breeds, according to Legge, from
April to August, and lays usually about four cream-coloured eggs,
measuring on an average 1*5 by 1*14.
Genus BAMBUSICOLA, Gould, 1862.
The relations of the present genus are not very clear. The only
species that occurs within our area approaches Arboricola in
coloration, but the structure is very different and resembles that
of G alloperdix . The claws are of moderate length and curved ;
the tarsus is considerably longer than the middle toe and claw.
The tail, of 14 feathers, is more than three-quarters the length of
the wing, and is distinctly graduated, the outer feathers being
about two-thirds the length of the middle pair. The wing is of
the pheasant type and greatly rounded, the 1st primary much
shorter than the 10th, 5th usually longest. The males and some-
times the females have a spur on each tarsus. Sexes alike.
Three species are known — one from Formosa, one from Southern
China, and the third from the hills of Northern Burma and
Assam.
1352. Bamtmsicola fytchii. The Western Bamboo-Partridge,
Bambusicola fytchii, Anderson, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 214, pi. xi; Blytht
Birds Burm. p. 151 ; Hume, S. F. v, p. 493 ; Anderson, Yunnan
JZ.i'ped., Aves, p. 673, pi. liv ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 97,
pi. ; Hume, Cat. no. 825 quint. ; id. S. F. xi, p. 308 ; Ogilvie
Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 257.
Bambusicola hopkiusoni, Godw.-Avst. P. Z. S. 1874, p. 44 ; id.
J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. 2, p. 172 ; Hume, S. F. iii, p. 399.
Coloration. Lores arid sides of face, including a broad superciliary
band, chin and throat rufous buff ; band from eye beneath the
supercilium and including ear-coverts dark rufous brown or in
some males black ; crown and 'nape dark rufous brown; hind neck
and upper back greyish brown, each feather with a broad median
KOLLULUS. Ill
chestnut stripe ; scapulars, tertiaries, and most of the secondary
coverts each having a large subterminal chestnut patch, becoming
black towards the end, and a whitish-buff margin ; lower back,
rump, and upper tail-coverts brown, vermiculated with buff and
with a few black spots ; primaries and their coverts rufous, browner
towards the tips ; secondary quills and tail-feathers rufous brown
irregularly barred with buff, especially oh the outer webs ; upper
breast dull chestnut, the sides of the feathers greyish brown with
white spots ; rest of lower parts buff, the sides of the lower breast
(and sometimes the middle also), the Hanks, and frequently the
loxver tail-coverts with large black heart-shaped subtermiaal spots.
Bill brown ; hides orange-hazel ; legs and feet grey or greenish
grey (Hume).
Length about 14 inches ; tail 4-8 ; wing 6 ; tarsus 1-8 : bill from
gape '9.
Distribution. Throughout the Garo, Khasi, Naga, and other parts
of the Assam hills south of the Brahmaputra, ranging through
Manipur to the Kakhyeng hills between Upper Burma and
Yunnan.
Habits, dfc. A shy bird, inhabiting forest jungle and high grass.
The call is said to be loud and harsh, quite different from the soft
whistle of Arboricola. Otherwise the habits are somewhat similar.
The breeding-season, according to Captain Cock's note in Hume
and Marshall's ' Game Birds,' is in May and June, but the eggs have
not been found.
Genus ROLLULUS, Bonn., 1790.
This very peculiarly coloured genus contains but a single species,
distinguished by its green coloration, which, however, is very
different in the two sexes, by a thick occipital crest of red, very
loose-textured hair-like feathers, covering the occiput in the male,
and by a tuft of hair-like bristles from the middle of the forehead
in both sexes. The tarsus is longer than the middle toe and claw,
the claws are of moderate size, that of the hind toe rudimentary
or wanting. The tail is of 12 soft feathers, rounded and less than
half the length of the wing, in which the 1st primary is about equal
to the loth and the 4th and 5th are longest.
1353. Rollulus roulroul. The Green Wood-Quail.
Phasianus roulroul, Scop. Del. Flor.et Faun. Insub. ii, p. 93 ("1786).
Phasianus cristatus, Sparnn. Mus. Carls, fasc. iii, no. 64 (1788).
Perdix coronata, Lath. Suppl. Ind. Orn. p. Ixii (1801).
Rollulus cristatus, Bluth, Cat. p. 253 ; Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burm.
p. 151.
Rollulus roulroul, Walden, Ibis, 1872, p. 382 ; Hume Sf Dav. S. F.
vi> p. 448; Hume, Cat. no. 831 ter ; Hume 8f Marsh. Game B. ii,
p. 103, pi. ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 330 ; Offline Grant, Cat. B. M.
xxii, p. 225.
Coloration. Male. Crest coppery to purplish red ; a broad white
band in front across the vertex ; remainder of head and neck, with
112 PHASIANID^.
the frontal tuft, black ; upper parts, except wings, deep green,
changing to steel-blue ; smaller wing-coverts rufous brown, the
greater coverts and quills dark brown, mottled with rufous on the
outer webs ; tail black ; lower parts black with a dark bluish or
green gloss.
In the female the crest is rudimentary and slaty grey like the
whole of the head and neck ; the body above and below grass-green,
paler and tinged with grey on the abdomen ; scapulars and smaller
wing-coverts chestnut ; median and greater coverts paler rufous
with blackish cross-bars ; quills and tail as in the male.
Bill black, the basal portion scarlef in the male ; hides slaty grey
in males, deep brown in females ; facial skin, eyelids, legs and feet
bright reel, scarlet in males (Davison).
Length of a male about 11; tail 2-5; wing 5*5; tarsus 1'7 ;
bill from gape -9. Females are a little smaller.
Distribution. The Malay Peninsula, extending north into the
southern parts of Tenasserim near the Pakchan river, also into
ISiam, Sumatra, Java, and Borneo.
Habits, fyc. A forest bird found in small parties of six or eight
or more, males and females, and living on berries, seeds, tender
shoots, leaves, and insects. The note is a s;>ft, low, mellow whistle.
The eggs do not appear to have been described.
Genus EXCALFACTOEIA, Bonap., 1856.
This genus is scarcely separable from Coturniv, which the female
closely resembles. The sexes, however, differ much in their
lower plumage, and the cock is a much handsomer bird than the
true Quails. The wing is slightly more rounded than in Coturnix,
the 1st primary being, as a rule, rather shorter than the second,
and there are only 8 short tail-feathers entirely hidden by the
upper coverts.
This genus inhabits the Oriental region, Australia and Africa.
Of the three recorded species one is found in India.
1354. Excalfactoria chinensis. The Blue-breasted Quail.
Tetrao chinensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 277 (1766).
Coturnix chinensis, Blyth, Cat. p. 255 ; Lee/ye, Birds Ceylon.
p. 755.
Excalfactoria chinensis, Bonap. C. It. xlii, p. 881 ; Jerdon, B. 1. iii,
p. 591 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A.S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 273 ; xlv, pt. 2,
p. 84 ; Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 151 ; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 226 ; iff.
Cat. no. 831 ; Gates, S. F. viii, p. 167 ; Hume 8f Marsh. Game B.
ii, p. 161 ; Laird # Bidie, S. F. ix, p. 208 ; Hume fy Inglis, ibid.
p. 258 ; Sutler, ibid. p. 423 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 63 ; Wen'den, ibid.
p. 165 ; Davison, ibid. p. 412 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 334 ; Hume, S. F.
xi, p. 310 ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 448 ; Oyilnie
Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p, 250.
Excalfactoria sinensis, Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 447 ; Binyham, S. F.
ix, p. 196.
Khair-butai, Kaneli, Nepal ; Gobal-lutai, Oudh ; Ngon, Burma ; Pan-
dura-watuwa, Wenella-wutuwa, Cing.
EXfc ALF AtTORI A . 113
Coloration. Male. Upper parts brown, with vermiculations and
blotches of black ; except in very old birds, there is a narrow
whitish median streak on the crown and nape, and the feathers of
the back and rump have conspicuous buff shaft-lines, broader on
the latter, but all these pale markings disappear gradually with
age, and the brown becomes tinged with dark bluish grey on the
forehead, sides of the crown, wing-coverts, and upper tail-coverts ;
some of the median and larger secondary coverts are broadly edged
externally with chestnut, but this character appears sometimes
wanting ; quills brown ; tail-feathers slaty blue, more or less
broadly edged with chestnut, entirely chestnut in old birds ;
sides of head slaty grey, browner in young birds ; lower cheeks,
Fig. 22. — Head of E. ckincnsia, <$ . \.
chin, and throat black, enclosing on each side a white cheek-stripe,
broader behind, from the base of the lower mandible ; fore neck
white, edged behind with black running up on each side, growing
narrow and terminating close to the ear-coverts ; upper breast,
sides of breast, and flanks slaty bluish grey, remainder of lower
parts chestnut. In old birds the chestnut area is larger and
occupies the greater part of the breast and flanks.
Females resemble young males above, but the scapulars and
wing-coverts are more distinctly barred with black, and the whitish
median crown-stripe and the shaft-stripes on the back are con-
spicuous at all ages ; forehead, supercilia, and sides of head rufous
buff ; ear-coverts browner ; chin and throat whitish ; rest of lower
parts buff, rafous on the fore neck and barred with black on the
breast and flanks, the bars growing fainter with age; tail brown,
with black and buff markings.
Bill black, plumbeous beneath; irides crimson in the male,
brown in females and young ; legs bright yellow, claws brownish
(Hume}.
Length about 5-5 ; tail 1 ; wing 2-75 : tarsus '85 ; bill from
gape '5.
Distribution. In India this Quail is common in Bengal and ranges
throughout the plains near the base of the Himalayas and in the
lower ranges as far west as the neighbourhood of Simla. It also
occurs sporadically throughout Orissa, Chutia Nagpur, and the
Central Provinces east of about 80° E. long., and it has been met
with occasionally in Bombay and Southern India (by Jerdon in the
Carnatic, by Capt. Bidie in Chingleput, and by Mr. H. Wenden
YOL. IT. I
114 PHAfiUNID.C.
near Poona and Bombay), but it appears not to have been observed
on the Malabar coast south of Bombay, and it is unknown in the
dry regions of North- western India. It is pretty common in
Western and Southern Ceylon, and in Eastern Bengal, Assam,
Sylhet, Cacbar, Manipur, and in parts of Burma, especially in the
plains of Pegu, and it is found throughout Southern China and
South-eastern Asia generally ; whilst a closely allied race inhabits
the Malay Archipelago and Australia. In the Sub-Himalayan
tracts and in. Pegu this species is said to occur chiefly in the
rainy season, whilst in Lower Bengal it is found principally in
the cold weather.
Habits, $'c. This, like other Quails, is generally found in grass,
singly or in pairs. It keeps to open, rather swampy ground, and
is often to be met with around paddy fields. Its note is a low
double whistle. Its food consists chiefly of grass-seeds. This
species breeds in Northern India, Bengal, and Pegu from the latter
end of June to the middle of August, and lavs from 4 to 6
olivaceous drab eggs, generally minutely speckled, and measuring
about -98 by '76, in a small hollow on the ground amidst short
grass.
Genus COTURNIX, Bonn., ITl'O.
The true Quails are birds of small size and peculiar plumage,
with conspicuous whitish longitudinal streaks on the back. Unlike
the PJiasianidce in general, some of the Quails are migratory. The
wing is much longer and more pointed than in Partridges, the 1st
primary being as long as the 2nd or slightly longer. The tail is
of 10 or 12 feathers, and less than half as long as the wing. The
bill is small and rather slender ; the tarsus bears no spur in either
sex, and is rather longer than the middle toe and claw ; the claws
are all of moderate size. The sexes differ slightly in plumage.
The genus Coturnix comprises six species, and is found through-
out the Eastern hemisphere, including Australia and New Zealand.
Two species are Indian.
to the Species.
ed with buff . .
1. Primaries without bars C. coromandelica, p. 11G.
a. Outer webs of primaries barred with buff . . C. communi*, p. 114.
C. coromandelictt, p. 1
1355. Cotnrnix communis. The Common or Grey Quail.
Tetrao coturnix, Linn. Si/st. Nat. i, p. 278.
Coturnix communis, Bonn. Tabl. Encijcl. Meth. \, p. 217, pi. 90
(1790) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 254 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 586 ; Stoliczka,
J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 69; xli, pt. 2, p. 250; Godwin-
Austen, Hid. p. U2;Hume, N. $ E. p. 549; id. S. F. i, p. 227 ;
Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burm. p. 151; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 7; ix,
p 423 ; Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 262 ; Davidson fy Wend. S. F. vii,
p. 87 ; BaU, ibid. p. 226 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 298 ; Hume $ Marsh.
Gf'me B. ii, p. 133, pi. ; Hume, Cat. no. 829 ; Scully, 8. F. viii,
p. 350; Vital, S. F. ix, p. 76; Davison, S. F. x, p. 41 Ij Oates,
COTUEXIX. 115
2?, B, i\, p. 331 ; Barnes, Birch Bom. p. 315; Hume, S. F. xi,
p. 309; S(. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 175; Gates in Humes N. # E.
'2nd ed. iii, p. 443.
Coturnix coturnix, Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 231.
The Large Grey Quail, Jerdon ; Bate.r, Bar a Bater, Gayus hater, H.,
Tipper India; Batairo, Sind ; Batri, Beng. ; Gundri, [Jriya; Soipol,
Manipur ; Botah Surrai, Assam ; Ng<m, Burin. ; Bur-yanja, Gur-ganj,
Poona, &c. ; Burli, Belgaimi ; Gogari-yellachi, Tel. ; Peria-ka-deh, Tarn.;
Sipale haki, Can. (Mysore).
Coloration. Male. Feathers of crown black with broad brown
edges ; median coronal streak and broad supercilia pale buff ; a
dark brown stripe from the gape ; ear-coverts brown, rest of sides
of head white speckled with dark brown ; back, rump, and upper
tail-coverts light brown, with fusiform buffy-white shaft-stripes
and black blotches, the latter crossed by rufous bars : scapulars
and wing-coverts also brown, with narrow pale shaft-lines and bun:
transverse bars ; quills brown, the first primary with a whitish
outer border, the other primaries and secondaries barred on the
outer web with rufous ; the bars on the secondaries dark-edged ;
tail blackish brown, with pale buff shaft-stripes and transverse
bars; throat and fore neck whitish, with a blackish anchor-shaped
mark consisting of a broad median band and a narrower cross stripe
curving upwards on each side to the ear-coverts ; the median baud
varies greatly in breadth, and sometimes covers the throat ; breast
rufous-buff, paler or darker, with pale shaft-stripes, the anterior
border with a broken gorget of blackish -brown spots ; the rufous
passes on the lower breast into the whitish buff of the abdomen
and lower tail-coverts ; flanks brown, with broad whitish shaft-
stripes and blackish spots.
The female wants the black marks on the throat, and the breast
is more or less spotted with black, except in a few individuals,
probably very old birds. In young birds of both sexes the breast
is thickly spotted with black or blackish brown.
Bill horny brown ; irides yellow-brown ; legs pale fleshy (Jerdon).
Length about 8; tail l'7o ; wing 4-25; tarsus 1-1 ; bill from
gape '6.
Distribution. A migratory bird, visiting the greater part of our
area, except Ceylon and Tenasserirn, in winter. It is more
abundant in Northern than in Southern India, and is of rare
occurrence in Burma. Beyond Indian limits, the Common Quail
is found almost throughout Europe and Africa, and in Asia except
in the south-eastern parts.
Habits, $c. The Grey Quail arrive in Northern India from
Central Asia in September, but are not usually seen in the Deccan
or Bengal before October. Occasionally some, even large parties,
arrive in Sind, Cutch, and Guzerat from the latter end of August till
December, coming from the seaward, probably from Arabia. The
majority, as a rule, leave the north of India in December and
January for the south, returning and at times abounding in the
ripening wheat- and barley-fields of the North-west Provinces,
i2
116 PHASIANID^E.
Sind, and the Punjab in March and April, and finally migrating
northward in the latter month or May. A few, however, remain
and breed in India, and nests have been taken not only in Northern
India but at Purneah in Bengal, Hoshangabad in the Central
Provinces, and even Satara in the Bombay, Deccan. They lay
from 6 or 7 to 10 buff eggs speckled with brown, in a hollow
on the ground amongst grass. The eggs measure about 1'18
by -89.
The call of the male Quail, often heard, and especially in spring,
is a long whistling note followed by two shorter notes ; hence the
name dactylisonans, applied to the species by several writers.
Except just after the breeding-season these birds are found singly
or in twos or threes, not in bevies or coveys. Their food consists
chiefly of grain and seeds. Their flight is rapid, close to the
ground, and very straight. Quails are often found in large
numbers in Northern India, and afford excellent sport for the
gun. They are caught by natives in nets, and are kept alive, the
males for fighting, and both sexes for food. They are, as is well
known, delicious eating.
C.japonica is an Eastern race of C. communis, inhabiting Japan
and China. The adult male has the sides of the head, chin, and
throat dull vinous-red without black marks ; the female and young
male have the feathers of the throat and chin elongate and lanceo-
late, especially those on the sides of the throat. In the British
Museum Catalogue this form is, apparently with justice, classed as
a separate species, and two skins of females — one from Bhutan,
the other from Karennee, are referred to it. Neither, however,
is a characteristic Fpecimen, and as intermediate forms are not-
uncommon, it may be well to await the discovery of males before
including C.japonica in the Indian fauna.
135G. Coturnix coromandelica. The Black-lreasted or
Rain Quail.
p. 550; id. IS. F. i, pp. 136, 227 ; Adam, ibid. p. 393; Gates, S. F.
iii, p. 178 ; Blyth fy Wald. Birds Burm. p. 151 ; Butler, S. F. iv,
p. 7 ; v, p. 231 ; ix, p. 423: Ball, S. F. vii, p. 226 ; Cripps, ibid.
p. 298; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 151, pi.: Hume, Cat.
no. 830 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 76 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 63; Darison,
ibid. p. 411 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 333 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 316 ;
Hume, S. F. xi, p. 310; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii,
p. 444 ; Offilvie Grant, ('at. B. M. xxii, p. 241.
Most of the names used for C. communis are applied also to this species
bv natives of India. The following are peculiar to the present form : —
Chinna Bater, H. ; Chdnac, Nepal : Kade, Tarn. ; Chinna Yellichi, Tel.
Coloration. Very similar to that of C. communis, especially on
the upper parts, but the present bird is distinguished by its smaller
PERDICULA. 117
size and by having no pale cross-bars on the primary quills. The
male may be recognized by having the dark marks on the face and
throat blacker, and by having broad median black stripes on the
feathers of the breast and flanks, the amount of black on the
breast increasing with age till, in old birds, nearly the whole breast
is black, and there is even in less aged individuals a large black patch
in the middle. The sides of the lower neck and upper breast are
chiefly or wholly rufous-buff with a vinous tinge.
Bill in the male bluish black to dusky, in the female brownish
horny ; irides clear to dark brown ; legs pale Heshy (Hume}.
Length about 7; tail 1-25; wing 3'5 ; tarsus 1; bill from
gape -5.
Distribution. A. resident or partially migratory bird, found
throughout the greater part of India and in the Irrawaddy valley
in Burma. It has not been recorded from other parts of Burma,
but it has been found in Manipur, in Assam near Dibrugarh, in
Sylhet, and around Chittagong; so it doubtless occurs throughout
the countries between India and Burma in suitable places. It has
not been observed in Ceylon nor in the extreme south of India,
but with this exception it is met with at times in open grassy
or cultivated ground throughout India up to the lower ranges
of the Himalayas. It is common in Sind in the summer, but is
not known to visit the Western or .North-western Punjab. It
is not known to occur outside the empire.
Habits, &fc. This, like the Grey Quail, is rarely, ir ever, met
with in forest ; it keeps much to grass of no great height and to
growing crops. Although resident in many parts of India, it
shifts its ground with the seasons, and it only visits Northern
Bengal, Oudh, Behar, the N.W. Provinces, the Punjab, and Sind
in the monsoon. It is found in pairs from April to October,
singly during the rest of the year. Its call is very different from
that of the Grey Quail, being dissyllabic only. It breeds about June
or July in Northern India, from August to October in the Deccan,
and lays from 4 to 9 eggs, yellowish white to dark brownish buff in
colour, much speckled with brown, and measuring about 1*09 by *83.
The eggs are laid in a hollow on the ground, without any nest.
Genus PERDICULA, Hodgson, 1837.
The present generic type is peculiar to the Indian Peninsula,
and comprises two species that resemble Quails in size, but differ
widely from them, and, to some extent, agree better with Partridges
in structure and habits. The sexes are very different in plumage.
The bill is short and thick, and the culmen very convex. The 4th
primary is the longest, the first being intermediate in length
between the 7th and 9th. The tail consists of 12 feathers, and is
about half as long as the wing. The tarsus is about as long as the
middle toe and claw, and is armed in males with a blunt tubercular
spur.
118 PHASIANIDJE.
Key to the £>pe;irt.
a. Breast barred black and white. (Adult males.)
a'. Throat chestnut ; a distinct white supercilium. P. asiatica, p. 118.
6'. Throat dull brick-red j no distinct white super-
cilium P. argunda, p. 120.
b. Breast not barred. (Females and young.)
c. Inner webs of primaries brown throughout . . P. asiatica, p. 119.
d '. Inner webs of primaries barred or mottled
with buff P. argunda, p. 120.
1357. Perdicula asiatica*. The Jungle Bush-Quail.
Perdix asiatica, Lath. 2nd. Orn. ii, p. 649 (1700) ; id. Gen. Hist, viii,
p. 281 (1823).
Perdix cambayensis, Temm. PI. Col. pi. 447 (1828), nee Lath.
Coturnix pentah, Sykes, P. Z. 8. 1832, p, 153; id. Trans. Z. S. ii,
p. 19, pi. iii; Gray in Hardw. III. 2nd. Zool. pi. 45, fig. 3.
Perdicula argoondah, Btyth, Cat. p. 254, nee Sykes.
Perdicula asiatica, Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 504 ; Hume, N. & E.
Davidson, ibid. p. 317 : Davison, ibid. p. 4]1 ; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 312 ; Gates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 440 ; Offiloie Grant,
Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 198.
Perdicula cambavensis, apud Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 581 ; Blyth, Ibis,
1867, p. 1GO; 'Butler, S. F. iv, p. (5; Fail-bank, ibid. p. 202 ; nr.c
Lath.
Loica, II. ; Juhar, Manbhum ; Auriconnai, Sonthali ; Girza-pitta,
Telegu ; Kari-lowya, Can.
"•/::
Fig. 23.— Head of P. asiatica, <$. }.
Coloration. Male. Upper parts brown, the crown usually more
rufous and bordered or blotched with blackish ; the back, rump,
and upper tail-coverts with wavy black bars, a few narrow buff
snaft-streaks (wanting in very old birds) on the back ; scapulars,
tertiaries, and wing-coverts blotched with black, with broader buff
shaft-stripes and, the coverts especially, with buff cross-bars;
quills brown, with buff spots on the outer webs, inner webs plain,
the inner secondaries becoming banded and vermiculated ; tail
brown, with black-edged buff cross-bars ; forehead, supercilia,
* I cannot recognize this bird by the original description in the 'Index
Ornithologicus,' but I quite agree with Hume that the present is the species
described in Latham's ' General History.'
PEBDIOULA. Ill)
cheeks, chin, and throat rufous-chestnut ; yelloxvish-white stripes
speckled with rufous above the supercilia and cheeks ; ear-coverts
brown ; breast and abdomen barred across with black and white
or buffy white, the bars a little broader behind ; thighs, lower
abdomen, and lower tail-coverts rufous, varying in tint.
The adult female has the head and throat coloured as in the
male ; the upper parts are more uniform ; the pale shaft-stripes
are absent on the back, and narrow, or in old birds wanting, on
the scapulars and wing-coverts ; the lower parts from the throat are
uniform dull rufous with a vinaceous or lilac tinge.
Immature birds want the chestnut on the head ; the upper parts
are much as in the male, but with broader buff shaft-stripes
throughout ; the lower surface is dull rufous or pale rufous-brown,
with whitish shaft-stripes. The change to the adult plumage is
gradual.
Bill black or dusky, with a reddish tinge at the base, lower
mandible usually paler ; irides brown ; legs yellowish red.
Length about 6-5; tail 1*5; wing 3-25 ; tarsus -95; bill from
gape '55.
Distribution. The Indian Peninsula from the Lower Himalayas
to Cape Comorin, in well- wooded tracts only. This bird is found
in the lower ranges of Kashmir, on Mount Abu and the Kuchawan
hills of Jodhpore, but not farther west, whilst it is of rare occur-
rence in Lower Bengal east of Midnapur and the Eajmehal hills,
and unknown farther east. It is common in parts of the X.W.
Provinces, in Western Bengal, Orissa, the Central Provinces,
throughout the Western Ghats, and in parts of the ^Malabar low-
lands. It also occurs in the northern part of Ceylon.
Habits, fyc. The Jungle Bush-Quail is an inhabitant of forests,
hills, ravines, thick bush, and rich cultivation. As Jerdon says,
" This Bush-Quail is found in coveys or bevies of from, six or eight,
to a dozen or more, and generally all rise at once with a loud
whirring sound, and after a short flight drop again into the
jungle." It is an exception to meet with these birds except in
little flocks, and when disturbed they generally fly in all directions,
but quickly reassemble. They feed chiefly on grass seeds, partly
on insects, and frequently utter a peculiar chirp or whistle. The
breeding-season is from September to February ; five to seven
creamy-white eggs, measuring about 1 by "83, are laid in a grass
nest on the ground, usually under a bush or tuft of grass.
1358. Perdicula argunda. The EocJc Bush-Quail.
Coturnix argoondah, Sykcs, P. Z. 8. 1832, p. 153 ; id. Trans. Z. tf.
ii, p. 17, pi. ii.
Perdicula asiatica, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 254 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 080 ;
Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 230 ; Adam, S. F. i, p. 392 ;
Butler, S. F. iv, p. 7 ; Fairbank, ibid. p. 262 ; nee Lath.
Perdicula argoondah, Hume, N. fy E. p. 545 : id. S. F. vii, p. 159:
Hume & Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 117, pi. ; Hume, Cat. no. 827 ;
Butler, S. F. ix, p. 423 ; Davidson, S. F. x, p. 317 ; Barnes, Birds
120
Bom. p. 313 ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. iii, p. 441 ; Ogilvie Grant,
Cat. £. M. xxii, p. 200.
Loiva, H. arid Mahr. ; Lawunka, Tel. ; Sinkadeh, Tarn. ; Kemp-lowyu,
Can. (Mysore).
Coloration. Adult males have the upper plumage brown with
rather broad buff cross-bars, slightly edged with black ; forehead,
sinciput, supercilia, cheeks, chin, and throat dull brick-red, around
the eye whitish, but no white superciliary band ; tail and quills
barred on outer web, and generally barred or mottled on inner
web with buff ; breast and abdomeif barred black and white, the
bars broader than in P. asiatica ; lower abdomen aud lower tail-
coverts pale rufescent.
Adult females have the upper parts nearly uniform vinaceous
brown, finely vermiculated in parts, and often with some remains
of buff bars posteriorly ; quills mottled with rufous and barred
with the same on the outer webs ; lower parts brownish vinaceous ;
chin, lower abdomen, and lower tail-coverts whitish.
Younger birds of both sexes much resemble the young of
P. asiatica ; above, the upper parts are brown tinged with rufous,
much verniiculated with buff and blotched with black, especially
on the scapulars and tertiaries ; there are a few white shaft-stripes
on the back.
Upper mandible black, lower paler ; irides brown to light red ;
legs red (Hume).
Length 7; tail 1-8 ; wing 3'3 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from gape -6.
Distribution. The range of this species is less than that of the
preceding, for though P. argunda extends from the base of the
Himalayas in the JST.W. Provinces and the Punjab to near Cape
Cornorin, and west as far as Lahore, Jodhpore, Kattiawar, and
Cutch, it is not known to occur in the Eastern Central Provinces,
Orissa, or Bengal, nor along the Western Ghats, nor on the low
ground near the Malabar coast, nor yet in Ceylon.
Habits, fyc. This Bush-Quail keeps to much more open and drier
country than its congener; it avoids hills, forests, and dense
vegetation, and is chiefly found in sandy or rocky ground with
small scattered bushes. Otherwise its habits are the same as those
of the last species. It breeds, according to Hurne, from August
to September, and again in March ; and the nest and eggs are
similar to those of P. asiatica.
Genus MICROPERDIX, Gould, 1862.
This is an ally of Perdicula, from which, however, it differs in
several details of structure. There is no spur oti the tarsus in
either sex ; the bill is much longer and less high ; the tail is of 10
feathers only, and rather more than half as long as the wing ; and
the wing is shorter and more rounded, the 4th, 5th, and 6th quills
being longest and subequal, and the 1st equal to the 10th.
The species resemble Perdicula in size and habits, and the typical
MICROPERDIX. 121
form was formerly referred to that genus. Three species are now
known — two inhabiting the Indian Peninsula, and the third
Manipur and Assam.
Key to tlie Species.
a. Upper surface brown with black spots.
«'. Bill from gape O6 to O7 inch; a
distinct black chin in males M. erythrorhynchus, p. 121.
b'. Bill from gape O'o to 0'6 inch ; black
chin indistinct or wanting M . blewitti, p. 122.
h. Upper surface slaty grey with black bars
and spots M. manipurensis, p. 122.
1359. Microperdix erythrorhynchus. 'The Painted Bush-Quart.
Coturnix erythrorhyncha, fykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 153 ; -Blyth, Cat.
p. 255.
Perdicula erythrorhyncha, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 58-1; Blyth, Ibis,
1867, p. 160; Davids. Sf Wend. 6'. F. vii, p. 87; Daly, Jour. Bom.
N. H. Soc. ii, p. 149.
Microperdix erythrorhyncha, Gould, Birds Asia, vii, pi. 3 ; Hume,
N. $ E. p. '548; Fairbank. S. F. iv, p. 262; v, p. 409; Oyilvie
Grant, Cat. B. M xxii, p. 203.
Microperdix erythrorhynchus, Hume, Cat. no. 828 ; Hume $ Marsh.
Game B. ii, p. 123, pi. ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 423 ; Damson, S. F.
x, p. 411 ; Jtarnes, Bird* Bom. p. 314 ; Oates in Humes N. Sf E.
2nd ed. iii, p. 442.
Kadai, Tarn.
Fig. 24. — Head of M. erythrorhynchus, tf . \.
Coloration. Male. Forehead, lores, all round the eyes and gape,
and the chin black; a narrow white sincipital band running back
above the eyes and brown ear-coverts on each side ; crown black,
more or less replaced by brown in the middle of the occiput ;
upper parts brown, back and rump with rounded or lens-shaped
black spots ; scapulars, tertiaries, and wing-coverts with white
shaft-stripes, distant buff cross-bars and subterminal black blotches,
chiefly on the inner webs ; quills brown, the outer webs with
rufous-buff cross-bars ; tail-feathers blackish brown, with narrow
buff transverse bands ; throat and cheeks white, surrounded by n
black gorget: rest of the lower parts light chestnut, the upper
breast washed with greyish brown, and the feathers with small
round subterminal black spots ; the flanks and lower tail- coverts
with large oval black spots with white borders.
The female differs in having no black or white on the forehead,
122
sides of the head or throat, which are dull rufous, and there is
little or no black on the crown. Immature birds resemble females,
but have black on the crown like males.
Bill, legs, and feet fine red ; irides yellow-brown (Jerdori).
Length of male 7; tail 2; wing 3-5; tarsus 1-1; bill from
gape -6. Females are somewhat smaller.
Distribution. The forest region on or near the Western Ghats
from the neighbourhood of Bombay to' Travancore. Common on
the Nilgiris. This bird has also been obtained on the Shevroy hills
by Mr. Daly and Dr. Warth.
Habits, fyc. Somewhat similar to those of Perdicula asiatica. The
call is different, and the flight less noisy, the plumage being softer.
The breeding-season is jsaid to extend from August till April,
varying with the height and exposure; no nest is made, and about
ten glossy spotless eggs are laid, of a pale creamy colour, and
measuring about 1-22 by -91.
1360. Microperdix blewitti. Bleivitfs Busli-Qua'd.
Perdicula erythrorhyncha, apud Blanf. Ibis, 1867, p. 464; id.
J.A.S.B. xxxviii* pt. 2, p. 190 ; Ball, 8. F. ii, p. 4^8 ; nee &//Av?,s.
Microperdix blewitti, Hume, 8. F. ii, p. 512 ; Ball, S. F. iii, p. 294 ;
vii. p. 22o; Hume, Cat.no. 8:28 bis; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. ii,
p. 129, pi. ; Oyiloie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 204.
Sirsi-lawa, Central Prov. (Mandla, Balaghat. Chanda).
This is merely a race of M. en/throrhyncJius, but is smaller and
has a, much smaller bill. The male is distinguished by having the
sincipital white band much broader and the black forehead
narrower, whilst the black chin is either inconspicuous or wanting.
The whole colour too is greyer in both sexes, and the greyish-
brown wash comes much farther down the breast, whilst the
abdomen is a duller and paler red.
Bill, legs, and feet coral-red ; irides brown (Hume).
Length of male 6-5; tail 1-7; wing 3-1; tarsus 1; bill from
gape '5. Female smaller.
Distribution. The forest region of the Eastern Central Provinces
(Mandla, Balaghat, Seoni, Chanda, Kaipur, Sironcha, Bastar), and
of Chutia Nagpur.
1361. Microperdix manipurensis. Humes Bush-Quail.
Perdicuja manipurensis, Hume, S. F. ix, p. 467 (1880) • xi, p.
Microperdix manipurensis, Oyilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 2
309.
L>04.
Coloration. Male. Forehead, superciliary stripes, cheeks up to
the eye, chin, and throat dark chestnut; lores and a patch in
front of the eye and another behind it white ; ear-coverts brown ;
upper plumage throughout dark slaty grey with a brownish tinge,
the feathers edged with black throughout. and mostly barred with
black, except near the tip, the black forming blotches on the
scapulars, tertiaries, and wing-coverts ; quills dark brown, the
AHBORICOLA.. 123
later primaries and the secondaries with buff bars on the outer
webs ; tail black, with grey bars or mottled ; fore neck ashy grey ;
breast and abdomen rufous buff, with black shafts and cross-bars
dividing the paler tint into round spots, which are larger behind;
under tail-coverts black, tipped and spotted on both webs with white.
Females have no chestnut on the head, which is grey throughout,
the chin and throat albescent ; breast and abdomen paler buff and
less rufous than in the male.
Bill deep horny dusky ; irides reddish brown ; legs dull orange ;
soles pale yellow (Hume}.
Length about 7*5 : tail 2; wing 3-3; tarsus 1-05; bill from
gape '57.
Distribution. This species was found, by Mr. Hume, in small
bevies of five or six, inhabiting high grass at the base of the Eastern
Manipur hills. The series collected by him contains the only
known specimens with one exception, a skin recently received at the
British Museum and stated, apparently on good authority, to have
been brought from Bhutan. It is probable that this Bush-Quail,
which is likely to escape notice, because of its living in elephant
grass, occurs in Assam, and it may very possibly also be found in
Burma.
Genus ARBOEJCOLA, Hodgson, 1844.
The Hill-Partridges of the Himalayas and Burma form a well-
marked generic group, easily distinguished by their long and
straight claws on the anterior toes, by want of spurs on the tarsus,
Fig. 25. — Foot of A. torqueola. \.
which is about equal in length to the middle toe and claw, by
their short, rather soft and slightly rounded tail of 14 feathers,
less than half as long as the wing, and by their rounded wings,
the 3rd, 4th, and 5th primaries being generally longest, and the
1st about equal to the 84;h, 9th, or 10th. The sexes are similar as
a rule, but differ in A. torqueola.
A remarkable peculiarity of this genus, first noticed by Mr. J.
Wood-Mason ( J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. 2, p. 254, pi. ii), is the presence
of a row of superorbital bones, extending from the lachrymal to
the postorbital process. No similar bones are known in other
124
PUASIANIDJE.
true Gallinae. but they were described by Kitchen Parker in the
Tinamous anH in Psopliia. These bones were found by Mr. Wood-
Mason in Arboi'icola torqueola,
A. atriyularis, A. rujigularis, and
A. intermedia, and from MS. notes
in his handwriting on the labels
of two specimens of A. brunnei-
pectas collected by Mr. Limborg in
Tenasserim, formerly in the Tweed-
dale ^Collection, and now in the
British Museum, I find that he
ascertained the presence of the
superorbital ossicles in that species
and their absence in the Malayan
A. cJiarltoni. The latter, with its
ally A. chloropus, should conse-
quently be plated in a distinct
genus.
About 15 species are known,
ranging from the Himalayas to
Fig. 2G.
Skull of A. rvfgularis.
s.o, superorbital bones.
Borneo and Java, and probably to the Philippines. None are
found in the Indian Peninsula or Ceylon, but six occur in the
Himalayas, Assam lianges, and Burma.
Key to the Species.
a. Feathers of flanks with chestnut borders.
a'. Breast g'rey.
«". Crown chestnut A. torqueola <$ , p. 125.
a". Crown olive-brown with black spots.
a3. Chin and throat rufous with black
spots A. rvfigularis, p. 126.
b\ Chin and throat black, fore neck
rufous , A. intermedia, p. 127.
b'. Breast brownish ; crown olive-brown
with black spots A. torqueola £ , p. 12o.
c' . Breast chestnut ; throat paler ; a white
gorget „ A. mandellii, p. 128.
b. No chestnut on flanks.
d' . Breast grey A. atrigularis, p. 127.
e'. Breast pale brown A. brunneipectusj p. 128.
The habits of all the species are similar. They inhabit hill
forests, are usually solitary or in pairs, but are mefc with in coveys
at times ; probably, as with other partridges, the old and young
associate for a time, after the latter are full grown. They keep
much to thick undergrowth, especially near hill-streams, and are
rarely flushed or even seen ; they feed on seeds and insects and
drink daily. When flushed their flight is rapid but short ; they
occasionally perch. Their call is a low soft whistle, single or
double. But little is known of their nidification and eggs, except
that the latter are generally white and 6 to 8 in number, placed
in slight depressions on the ground under trees.
ARBORICOLA. 125
1362. Arboricola torqueola. The Common Hill- Par tridye.
Perdix torqueola, Valenciennes, Diet. Sci. Nat. xxxviii, p. 435 (1825).
Perdix megapodia, Temm. PL Col. pis. 462, 463 (1828).
Perdix olivacea, Gray in Griffith's An. Kinyd.,Aves, iii, p. 54 (1829).
Perdix torquata, Less. Trade, p. 506 (1831).
Arboriphila torqueola, Gray, Cat. Mamm. fyc. Coll. Hodgs. p. 127 ;
Hume, N. $ E. p. 544 ; id. S. F. ii, p. 449.
Arboricola torqueola, Blt/th, J. A. S. B. xviii, p. 819; id. Cat.
p. 252 ; Jerdon, B. 1. "iii, p. 577 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii,
pt. 2, p. 69 ; Godw-Aust. J. A. S. B. xlv, pt. 2, p. 203 ; Hume,
Cat. no. 824 ; Scully, IS. F. viii, p. 349 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B.
ii, p. 69, pi. ; C. H. T. Marshall, Ibis, 1884, p. 423 ; Ogilvie
Grant, Ibis, 1892, p. 392 : id. Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 207.
The Black-throated Hill-Partriclye, Jerdon ; Peunra, Ban-tit ar, H.
(Kumaun, Nepal, &c.) ; Roli, Ram Chukru^ Chamba ; Kaindal, Kaugra ;
Coloration. Male. Crown bright chestnut ; nape the same
spotted with black ; ear-coverts paler rufous and with a rufous
streak, mixed with black, running back from them ; sides of head,
including lores and supercilia, and chin black; throat and sides
of neck the same, except that the feathers are edged with white
at the sides ; a white moustachial streak ; upper parts golden olive-
brown ; feathers of the back tipped and barred with black, the
subterminal bars on the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts
becoming triangular spots ; scapulars, tertiaries, and wing-coverts
pale golden brown, broadly edged with chestnut, and all, except
the outer wing-coverts, with large black subterminal spots ; quills
dark brown; primaries narrowly bordered outside, and secondaries
mottled on outer web with rufous ; tail-feathers olive-brown,
irregularly barred and mottled with black ; a white gorget below
the black throat ; breast slaty grey, the feathers with narrow
golden-olive or rufous edges ; middle of abdomen white ; sides and
flanks grey, each feather with an elongate white spot and broadly
edged with chestnut ; lower flanks, thighs, and vent brown, with
buff edges and black bars ; under tail-coverts black with white tips.
Females differ from, males in having the crown and nape brown,
streaked with black ; ear-coverts brown ; sides of head and the
whole throat rufous, with black terminal spots on the feathers ;
the wing-coverts are more spotted and barred with black ; a
ferruginous gorget above the breast, which is tinted with golden
buff ; the white spots on the flanks are larger and generally extend
to the lower breast ; they, however, disappear from the breast
with age, and are found there in young males also.
Bill black ; irides brown ; orbital skin crimson in old males,
purplish red in younger birds and in females ; legs grey tinged
with reddish fleshy (Hume}.
Length about 11; tail 3; wing 6; tarsus 1'75; bill from
gape *9. Males average larger than females.
Distribution. The Himalayas from Chamba to east of Sikhim.
Found also by Godwin-Austen in the Naga hills and the higher
126 PHASIAXIDA,
ranges north of Manipur*. This species is commonest between
5000 and 8000 or 9000 feet, but is found occasionally at con-
siderably higher elevations up to 14,000.
1363. Arboricola rufigularis. Blytlis Hill-Partridge.
Arboricola rufojrularis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xviii, p. 819 (1849) ; id.
Cat. p. 253 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 578 ; Beaoan, Ibis, 1868, p. 385 ;
Hume, S. F. v, p. 114; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 444; Hume,
Cat. no. 825 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 349 : Hume fy Marsh. Game B.
ii, p. 75 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 328 ; £alvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen.
(2) v, p. 620 ; vii, p. 426 ; Ogilme Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii,
p. 212.
Arboriphila rufogularis, Hume, S. F. ii, p. 450.
Arboricola rufigularis, Blyt.h $- Wald. Birds Sunn. p. 150 ; Godw.-
Aust. J. A. S. B. xlv, pt. 2, p. 84 ; Gates in Humes N. $ E.
2nd ed. iii, p. 439.
Arboricola tickelli, Hume, Game B. ii, pp. 73, 78.
The Rufous-throated Hill- Part ridge, Jerdon ; Peura, Kumaun ; Kohum-
but, Lepcha ; Pokhu, Daphla.
Coloration. Crown olive-brown, streaked with black, greyish
and unstreaked on the forehead ; lores and long supercilia greyish
white with black shafts ; sides of face white, speckled with black
except on a stripe running back from the gape ; ear-coverts dark
brown ; chin, throat, and sides of neck, united more or less behind
the nape, rufous with black spots, largest behind the nape and
diminishing in size towards the throat ; a band on the fore neck
below the throat pure ferruginous red, generally, but not always,
divided from the breast by a black border ; upper parts golden
olivaceous brown, not barred with black, but with semi-oval black
spots on the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts ; scapulars
and wing-coverts greyer, with large subterminal black spots and
chestnut edges; quills dark brown, outer webs of secondaries
mottled with rufous olive ; tail olive, with black markings and
subterminal crescentic bars ; breast and flanks slaty grey, the latter
with a white spot in the middle of each feather and' chestnut
borders ; lower flanks brown, with black crescentic spots and buffy
edges ; lower tail-coverts black, tipped white. Sexes alike.
Bill black ; irides red-brown ; orbits dull lake-red ; legs red
(Jerdon).
Length about 10-5; tail 2-5 ; wing 5*25 ; tarsus 1'6; bill from
gape -9.
Distribution. The Himalayas from the western boundaries of
Kumaun through Nepal, Sikhim, and Bhutan to the Daphla hills,
where this species was found by Godwin-Austen, and probablv
farther east. It also occurs in the hill-ranges of Karenuee and
Tenasserim (A. tickelli), the variety there found generally wanting
* Col. Godwin-Austen has lent his specimens to rr.e for examination, and
they are undoubtedly A. torqueola. There are several specimens, both males
and females.
ARBORICOLA. 127
the black band behind the rufous throat, but this is not a constant
character. In the Himalayas this species inhabits a lower zone
than A. torqueola, from the base of the hills to about 6000 feet.
1361. Arboricola intermedia. The Arralcan Hill-Partridge.
Arboricola intermedia, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxiv, p. 277 (1855');
Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. 2, p. 174 ; Blyth 8f Wold. Birds
Burin, p. 150 ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 85, pi. ; Hume,
Cat. no. 825 ter; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 327 ; id. in Hume's N. fy E.
2nd ed. iii, p. 440 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 307 ; Ogilvie Grant, Cat.
B. M. xxii, p. 211.
Arboriphila intermedia, Hume, S. F. ii, p. 450 ; Oates, S. F. iii,
p. 344.
Touny-Kha, Burmese.
This is only distinguished from A. rufiyularis by having the
chin and throat entirely black, followed by an unspotted ferru-
ginous-red gorget without any black lower border. In all other
respects this species is identical with the last, of which it is merely
a race.
Distribution. The Arrakan hills between Arrakan and Pogu,
ranging as far north as Eastern Manipur, where Hume found this
bird common, and to North Cachar and the Naga hills, whence it
was obtained by Godwin-Austen.
1365. Arboricola atrigularis. The White-cheeked Hill -Par fridge.
Arboricola atrogularis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xviii, p. 819 (1849); id.
Cat. p. 253 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 273; Hume,
S. F. v, p. 44 ; Anderson, Yunnan JExped.< Aves, p. 673 ; Hume,
Cat. no. 824 bis ; Hume 8f Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 79, pi. ; Hume,
S. F. xi, p. 306; Oyilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 209.
Arborophila atrogularis, Hume, S. F. ii, p. 449.
Arboricola atrigularis, Oates in Hume's N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 439.
Peura, Sylhet ; Duboy, Dubore, Assam ; San-batai, Chittagong.
Coloration. Crown olive-brown, passing into grey on the fore-
head and rufous on the nape and sides of neck ; all feathers,
except on the forehead, with black shafts or terminal spots ; a long
superciliuin from the lores, and area all round eye black ; a pale
grey superciliary stripe, also from the lores, above the black ;
cheeks white, passing into pale rufous on ear-coverts ; back, rump,
and upper tail-coverts yellowish olive-brown, the feathers broadly
tipped and barred with black ; scapulars and tertiaries greyer, with
large subterminal black spots and ferruginous tips ; wing-coverts
light greyish olive mixed with dark brown ; quills brown, secondaries
edged and mottled on the outer webs with rufous ; tail-feathers
mottled olive and black ; chin and throat black ; fore neck black
above, with white edges to the feathers, below with grey, passing
into the grey breast aud flanks, the latter with white spots ; middle
of abdomen whitish ; lower tail-coverts rufous -olive, with white tips
and subterminal black spots. Sexes alike.
128 PHASIANIDJE.
Bill black ; irides brown ; skin of head, chesks, and throat deep
reddish pink ; legs lobster-red (Cripps).
Length about 11; tail 2-5; wing 5'5 ; tarsus 1'75; bill from
gape -9.
Distribution. Assam south of the Brahmaputra ; the Kaga,
Khasi, and Garo hills, Cachar, Sylhet, Tipperah, and Chittagong.
1366. Arboricola mandellii. The Red-lreasted Hill- Partridge.
Arboricola nmmlellii, Hume, P. A. S. B. 1874, p. 106; id. Cat.
no. 825 bis ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 83, pi. ; On'ilme Grant,
Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 214 ; WaddeM, Gazetteer Sikhim, p. 230.
Arboriphila mandellii, Hume, S. F. ii, p. 449 (1874), iii, p. 262, pi. i.
Coloration. Crown and nape dull chestnut, forehead and lores
brighter; a dark grey superciliary band commencing above
each eye and carried back to meet that from the opposite side
behind the nape ; sides of head and neck, and collar on hind neck
deep ferruginous with black spots ; upper parts olive, the feathers
of the upper back slightly fringed with blackish ; lower back,
rump, and upper tail-coverfs with pointed, elongate, black spots ;
scapulars, tertiaries, and wing-coverts \\ith chestnut edges and
black subterminal spots, the latter smaller than in A. rufit/ularis :
quills brown, outer webs of secondaries mottled with rufous; tail
olive-brown ; chin and throat pale chestnut, followed by a white
gorget with a black border behind; most of the breast deep
chestnut ; lower breast and abdomen slaty grey, whitish towards
the vent : sides and flanks grey, the feathers with central white
spots and chestnut edges ; under tail-coverts olive, with white spots
and tipped rufous. Sexes alike.
The colours of the soft parts have not been recorded.
Length about 11 ; tail 2*25; wing 5*5; tarsus 1*7; bill from
gape -9.
Distribution. The lower hills of Sikhim and Bhutan from 1000
to 6000 feet above the sea. The first specimens obtained were
from the Duars of Bhutan ; but the bird has since been pro-
cured in Sikhim by the original discoverer Mr. Mandelli and by
Dr. Waddell.
1367. Arboricola brunneipectus. The Brown-breasted
Hill-Part rid cje.
Arboricola brunneopectus, Tickcll, Bli/th, J. A. S. B. xxiv, p. 270
(1855) ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 443 : Hume, Cat. no. 824 ter ;
Hume fy Marsh. Game B, ii, p. 87, pi. ; Binylmm, S. F. ix, p. 195 ;
Of/ilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 216.
Arborophila brunneopectus, Hume, S. F. ii, p. 449 ; Hume fy Gates,
S. F. iii, p. 174; Walden, Ibis, 1875, p. 459.
Arboricola brunneipectus, Bh/th &f Wald. Birds Burm. p. 150 ; Oat?*,
B. B. ii, p. 325 ; Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) v, p. 621 ;
vii, p. 426 ; Gates, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. x, p. 112.
Coloration, Forehead and broad supercilia running back to the
sides of the neck, cheeks, ear-coverts, and chin buff ; lores, a line
TROPlCOrERDIX. 129
above and another beneath the eye, the two uniting and extending
back above the ear-coverts to a large patch on the side of the neck,
black ; crown olive-brown, the feathers tipped black, sometimes (in
young birds ?) almost wholly black with brown bars ; nape and
sides of neck chiefly or wholly black, but divided from each other
by the superciliary stripe ; back olivaceous brown, with rather
broad and nearly straight black cross-bars ; rump and upper
tail-coverts the same, but the black bands are less numerous
and have some pale bars intervening ; scapulars, tertiaries, and
wing-coverts paler brown, with black subterminal spots and broad
chestnut tips ; quills dark brown, outer webs with mottled buff
tips, those of the secondaries broadly edged and mottled with
chestnut ; tail olive with black mottling ; throat and fore neck
thinly clad with black-tipped buff feathers, the skin conspicuous
between them ; breast brownish rufescent buff ; middle of abdomen
whitish, flanks greyer, each feather with a central round white
spot and a black tip ; under tail-coverts buff with subterminal
broad black spots.
Bill black ; eyelids, patch behind the eye, and skin of the throat
red ; iris dark brown ; legs lake-red ; claws orange (Gates).
Length about 11; tail 2*4; wing 5-5; tarsus 1'7; bill from
gape 1.
Distribution. The eastern spurs of the Pegu hills in evergreen
forest, the ranges east of the Sitangirom Karennee as far south as
Tavoy, al*o the neighbourhood of the Ruby mines in Upper
Burma.
Genus TROPICOPERDIX, Blyth, 1859.
Two Burmese and Malayan forest-haunting Partridges are
distinguished from true Arboricola by wanting the peculiar chain
of superorbital ossicles, aud by somewhat different plumage, much
more mottled above, and with a patch of white downy leathers on
each side behind the axilla.
There are two species, of which one is Burmese.
1368. Tropicoperdix chloropus. The Green-legged
Hill-Par tridye.
Tropicoperdix chloropus, Tickell, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxviii, p. 415
(1859).
Arboricola chloropus, Tickell, J. A. S. B. xxviii, p. 453 ; Blyth #
Wald. Birds Burnt, p. 150; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 444;
Hume, Cat. no. 824 quat. ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 91, pi. ;
Binglmm, S. F. ix, p. 195 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 326 ; Oyiloie Grant,
Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 219.
Phcenicoperdix chloropus, G. R. Grai/, Hand-l. B. ii; p. 269 ; Hume,
S. F. ii, p. 482 ; vi, p. 447 ; id, Cat. no. 831 bis.
Arborophila chloropus, Hume, 8. F. ii, p. 449.
Peloperdix chloropus, Hume, S. F. iii, p. 176.
Coloration. Forehead, lores, and long supercilia dark brown, with
white shaft-stripes, which become much broader posteriorly ;
VOL. IT. K
130 PHASIAXIDJE.
sides of face, chin, and throat white, the feathers with blackish
tips ; ear-coverts brown ; fore neck and sides of neck rufous with
black spots ; crown and nape brown with an olive tinge ; upper
parts from the neck and upper breast similar, but more rufous,
with close narrow crescentic black bars, and the lower back, rump,
scapulars, and wing-coverts mottled with rufous ; quills brown,
outer webs of secondaries with mottled pale rufous bars ; tail
rufous brown with irregular black cross-bars ; middle of lower
breast ferruginous red; middle of abdomen buffy white ; sides rf
both flanks and lower tail-coverts p^le ferruginous, with irregular
black blotches and bars ; axillaries and a patch of downy feathers
on the flanks behind them white. Sexes alike.
Bill dusky red at base, the remainder greenish ; eyelids and
orbital skin purplish ; legs greenish, claws yellow (Oates).
Length about 11'5; tail 3; wing 6-25; tarsus 1-6; bill from
gape -9.
Distribution. Locally distributed in the evergreen forests on the
eastern slopes of the Pegu Yoma and throughout Tenasserim,
from the extreme north as far south as Tavoy.
Habits, fyc. Like its allies, this is an inhabitant of forests, found
sometimes in pairs, sometimes in small parties, feeding on seeds
and insects, and but rarely seen to fly. Davison notices that, like
the Arboricolas, these birds come about midday to forest streams to
drink, and they may be seen on pathways early in the morning.
The note is a low, soft, double whistle. The eggs have not been
recorded.
The other species, T. charltoni, inhabits the southern part of the
Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and N. Borneo. Hume repeatedly
refers to a story, which he discredits, of this species having been
brought from Southern Tenasserim ; but I cannot find any trust-
worthy record of a Burmese habitat *. T. charltoni may be recog-
nized by having the back vermiculated and speckled throughout, the
upper breast chestnut, and the legs red.
Genus CALOPERDIX, Blyth, 1865.
This genus has the tail, of 14 feathers, less than half the length
of the rounded wing, as in Arboricola, but is distinguished by its
shorter feet, by its much shorter though straight claws, that of the
hallux being rudimentary, and by the tarsus, which is considerably
longer than the middle toe and claw, being armed with one or
two spurs in males. Sexes alike in coloration.
Two or three species or races are known from the Malay
Peninsula. Sumatra, Borneo, and Java ; one ranges into Southern
Tenasserim.
* Blyth, ' Ibis,' 1867, p. 160, gave " Tenasserim Mountains " as the locality of
this and also of T. chlorous, but the insertion in the case of T. charltoni is a
palpable misprint.
CACCABIS. 131
1369. Galop srdix oculea. The Ferruginous Wood-Partridge.
Perdix oculea, Temm. Pig. et Gall, iii, pp. 408 & 732 (1815) ; Gray
in Hardwicke1 s III. 2nd. Zool. i, pi. 58.
Cryptonyx ocellatus, Via. Zool. Journ. iv, p. 349 (1829).
Roliulus ocellatus, Blyth, Cat. p. 253.
Caloperdix oculea, Blytli, J. A. S. B. xxxiv, pt. 2, p. 289 ; id. Ibis,
1867, p. 160 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi. p. 449 ; Hume, Cat. no. 831
quat. ; Hume 8f Marsh. Game P. ii, p. 101, pi. ; Gates, B. B. ii,
^ p. 329 ; Or/ilrie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 222.
Caloperdix ocellata, Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burrn. p. 151.
Coloration. Head, neck, and lower surface deep ferruginous red,
deepest on the crown, pale and albescent on the supercilia, chin,
and throat ; upper back black with two white bands on each
feather, one intramarginal, and an inner parallel or subparallel to
the outer ; interscapular region, rump, and tail-coverts black, with
deep rufous V-shaped intramarginal bands ; scapulars and wing-
coverts olive-brown, all except outer coverts with rounded black
subterminal spots ; quills dark brown, secondaries tipped and
mottled on the outer webs with rufous buff ; tail black, the two
middle feathers with rufous submarginal bands ; flanks black with
white bars ; lower flanks and under tail-coverts ferruginous with
black spots ; lower abdomen white or whitish in middle.
Bill black; irides deep brown; legs and feet pale dirty green
(Davison).
Length about 10-75; tail 2'75; wing 5*8; tarsus T85; bill
from gape 1.
Distribution. The Malay Peninsula, extending into the southern-
most part of Tenasserim, near Bankasoon, in dense forest. A
closely allied race inhabits Sumatra.
Genus CACCABIS, Kaup, 1829.
The Red-legged Partridges, of which the present genus consists,
are chiefly Palaearctic, one species ranging into Northern India.
They are birds of moderate size and almost uniform upper plumage,
having the flanks conspicuously barred with black or chestnut.
The sexes are alike, except that the male has a blunt spur on the
tarsus. The tail, of 14 feathers, is slightly rounded, and about J
to § the length of the wing. Third primary generally slightly the
longest, 1st about equal to 5th or 6th.
1370. Caccabis chucar. The Chukor.
Perdix chukar, Gray in Hardw. Ill Ind. Zool. i, pi. 54 (1830-32).
Chacura pugnax, Hodgs. Madras Jour. L. S. v, p. 305 (1837).
Caccabis chukar, Blyth, Cat. p. 251 ; Adapts, P. Z. &. 1858, p. 502 ;
1859, p. 185; Hume, S. F. i, p. 226; id. Cat. no. 820; Scull}/,
>V. F. viii, p. 348 ; Biddidph, Ibis, 1881, p. 93 ; Scully, ibid. p. 586 ;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 309; St. John, Ibis. 1889, p. 175; Ogilme
Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 113.
Caccabis chukor, Jerclon, B. I. iii, p. 564 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii,
K2
132 PHASIANID^.
pt. 2, p. 69 ; Hume. # Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 33 ; C. H. T. Marshall,
Ibis, 1884, p. 423 ; Gates in Hume's N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 431.
Oaccabis pallescens, Hume, Lah. to York. p. 283.
Caccabis pallidus, Hume, t. c. p. 284.
Chukar, H. ; Kabk, P. ; Kau-kau, Kashmir ; CJiukru, Cliamba.
Coloration. Upper parts varying from brownish olive to ashy,
the upper back and scapulars, and sometimes the crown, tinged
with vinous red ; outer scapulars pure ashy with broad rufous
edges : sinciput and sides of crown always grey, supercilia buffy,
ear-coverts dull chestnut ; a black band across the forehead to each
eye, continued behind the e}re round the throat and forming a
gorget ; extreme tip of chin and a spot at each side of gape
black ; lores, sides of head, and throat white or pale buff ; quills
brown, all primaries except the first with the outer web buff near
the tip, and a buffy patch on the outer edge of most secondaries
near the end ; middle tail-feathers drab like the rump, terminal
half of outer tail-feathers chestnut ; breast ashy tinged more or
less with brown, and the sides with vinous; abdomen and lower
tail-coverts light to dark buff ; feathers of the flanks grey at the
base, each with two black bars, buff between the bars, and chestnut
at the ends.
Birds from the Himalayas are darker and browner, those from
Ladak, the Western Punjab, Sind, and other dry open tracts are
greyer and paler. The black gorget varies in breadth.
Bill and legs red ; irides brown, yellowish, or orange.
Length of male about 15 ; tail 4'25 ; wing 6'5 ; tarsus 1'8 ; bill
from gape 1*1. Female rather smaller, length 14 ; wing t>.
Distribution. Throughout the greater part of Western and
Central Asia from the Levant to China. This species occurs in
the Himalayas as far east as Nepal throughout a great range of
elevation ; also in the hilly parts of the Punjab, and in the higher
ranges of Sind west of the Indus. A closely-allied form, in fact
only a race, C. saxatilis, distinguished by its black lores, inhabits
the mountains of Southern Europe.
Habits, $c. The Chukor keeps, as a rule, to open hillsides,
amongst scattered bushes or grass, but it is also found in
better wooded country and in cultivated fields. These birds
keep in coveys throughout the winter, and sometimes the coveys
associate in flocks. They are noisy, and often utter the loud
chuckling double note from which their name is taken. In spring
they break up into pairs, and they breed from April to August,
later at higher elevations than at lower, from 5000 or 6000 feet up
to 12,000, and higher, even at 16,000 in Tibet. The nest, a few
leaves and fibres or a little grass on the ground, contains from 7 to
14 eggs, generally 8 to 10 ; these are pale cafe-au-lait in colour,
spotted and speckled with purplish pink or brown, and measure
about 1-68 by 1-25.
Chukor, where they are abundant, afford fair shooting ; but
they are inferior for the table to partridges, in general being
rather dry.
AMMOPERDIX. 133
Genus AMMOPERDIX, Gould, 1851.
There are but two nearly allied species in the present genus.
One, A. heyi, is found in Arabia, Egypt, and ISfubia ; the other
ranges from the Euphrates to the Indus. Both are of small size,
and the sexes differ considerably in plumage. The tail is short,
about half as long as the wing, and slightly rounded, of 12 feathers.
Wing rounded ; 3rd primary usually longest ; 1st but little
shorter, and about equal to or between 5th and 6th. No spurs.
1371. Ammoperdix bonhami. The Seesee.
Perdix bonhami, Fraser, P. Z. S. 1843, p. 70.
Ammoperdix bonhami, Gould, Birds Asia, vii, pi. 1 ; Adams, P. Z. S,
1858, p. 503; Jerdon, B.I. iii, p. 567; Hume, S. F. i, p. 226;
id. Cat. no. 821; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 45, pi.;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 310 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 175 ; Oates
in Hume's N. Sf E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 433 ; Oyilvie Grant, Cat. B. M.
xxii, p. 123.
The Seesee Partridge, Jerdon ; Sist, Punjab, Sind ; Tihu, P.
Fig. '27.— Head of A. louhami. \.
Coloration. Male. A black frontal band carried back above each
eye and over the ear-coverts, succeeded below by a silky-white
band through the eye, including the lores and ear-coverts, and
terminating behind in a rufous patch ; below the white are traces
of a black streak ; crown and nape dull ashy g:rey, sides of neck
grey with white zigzag cross-bars ; hind neck and back similar, but
the bars overlaid and partially concealed by vinous red ; lower
back, wings, rump, upper tail-coverts, and middle tail-feathers
sandy grey finely vermiculated with buff, especially on the scapulars
and tertiaries, feathers of the lower back and rump with small
blackish arrowhead-shaped spots along the shafts ; primaries
brown, and, except the first, barred with buff on the outer web ;
secondaries brown, mottled with buff on the outer web arid some-
times on the inner near the shaft; outer tail-feathers brownish
chestnut, more or less pale-tipped ; chin whitish, passing into ashy
grey on the throat, cheeks, and fore neck ; breast vinous buff,
passing into yellowish buff on the abdomen and lower tail-coverts,
the feathers of the upper abdomen with rufous margins, those of
134 PHASIATTID.E.
the flanks whitish, with chestnut inner webs and black margins to
each web.
Females differ in wanting the black and white markings of the
head, which is dull brownish grey irregularly barred with whitish ;
the upper parts are more isabelliue than in the male, the wings
more coarsely marked, and the scapulars blotched with brown ;
there is no grey on the throat nor black and chestnut on the flanks,
the lower parts are barred light brown and buff, the throat is
whitish, the middle of the abdomen with the lower tail-coverts
being entirely buff, and there are bioad but taint oblique streaks
of whitish on the abdomen and flanks.
Bill orange to chestnut ; irides yellow to orange-brown ; legs
wax-yellow ; claws pale brown (Hume).
Length of male about 10; tail 2*5.; wing 5-5; tarsus 1'25; bill
from gape '7. Females are rather smaller : wing 5.
Distribution. The Salt Range and Khariar hills of the Punjab;
Hazara, and all the ranges of the Punjab and Sind west of the
Indus. To the westward this bird ranges throughout Baluchistan,
Afghanistan, and Persia, and is said to have been obtained in
Arabia near Aden.
Habits, Sfc. The Seesee is chiefly found on bare rocky and stony
hillsides, and is commonly seen in ravines, never in forest or thick
bush. It is a bird of hilly deserts. It is usually met with in pairs
even in the winter. Thy call is a soft, clear, double note. The
flight rather resembles a quail's, and the bird rises with a whistle.
This species breeds from April till June, and lays 8 to 12 creamy-
white eggs, measuring about 1*4 by 1'03, in a slight nest on the
ground, often between stones or under a bush. Hume speaks of
Seesee as poor eating, but my experience of them in Siud and
Persia was much more favourable.
Genus FRANCOLINUS, Stephens, 1819.
Tail of 14 feathers, slightly rounded, rather more than half as
long as the wing; the 3rd or 4th quill longest, 5th and 6th nearly
as long. Tarsus usually spurred in males. Sexes similar or dis-
similar.
The Indian birds included in the present genus by Mr. Ogilvie
Grant, whom I have followed, have been by most ornithologists
divided between two genera, Francolinus and Ortyyornis, the Grey
and Kyah Partridges being referred to the latter, which is distin-
guished by having the sexes alike, by different plumage, voice,
and habits. But the sexes are similar in Francolinus pictus, the
habits of the two species referred to Ortygornis have nothing in
common, and there are African forms that tend to connect all the
Indian species with each other. The great majority of the 42
species referred to Francolinus are African, but five species are
found in India or Burma, and some of them range over a great part
of Southern Asia,
FRA.NCOLINUS. 135
Key to the Species.
a. Quills transversely barred or spotted with
butt' on both web.?.
a'. Scapulars with a conspicuous buff .sub-
marginal band.
a". A chestnut collar in males and nuchal
patch in females F. vulyaris, p. 135.
b". No chestnut on neck F. pictus, p. 137.
b' . No submarginal buff band on scapulars. . F. chinensis, p. 138.
b. Quills without transversely elongate spots
or bars.
c. Breast buff, with narrow black cross-bars. F. pondicerianus, p. 139.
d' . Breast brown, with broad longitudinal
white stripes F. t/ularis, p. 141.
1372. Francolinus vulgaris. The Black Partridge or Common
Francolin.
Tetrao francolinus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 275 (1766).
Francolinus vulgaris, Steph. in Shanes Gen. ZooL xi, p. 319 (1819) ;
Blyth, Cat. p. 251 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 558 ; Blanford, J. A. S. B.
xxxvi, pt. 2, p. 200; xxxviii, pt. 2, p. 190; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B.
xxx vii, pt. 2, p. 68; xli, pt. 2, p. 249; Hume, S. F. i, p. 226 ;
Godiv.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xlv, pt. 2, p. 83 ; Butler $ Hume, & F. iv,
p. 5; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 225; Hume, Cat. no. 818; Scully, S. I.
viii, p. 348 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 9, pi. ; Reid, S. F. x,
p. 62 ; Murdoch, ibid. p. 1C8 : Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 307 ; Humt,
S. F. xi, p. 304 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 175 ; Oates in Humes
N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 428.
Francolinus melanonotus, Hume, S. F. xi, p. 305.
Francolinus francoliuus, Oyilvie Grant, Ibis, 1892, p. 38 ; id. Cat.
B. M. xxii, p. 132.
Kala-titar, H. : Kais-titar, $ , Nepal ; Tetra, Garhwal ; Vrembi,
Manipur.
Coloration. Male. Crown blackish brown, the feathers broadly
edged with pale brown and on the nape with white ; sides of head,
with the chin and throat, black, except an elongate white patuli
running back from beneath each eye and including the ear-coverts ;
a broad chestnut collar all round the neck; behind this the upper
back and the sides of the breast are black, the feathers with a
large white spot on each web ; scapulars, interscapulars, tertiaries,
and wing-coverts brown ; each feather with a submarginal tawny
or buff band, nearly or quite continuous, and pale edges ; pri-
maries and secondaries dark brown, with tawny-buff transverse
spots on both webs, forming imperfect bars ; lower back, rump,
upper tail-coverts, and tail-feathers black with narrow white bars,
terminal third of outer tail-feathers unbarred black ; breast and
upper abdomen pure black in old birds ; flanks spotted white like
sides of the breast, but the two- white spots on each feather
coalesce posteriorly ; lower abdomen and thigh-coverts light
chestnut tipped with white ; vent and under tail-coverts pure
dark chestnut.
136
PHASIANIDJE.
Female like the male above, hut paler and duller: the chestnut
on the neck is confined to a patch at the back ; the rump and tail
are brown, with dark-edged buff bars that are wider apart than the
white bars of the male ; sides of head and supercilia buff, the ear-
coverts dark brown ; lower parts buff, chin and throat whitish, the
remainder irregularly barred with brown, the bars on the feathers
waved or arrowhead-shaped and broadest on the flanks. In old
female birds the bars on the lower surface are narrower, and they
tend to disappear on the abdomen.
In young males the black feathers. of the breast have a pair of
subterniinal white spots like those of the sides, and the chm and
throat are mixed with white. Young females have the breast
similarly spotted, not barred.
Bill black in the male, dusky brown in the female ; irides brown ;
legs and feet brownish red to orange.
Length of male about 13-5; tail 4 ; wing 6-i!5 ; tarsus 1-9 ; bill
from gape 1*15. Females are rather smaller, but there is much
variation in size in both sexes. The male has a spur on each
tarsus.
Distribution. The Black Partridge is found in suitable localities
throughout Northern India from the Punjab and Sind to Assam,
Sylhet, Cachar, and Manipur, the southern boundary in India
running south of Cutch and north of Kattywar, thence approxi-
mately through D««sa, Gwalior. and Sambalpur to the Chilka
Lake in Orissa, whilst to the northward this bird ascends the
outer ranges of the Himalayas, and is found along the river-valleys
to about 5000 feet or occasionally higher. This Francolin is not
known to range east or south beyond Manipur, but west of India
it occurs throughout Persia, to Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and
Cyprus, and was formerly found in Greece, Italy, Sicily, and
Spain, though it is now extinct in those countries.
Habits, <jvj. The Black Partridge is most commonly found in the
Indo-Gangetic plain and neighbouring parts of India, where high
grass and tamarisk scrub occur in the neighbourhood of water on
the borders of cultivation. It is found in cultivation away from
jungle and in bush, but less abundantly, and it is always met with
singly or in pairs, never in coveys, except immediately after the
breeding-season. It feeds, like other partridges, on seeds and
insects. The call of the male, especially uttered in the morning
and evening, from an ant-hill or some similar slight elevation, is
harsh, and resembles the crow of a pheasant or jungle-fowl more
than the recapitulated double whistle of most partridges; it has
been imitated in Hindustani by the pious " Subhdn, teri Jcudrat"
(Omnipotent, thy power), and by the vulgar " lahsan,pidj, adrak "
(garlic, onion, ginger), but "juk-julc, tee-tee-tur" or the English
imitation " be quick, pay your debts" come nearer to the five notes
of the cry. The breeding-season is from May to August, chiefly
in June, and from 6 to 10 eggs of a drab or stone colour,
measuring about 1'56 by 1-28, are laid on the ground in a more or
less loosely-constructed nest of straw, grass, roots, or leaves.
FRANCOLINUS. 137
Where abundant the Black Partridge affords excellent shooting,
especially from elephants, and the flesh is gamey and well-
flavoured.
1373. Francoliims pictus. The Painted Partridge.
Perdix picta, Jard. $ Selby, 111. Orn. pi. 50 (1828).
Perdix hepburnii, Gray in Hardw. III. Ind. Zool. \, pi. 55 (1830-32).
Francolinus pictus, Blyth, Cat. p. 251 ; Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 561 ;
Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 383 ; King, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 216 ;
Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 41 5 ; Butler $ Hume, S. F. iv, p. 6 ; v, p. 211 ;
Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 262 ; Ball, S. F. v, p. 419 ; vii, p. 225 ; Hume,
Cat. no. 819; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 19, pi.; Leoge,
Birds Ceyl. p. 744 ; Hume, 8. F. ix, p. 208 : Butler, ibid. p. 422 ;
Vidal, S. F. x, p. 160; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 308; Oates in
Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 430 ; Oailoie Grant, Ibis, 1892,
p. 40 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 133.
Titar, Kala titar, Mahr. ; Kakhera kodi, Tel.
Coloration. Male. Forehead, Supercilia, lores, and sides of head
dull ferruginous red ; crown black with buff edges to the feathers ;
back and sides of neck the same, but the buff edges are broader and
more rufous ; upper back black with white spots ; wing-coverts
blackish brown, with large rufous-buff spots and bars ; scapulars
the same, each with a submarginal buff band ; quills brown, with
transversely broad rufous-buff spots on each web, becoming bars
on the secondaries ; lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and
middle tail-feathers narrowly barred black and white ; outer tail-
feathers the same, but with black ends, which are broader on the
outermost feathers ; chin and throat paler ferruginous than the
cheeks and becoming streaked with black on the fore neck ; breast
and flanks nearly covered with buffy-white spots separated from
each other by black ; lower abdomen dull rufous, passing into
chestnut on the lower tail-coverts.
Females scarcely differ except that the pale bars on the lower
back, rump, and tail are more distant, and buff instead of white;
the throat too is whitish.
Bill blackish ; irides dark brown ; legs yellowish red (Jerdon).
No spurs in either sex.
Length 12; tail 3 ; wing 5-5 ; tarsus 1'7; bill from gape 1*05.
Distribution. The southern limit of Frannolinus vulc/aris is the
northern boundary of the range of the Painted Partridge, which
is common in Guzerat, Khandesh, the Nerbudda valley, and parts
of the Deccan, less common in the Central Indian Agency,
Bundelkhand, Jhansi, Saugor, the Central Provinces, and the
northern parts of the Madras Presidency ; still rarer farther south,
and wanting on the Malabar coast south of Bombay, in Mysore,
and in the peninsula south of Coimbatore. It occurs in Ceylon,
but only, so far as is known, on some of the lower hills of the
Central Province west and south of Nuwara-Elia.
Habits, $c. Similar to those of F. vulgaris, except that the present
species is more commonly found in dry grassy tracts away from
water ; it affects cultivation to a greater extent, and it much more
138
often perches in trees ; the male especially often utters its
call-note, which resembles that of the Black Partridge, but is less
harsh and has a very different tone, from a tree. The nest and
eggs close!}7 resemble those of the Black Partridge ; the breeding-
season is from July to September (June to August according to
Jerdon), and the eggs, usually 7 or 8 in number, are creamy white
to drab in colour, and measure about 1*4 by 1*18.
Where plentiful this Partridge affords good shooting, and it is,
in the cold season, an excellent bird for the table.
On the boundary between the areag inhabited by the Black and
Painted Partridge respectively hybrids between the two have been
found, as at Deesa by Capt. Butler (Hume & Marsh. ' Game Birds,'
ii, p. 25, pi.), and, I think, in Cutch and Kattywar (J. A. S. B.
xxxviii, pt. 2, p. 190 ; xxxix, pt. 2, p. 12 1 ). For the hybrid the name
F. intermedium was suggested by Butler (S. E. v, p. 211), and the
name was at one time accepted by Ogilvie Grant (Ibis, 1892, p. 40).
1374. Francolinus chinensis. The Eastern or Chinese Francolin.
Tetrao chinensis, Osbeck, Voy. China, ii, p. 326 (1771).
Tetrao perlatus, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, 2, p. 758 (1788).
Francolinus perlatus, Steph. in Shaitfs Gen. Zool. xi, p. 325 ; Ander-
son, Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 672.
Perdix phayrei, Blyth, J. A. IS. B. xii, p. 1011 (1843).
Francolinus sinensis, Blyth, Cat. p. 251 ; Wardl.-Rams. Ibis, 1877,
p. 468.
Francolinus phayrei, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxiv, p. 480 ; Bhjth $ Wald.
Birds Burm. p. 149.
Francolinus chinensis, Hume, N. $ E. p. 539 ; id. S. F. iii, p. 171 ;
id. Cat. no. 819 bis ; JBume # Dav. S. F. vi, p. 443 ; Hume $
Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 27, pi. ; Dates, B. B. ii, p. 323 ; id. in
Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 431 ; Ogilvie Grant, Ibis, 1892, p. 39 ;
id. Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 136.
Kkdj Burmese.
Coloration. Male. Middle of crown dark brown, the feathers
pale-edged, a dull rufous or rufous-brow^n band on each side ; fore-
head and a band running back on each side above the eye black, a
second black band from the gape beneath the ear-coverts ; between
the two a white band from the lores beneath the eye and including
the ear-coverts ; neck all round, upper back, and wing-coverts
black with white spots ; scapulars and tertiaries black with buff
spots, and broadly edged and tipped with dull chestnut; quills
brown, with, on both webs, small buff or whitish spots that
become bars on the outer webs of the secondaries ; lower back and
rump black, narrowly and closely barred with white ; tail-coverts
greyish brown, similarly barred ; tail-feathers black, with white
bars on the basal two-thirds ; chin and throat white ; breast and
abdomen with large white spots on a black ground, the spots
increasing in size and becoming broad bars behind ; under tail-
coverts pale chestnut.
The female differs from the male in having the sides of the
head buff, with broken brown superciliary and cheek stripes : the
FEAXCOLINUS. 139
upper plumage brown, with little or no chestnut on the scapulars
and tertiaries, the upper back and scapulars with ill-defined pale
spots and bars, and whitish shafts ; the lower back, rump, and
upper tail-coverts vermiculated with buff and with narrow sub-
distant buff and broad dark brown cross-bands ; chin and throat
sullied white ; breast and abdomen buff, deeper posteriorly, barred
with dark brown, the bars farther apart behind, middle of lower
abdomen unbarred and passing into dull chestnut on the lower
tail-coverts.
Bill dark blackish brown; irides light reddish hazel; eyelids
pale greenish: legs orange (Oates). The male has large spurs.
Length 13; tail 3; wing 5'75 : tarsus 1-7; bill from gape 1.
The female is a little smaller.
Distribution. South China, Cochin China, Siam, and parts of
Burma. This Partridge is common in parts of the Irrawaddy
Valley, north of Prome, and was found in Karennee by Major
"VVardlaw-Bamsay. Specimens are in the British Museum labelled
Toungngoo and Thouuggyen valley.
Habits, $r. Very similar to those of the last two species. This
Erancolin is found in forest-clearings, bamboo jungle, and waste
land. The breeding-season in Burma is in June and July ; the
eggs, sometimes 8 in number, are pale buff, and are laid on the
ground. They measure about 1-5 by 1-2.
1375. Francolinus pondicerianus. The Grey Partridge.
Tetrao pondicerianus, Gin. Syst. Nat, i, 2, p. 760 (1788).
Francolinus pondicerianus, Steph. in Skaiv's Gen. Zool. xi, p. 321 ;
Offilvie Grant, Ibis, 1892, p. 40 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 141.
Perdix orientalis, Gray in Hardw. 111. 2nd. Zool. i, pi. 56, fig. 2
(1830-32).
Perdix ponticeriana, JBli/th, Cat. p. 252.
Ortvgornis ponticeriana, Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 569 ; Hume, S. F. i,
p". 227 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 225.
Ortvgornis pondicerianus, Hume, N. # E. p. 542 ; Hume fy Marsh.
Game B. ii, p. 51, pi.: iii, p. 434; Hume, Cat. no. 822; Leyc/e,
Birds Ceyl. p. 748 : Butler, 8. F. ix, p. 422 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 62 ;
Daw'son, ibid. p. 410 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 311 ; Oates in Humes
N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 435.
Titar, Ram-titar, Gora-titar, Safed-titar, H. ; Jirufti, P. ; Khyr,
J5eng., Uriya ; Gowjal-huki, Can. ; Kondari, Tarn. ; Kawunzu, Tel. ;
Oussa-watuwa, Cing.
Coloration. Crown and nape brown, forehead rufous, super-
ciliary band and sides of head pale rufous, speckled with black on
the lores and below the eye ; ear-coverts darker and browner ;
back, scapulars, and wing-coverts light greyish brown, mixed with
chestnut, banded transversely, rather distantly, with buffy white,
the borders of the white bands dark brown, shafts of the feathers
whitish, especially on the scapulars and coverts; quills brown,
outer webs frequently with whitish spots, secondaries banded with
whitish ; upper tail-coverts and middle tail-feathers brown, finely
vermiculated with buff, and with buffy-white cross-bars having
140 PIIASIANIDJ?.
blackish borders ; outer tail-coverts chestnut, shading towards the
ends into dark brown, pale-tipped ; chin and throat whitish to
rufous buff, surrounded by a broken blackish-brown band; re-
mainder of lower parts buff with narrow, rather irregular,
Fig. 28.— Head of F. pondiccrianus.
transverse bars, that are partly or wholly wanting on the middle
of the abdomen, vent, and lower tail-coverts.
Sexes alike in colour.
Bill dusky plumbeous ; irides hazel-brown : legs dull red (Jer-
don).
Length of a male about 12*5; tail 3-5; wing 5'5; tarsus 1*6 ;
bill from gape '9. Females are rather smaller. The male has
a sharp, well-developed spur on the tarsus.
Distribution. Common throughout India, except in thick forests,
and ranging westward through Southern Afghanistan, Baluchistan,
and Southern Persia to the Persian Gulf. The eastern limit of
this Partridge's range is approximately the eastern border of the
hilly country from Midnapur to B-ajmehal and a line thence north-
wards to the Himalayas. The species is wanting in Lower Bengal
and in all countries to the eastward, and is also unknown in the
Malabar coastlands south o£ Bombay. It is found near the coast
in Northern Ceylon, but not in the interior and southern parts of
the island. It is seldom found, either in the peninsula or on the
Himalayas, much more than 1500 feet above the sea.
Habits, (${c. The common Grey Partridge of India is most abun-
dant in tracts where the country is half cultivated, and patches of
bush jungle are interspersed amongst fields and villages. It avoids
forests and swampy grounds. It is often found in coveys at the
commencement of the cold season, but pairs early. Its call, uttered
in the mornings and evenings, is one of the familiar Indian bird-
sounds, beginning with two or three single harsh notes, and
continuing with a succession of trisyllabic, shrill, ringing cries. It
feeds on seeds and insects, arid is probably at times a foul feeder,
though, as Jerdon correctly says, it is often unjustly accused. On
account of its running habits, it is held in poor account by sports-
men, though its flight is very strong and steady. As a bird for
the table, it is dry, but if killed early in the cold season, before
pairing, it is by no means so deficient in flavour as it has by some
writers been represented to be. The principal breeding-season is
FEA.NCOLIXUS. 141
from February to May or June, but many pairs lay a second time
between September and November ; the eggs, six to nine in
number, are spotless white, tinged with pale brownish, measure
about 1'3 by 1*03, and are laid in a hollow in the ground, generally
situated beside a bush or tuft of grass, and as a rule more or less
lined with grass.
This bird is often kept in cages by natives of India, either on
account of its call, or, by Mahommedans especially, for fighting
purposes. The cocks are very pugnacious, and the methods of
capturing them are due to this circumstance, a tame cock being
placed out as a decoy, often in a cage, and the wild birds captured in
nooses or a net when they approach to fight it.
1376. Francolinus gularis. The Kyali or Swamp-Partridye.
Perdix gularis, Temm. Pig. et Gall, iii, pp. 401, 731 (1815) ; Gray in
Hardw. 111. Ind. ZooJ. i, pi. 56, fig. 1 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 251.
Francolinus gularis, G. _R. Gray, List Sp. B. iii, p. 34 ; Oyilvie
Grant, Ibis, 1892, p. 46 ; id. Cat. 13. M. xxii, p. 158.
Ortygornis gularis, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 572 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B.
xxxix, pt. 2, p. 273 ; xlv. pt. 2, p. 83 ; Hume # Marsh. Game B.
ii, p. 59, pi.; Hume, Cat. no. 823; Hume fy Inglis, S. F. ix,
p. 258 ; Hume 8f Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 305 ; Gates in Hume's N.
Sf E. iii, p. 437.
Kyah, Khyr, Kaijah, Beng. ; Koi, Koera, Assam ; Bhil-titar, Cachar.
Coloration. Crown and nape brown ; superciliary stripe and a
broader baud below the eye and ear-coverts whitish buff; a brown
band through the eye including the ear-coverts ; upper parts
brown, more rufous in patches, marked throughout with transverse
black-edged buff bars ; scapulars, tertiaries, and wing-coverts with
whitish shafts ; primaries brown, passing into chestnut towards
the base ; secondaries the same, but the inner quills becoming
barred with buff like the upper parts ; middle tail-feathers
brownish, mottled with black, and with traces of buff cross-bauds,
outer tail-feathers dull brownish chestnut with pale tips ; chin,
throat, and fore neck ferruginous red ; rest of lower parts brown
with broad white streaks or dashes, edged with black, and increas-
ing in breadth behind, occupying the middle of each feather ; lower
tail-coverts pale rufous, feathers around vent still paler. Sexes
alike, but the male is distinguished by having a spur on each
tarsus.
Bill blackish ; irides brown ; legs dull red (Jerdon}.
Length about 15 ; tail 4-25 ; wing 7'25 ; tarsus 2-25 ; bill from
gape 1. Females are rather less.
Distribution. The alluvial plain of the Ganges and Brahmaputra,
from the extremity of Assam and Cachar to the ]N.W. Provinces
(Pilibhit), but not in the Sundarbans. Godwin-Austen notices the
occasional occurrence of this Partridge on the Khasi plateau.
Habits, $c. The Kyah is found in high-grass jungle and cane
brakes, chiefly near the edges of rivers and j heels, and may be met
142 PHASIAXID.E.
with in cultivation on the borders of grass jungle when feeding
in the mornings and evenings. The call of this fine Partridge
resembles that of the last species. Very little is known of the
breeding ; five pale creamy (cafe-au-lait), slightly speckled eggs
were taken by Mr. Rainey in Jessore on April 13th on the ground
in grass jungle, in a rather neatly constructed grass nest. These
eggs measure about 1-47 by 1-2. Five eggs, half incubated, were
also taken by Mr. Cripps in Assam on April 12th.
This bird is usually shot from elephants, but I have shot it on
foot in grass 3 or 4 feet high near Colgong. For the table it much
resembles F. pondicerianus.
Genus PEBDIX, Brisson, 1760.
The common European Partridge is the type of this genus,
in which are also included three Central Asiatic species; one of
these inhabits Tibet and occurs just within Indian limits.
The tail is of 16 or 18 feathers (16 in the Tibetan species), rather
more than half the length of the wing and slightly rounded. The
4th primary is usually the longest. There is no spur on the tarsus
in either sex.
1377. Perdix hodgsoniae. The Tibetan Partridge.
Sacfa hodgsoniae, Hodgs. J. A. S. B. xxv, p. 165, pi. (1857).
Perdix hodjrsoniae, Gould, Birds Asia, vi, pi. 74 ; Adams, P. Z. S.
1858, p. 503 ; 1859, p. 185 ; Cock $ Marsh. S. F. i, p. 349 ; Hume,
N. $ E. p. 544 ; id. S. F. vii, p. 432 ; id. Cat. no. 823 bis ; Hume
Sf Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 65, pi. ; iii, p. 434, pi. iii (egg) ; Oates
in Hume's N. $ K 2nd ed. iii, p. 438 ; Off il vie Grant, Cat. B. M.
xxii, p. 193.
Sakpha, Tibetan.
Coloration. Sinciput chestnut ; occiput and nape brown, each
feather with a triangular buff terminal spot ; forehead buffy white,
edged with black in front and behind ; lores, supercilia, and cheeks
also buffv white ; a large black spot below the eye, with a white
band behind it that merges into the buff throat and chin ; the
sides of head and throat bordered by a broken black band ; ear-
coverts brown ; hind neck and sides of neck dull chestnut, forming
a collar ; back and rump buffy grey, the upper back distinctly barred
transversely with blackish brown, but farther back the bars are
scattered and the feathers vermiculated with black; scapulars,
wing-coverts, and tertiaries mixed grey and dark chestnut or black,
with buff transverse bars and with conspicuous white or buff black-
edged shaft-stripes ; quills brown, with rather irregular transverse
buff bars, rufous buff on the inner webs, secondaries with buffy
white shaft-stripes ; middle tail-feathers whitish with very wavy
and irregular black cross-bands, outer tail-feathers chestnut wit'h
the tips buff, spotted with black ; breast buffy white, each feather
with a subterminal black bar, a patch of feathers in the middle of
the lower surface black with whitish edges ; flanks buff, broadly
TETRAOGALLUS. 143
barred with dull chestnut, and with the tips of the feathers vermi-
culated with black ; lower abdomen and under tail-coverts buff.
Sexes alike.
In a young bird the plumage is brown, blackish on the crown
and scapulars, pale below7, the feathers with buffy-white bars and
shaft-stripes almost throughout the upper parts and on the breast.
Bill and legs horn-green ; orbital skin reddish (Hodgson).
Length about 12; tail 3-6; wing 6*3; tarsus 1*7; bill from
gape -8.
Distribution. The Tibetan plateau north of Sikhim and Nepal
and as far west as Hanle, but not so far as Ladak, at 14,000-18,000
feet elevation. A specimen was once obtained by Mr. Wilson iii
the Bbagirathi valley, just south of the Snowy Range, but the
statement in the British Museum Catalogue that this bird has
been found at Darjeeling is due to an erroneous label. The
Partridge from Kansu, east of Tibet, distinguished by Prjevalski
and Ogilvie Grant as P. sifanica, wants the black patch on the
breast.
Habits, fyc. Probably very similar to those of the common
European Partridge, the call, according to Hume, being nearly
the same. Ten fresh eggs of a pale drab colour were found by
Major Barnes on July 12th near the Pangong Lake ; one of these
measured 1-77 by 1'2.
Genus TETRAOGALLUS, Gray, 1833.
The Snowr-Cocks are fine birds, much exceeding all the true
Partridges in size. Six species are known, all confined to the
higher ranges of Central and Western Asia, and of these two are
found in the Himalayas. The tarsus is not feathered except quite
at the base ; that of the male is armed with a stout spur. A naked
elongate space extends behind the eye. The tail, of 20 to 22
feathers, is much rounded at the end and nearly J the length of
the wing ; 2nd primary longest, 1st a little shorter. Sexes alike
in plumage or differing slightly.
Key to the Species.
a. Lower breast and abdomen dark grey T. himalayemis, p. 143.
b. Lower breast and abdomen white with black
streaks , T. tibetanus, p. 144.
1378. Tetraogallus himalayensis. The Himalayan Snow-Cock.
Tetraogallns hima.layensis, G. R. Gray, P. Z. S. 1842, p. 105 ; BJyth,
Cat. p. 248 ; Adams, P. Z. 8. 1858, p. 501 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 549 ;
Stoliczka, J. A. 8. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 68 ; Hume 8f Marsh. Game
B. i, p. *267, pi. ; iii, p. 433, pi. iii (egg; ; Hume, Cat. no. 816;
Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 93 ; Scully, ibid. p. 586 ; C. H. T. Marshall,
Ibis, 1884, p. 423; Marshall, Fairbrother, # Bruce, S. F ix.
p. 207 ; Gates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 426 ; Sharpe,
Yarkand Miss., Arcs, p. 123, pi. xv ; Oyilrie Grant, Cat. B. Mf
xxii, p. 106.
144
Kullu, Lupu, Baera, Western Nepal : Huinwal, Kiimaun ; Jcr-monal,
hills N. of Mussooree ; Leep, Kulu ; Galound, Chamba ; Gourkayu.,
Kubuk, Kashmir ; Kabk-i-dara, P. (Afghanistan) ; Snow-Pheasant of
Himalayan sportsmen.
Coloration. Forehead and supercilia buffy white ; crown and
hind neck ashy grey, sides of head the same but paler ; sides of neck
and the chin and throat white ; a chestnut streak from behind each
eye expands into a broad patch on each side of the nape, and a
deep-coloured chestnut gorget runs round the throat; upper
back buffy grey, slightly mottled ; rest of upper plumage black,
finely vermiculated with buff ; feathers of lower back, rump, and
scapulars broadly edged on both sides with buff, and the median
and greater secondary wing-coverts with chestnut ; primaries
white, with long ashy-brown ends which increase in length on the
secondaries, and are vermiculated with rufous buff towards the
tips ; middle tail-feathers like the back, but without buff edges,
outer tail-feathers chestnut towards the tips ; upper breast greyish
white, with subterminal broad black bars (sometimes wanting) to
the feathers, then a band of pure white ; lower breast and abdomen
blackish grey, finely vermiculated with buff ; the sides of the chest
and the flanks purer grey, the feathers edged \\ith chestnut inside
and with black outside ; vent and lower tail-coverts white.
Bill pale horny ; irides dark brown ; naked skin behind eye
yellow ; legs yellowish red.
Length of male about 28; tail 8; wing 12; tarsus 2-7; bill
from gape 1*45 ; length of female about 22*5, tail 7, wing 11.
Distribution. The Himalayas west from Kumaun at about 11,000
to 18,000 feet in summer, lower in winter; also in Afghanistan
and in various ranges north of the Himalayas to the Altai.
Habits, $'c. An admirable account is given by Mr. Wilson
(' Mountaineer '), who is quoted by both Jerclon and Hume. This
bird keeps near to the snow-line, on rocks and bare ground,
generally in flocks of from 5 or 6 to 30. It feeds on grass, herbs,
small bulbs, and seeds. Its call is a soft whistle. It breeds at
high elevations from May to July, and lays usually about 5, some-
times more, eggs, which are long ovals, stone-coloured, thinly
speckled with brown, and measure about 2-72 by 2-85.
1379. Tetraogallus tibetanus. The Tibetan Snow-Code.
Tetraogallus tibetanus, Gould, P. Z. S. 1853, p. 47 ; Stoliczka,
J. A. S. B. xxxvii. pt. 2, p. 68 ; Stanford, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2,
p. 72 ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. i, p. 275, pi. ; Hume, S. F. vii,
p. 430 ; id. Cat. no. 816 his ; Sharpe, Yarkand Miss., Aves, p. 123 j
Oyilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 104.
Hrak-pa, Bhot. ( Sikh i in).
Coloration. Sides of forehead, ear-coverts, chin, and throat
white ; remainder of head and neck dark grey, slightly speckled
with whitish, and passing into the paler, more buffy, finely vermi-
culated upper back ; lower back, scapulars, tertiaries, and wing-
coverts blackish grey, finely vermiculated with buff, and broadly
LEKWA. 145
streaked with buffy white or in some birds darker buff, from the
feathers having broad buff edges ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and
middle rail-feathers more rufous, more coarsely verrniculated, and
without whitish spots ; primaries and secondaries greyish brown,
without white at the base ; inner primaries and the secondaries
white-tipped, and the white running up the outer web in the
secondaries ; outer tail-feathers blackish brown with rufous tips ;
upper breast white, like throat, but divided from the lower breast
by a dark grey band ; remainder of lower parts white with broad
black streaks, broadest on the flanks.
It appears almost certain that the two sexes are alike when adult,
except that the male has a thick spur. In immature birds the upper
breast and sides of the neck are dark grey speckled and vermicular ed
with pale buff, the white being restricted to the chin and middle
of the throat ; the lower border of the upper breast is purer grey.
Still younger birds have the upper plumage much spotted and
mottled, and they want the black marks on the lower parts.
Bill dull red ; irides brown ; orbits red ; legs red. The bill is
said by Hume to be greenish horny in females, but they were
perhaps immature.
Length of male about 20 ; tail 7 ; wing 1O5 ; tarsus 2*4 ; bill
from gape 1'3 : female rather less.
Distribution. The higher Tibetan plateaus and some of the ranges
around Yarkarid and Kashghar. Within Indian limits this species
has been found in Ladak, at the head of the Spiti valley, and in
very high tracts in Kurnaun and Sikhim.
Habits, tyc. Similar to those of T. himalayensis ; but this species
keeps to even higher elevations, rarely, if ever, descending below
15,000 feet in summer. Nidification unknown.
Genus LERWA, Hodgs., 1837.
A single species, almost restricted to the higher Himalayas,
constitutes this genus. The plumage is peculiar, barred above, and
marked below with large elongate chestnut spots that coalesce 011
the breast. The tarsus is feathered in front for half its length ;
the tail, of 14 feathers, is rounded at the end, and is rather more
than half the length of the wing ; the 1st primary is normally about
equal to the 3rd and very little shorter than the 2nd, which is
longest. Sexes alike in plumage ; the male has a blunt spur on
the tarsus.
1380. Lerwa nivicola. The Snow-Partridge.
Perdix lerwa, Hodgs. P. Z. S. 1833, p. 107.
Lerwa nivicola, Hodgs. Madr. Jour. L. S. v, p. 301 (1837) ; B.yth,
Cat. p. 248 ; Jerdon, E. I. iii, p. 555 j Stoliczka, J. A. 8. B. xxxvii,
pt. 2, p. 68 ; Blan/ord, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 72 ; Hume, Cat.
no. 817 ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 1, pi. ; Oates in Hume's
N. 4 E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 428.
Lerwa lerwa, Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 100.
YOL. IV. L
146
Lerwa, Bhotia ; Jt.nguria. Kuraaun ; Quoir or Kur Monal, Garlnval,
&c. ; Golabi, Uhair, Tcr Titar, Bashahr, &c. ; Barf-ka Titar, Kulu ; Jtiju,
Chamba.
Coloration. Head and neck all round and \vhole upper plumage
closely barred with black and buffy white, the pale bauds broad
and rufous on the tertiaries and scapulars ; primaries and second-
aries brown, the inner primaries speckled with whitish on tho
edges and tipped white, the secondaries broadly tipped and more
Fig. 29.— Head of L. nivicola. j.
speckled with white, and the inner secondaries barred with white
near the ends; tail black with mottled white bars; breast deep
chestnut, the feathers towards the base dark brown with white
edges ; abdomen similar, but the white margins are broader and
much more conspicuous, and the feathers have subterminal black
bars, the white edges are broadest on the flanks ; lower flanks and
feathers around vent barred brown and rufous white ; under tail-
coverts chestnut, with black shaft-stripes and buffy-white tips.
In young birds the chestnut of the lower parts is mottled and
tipped with black, and the barring is less distinct throughout.
Bill bright red ; irides brown ; feet deep red.
Length about 15; tail 4'5 ; wing 7*75; tarsus 1-5; bill from
gape -9.
Distribution. The higher ranges of the Himalayas from Kashmir
to Bhutan and farther east, at elevations of 10,000 to 14,000 feet
in summer, lower in winter, also in Moupin and West Se-chuen,
China.
Habits, $c. This bird somewhat resembles a Ptarmigan, and is
found in coveys or small flocks in autumn and winter, and in pairs
in spring, on rocky or stony slopes, amongst stunted herbage above
the forest line, except when driven down by the winter's snow.
It has a peculiar shrill whistle, by which its presence is often made
known, for when unmolested it is a comparatively tame bird. The
young are hatched about the end of June at elevations between
12,000 and 15,000 feet, the eggs being large and white, freckled all
over with reddish brown. There are usually six or seven young
in each brood. This is one of the best Asiatic game birds lor the
table.
MEGAPOI>IID,E. 147
Suborder PERISTEROPODES.
The inner posterior notch on each side is less than half the
length of the sternum. Hallux, or hind toe, on the same level as
the other toes, and its basal phalanx as long as that of the third or
middle toe.
Two families, each sometimes classed as a suborder, are com-
prised— the Meyapodiidce,, with a nude oil-gland, and the Craddce,
which are peculiar to South and Central America, and have a
tufted oil-gland like other Grallinae ; only the first requires notice
here.
Family MEGAPODIID^E.
Besides the nude oil-gland, the most remarkable character of this
family is the mode of nidification described below. The young
are hatched fully feathered and able to fly almost at once.
There are several genera inhabiting Australia, New Guinea,
Celebes, and the neighbouring islands ; only Meyapodius has a
wider range.
Genus MEGAPODIUS, Qnoy & Gairn., 1824.
Bill moderate ; nostrils large, oval, longitudinally elongate ;
legs and feet large, claws very long and nearly straight, claw of
the middle toe as long as the culmen. Wings rounded, the 1st
primary equal to the 10th or a little longer ; secondaries as long as
primaries. Tail short and rounded, of 12 feathers.
About fifteen species are known, ranging from the Friendly
Islands and Australia to the Philippines and Celebes. One species
is found far west of the other members of the genus in the JSTicobar
Islands.
1381. Megapodius nicobariensis. The Nicobar Megapode.
Megapodius nicobariensis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv, pp. 52, 372 (1846) ;
'id. Cat.y. 239; Pelzeln, Novara Reise, Vocj. p. 110, pis. iv, vi,
fig-. 12 (egpr) ; Sail, J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 32 ; id. 8. F. i,
p. 82 ; Hume, S. F. i', p. 313 ; ii, pp. 276, 499 ; id. Cat. no. 803 oct. ;
Hume fy Marsh. Game B. i, p. 119, pi, ; iii, p. 428, pi. ii (eg#);
Oates in Hume's N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 449 ; Ogilvie Grant, Cat.
B. M. xxii, p. 447.
Megapodius trinkntensis, Sharpe, A. M. N. H. (4) xiii. p. 448 :
Walden, A. M. A7. H. (4) xiv, p. 163.
Coloration. Sides of the crown behind the eyes, sides of head
behind ears, and the nape ashy grey ; upper parts, including wings
and tail, rufescent brown with an olive tinge ; chin and throat pale
grey, remainder of lower parts greyish brown.
12
148
Younger birds are rufous brown beneath, only the chiu and
throat being greyish. ••
Bill light greenish to yellowish ; lores and sides of head red ;
irides brown ; tarsus and toes dark horny, sometimes greenish in
front ; back and sides of tarsi and tibio-tarsal joint dull red ; soles
pale carneous, sometimes pale yellow (Hume).
Length 16 ; tail 3; wing 9 ; tarsus 2'75 ; bill from £ape 1-25.
Fig. 30. — Head of M. nicobaricnsis.
Distribution. The Nicobar Islands. No Megapodes occur at the
Andamans, but some are said to have been seen at Table Island iri
the Cocos, where Hume found some hillocks that might have been
old nest-mounds.
Habits, $c. This Megapode keeps near the sea- shore in scrub
and jungle, and is found in pairs, or in flocks that may contain at
times 30 to 50 birds. It runs rapidly, and does not take flight
till pressed, and it has a cackling call. It feeds on land-mollusca
and insects, with vegetable substances. Like other members of the
genus, these Megapodes lay their eggs in a large mound built by
themselves of vegetable matter covered with sand, the heat pro-
duced by the decay of dead leaves &c. apparently sufficing for
incubation. The eggs are elongate ovals, very large for the size
of the bird, ruddy pink when first laid, and they measure about
3'25 by 3*07. These birds are delicious eating.
Order XV. HEMIPODII.
This order contains a group of birds resembling Quails in size
and appearance, and to a considerable extent in plumage, but
distinguished (so far, at least, as Indian forms are concerned) by
wanting the hallux and by having only the three anterior toes.
The Hemipodii differ in several important anatomical characters
from the G-allinse (see Huxley, P. Z. 8. 1868, p. 303). The
vertebrae are all free, whereas in both Grallinae and Pterocletes the
last cervical and anterior dorsals are always anchylosed in adults,
and the last dorsal is united with the lumbar vertebrae to form
the sacrum. The sternum of Hemipodii has a single deep notch,
about two-thirds of the whole length, on each side of the posterior
border, and the episternal process is incompletely perforated to
receive the inner ends of the coracoids. The palate is schizo-
gnathous, but the palatines, pterygoids, and basipterygoids are
Pluvialine rather than Gralline in form. The nasals are schizo-
rhinal.
As in other three-toed birds, the deep plantar tendons in Turnix
unite and the combined tendon is divided to supply the three
anterior digits. The anibiens is present, and so are the other
muscles of the thigh, except the accessory femoro-caudal, which
is wanting. The left carotid only occurs in the genus Turnix.
In other characters members of this order resemble the Gallinae.
They are quincubital and possess a tufted oil-gland and 14 to 15
cervical vertebrae. The young are hatched covered with down,
which is marked with a coloured pattern, and they run as soon as
they leave the egg.
This order contains two genera or generic groups — Turnix, with
three toes, found throughout the warmer parts of the Old World,
including Australia ; and Pedionomus, with four toes, peculiar to
Australia, and classed by many writers in a distinct family.
Family TURNICID^E.
Genus TURNIX, Bonn., 1790.
Bill moderate, somewhat slender, straight, compressed. Nostrils
elongate, horizontal, linear. Wings pointed, 1st quill generally
longest in Indian species. Tarsus moderate ; no hind toe, the three
anterior toes much longer in proportion in some species than in
others.
None of the species are truly migratory, though, as with many
other resident birds, some species wander at particular seasons
into localities which they do not inhabit throughout the year.
150 TUKNICIDJE.
Key to the /Species.
a. Bill plumbeous or slaty.
a'. Larger: breast barred black and white;
throat and middle of breast black in
adult females T. pugnax, p. 151.
V. Smaller, wing never exceeding 3 : middle
of breast buff without black T. dussumieri, p. 152.
b. Bill partly or wholly yellow ; middle of breast
buff without any black.
<?'. Wing 3 to 3-o.
a". Back in adults brown with slight black
vermiculation ; rufous confined to
collar T. tanki, p. 153.
I". Back in adults with bold black and
rufous markings , T. albiventris, p. 154.
d'. Wing 3-5 to 4 T. blanfordi, p. 155.
The habits of all the three-toed Quails are very similar. They
live chiefly in grass or low bush, only emerging into bare places.
such as roads, in the morning and evening ; they are solitary, as a
rule, and although far from rare, are seldom seen, except when
disturbed by men walking through the grass. The bird then rises
at the man's feet, flies with much the flight of a Common Quail
for a short distance, often not more than 10 or 15 yards, and then
drops once more into the grass, whence it can very seldom be
flushed a second time. Dogs may often catch these birds alive, as,
after one flight, they lie still and allow themselves to be captured in
preference to flying. The food of all species consists principally
of small seeds ; small insects and tips of grass and leaves are also
eaten.
Throughout the genus the females are larger, and in several
species they are more brilliantly coloured than the males. In the
only species of which the breeding-habits are well known. T.pugnax,
the birds pair, but still the ordinary conduct of the sexes during
the period of incubation is reversed, for the male alone sits on the
eggs and tends the young brood, whilst the females wander about,
utter a purring call, that serves as a challenge, and fight each
other. Jerdon has described how a hen is used as a decoy in the
Carnatic, and other hens captured by means of a trap-cage when
they approach to fight her. A similar device is employed in
Bengal near Calcutta, as recently noticed by Mr. Munn. Only
females are thus caught and only in the breeding- season, the birds,
after they are taken, often laying their eggs in the basket or bag
in which they are placed.
The eggs appear to be usually four in number, occasionally
more numerous, broad ovals, generally pointed towards one end,
and double- spotted — that is, they are stone-coloured, whitish, or
yellowish, with two sets of coloured spots differing in tint and
distribution. They are laid in a hollow on the ground, which is
generally under a bush or beside a tuft of grass, and sometimes
lined with grass.
TURNIX. 151
1382. Turnix pugnax. The Bustard-Quail.
Ilemipodius pugnax, Temm. Pig. et Gall, iii, pp. 612, 754 (1815).
Hemipodius pugnax et taigoor, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 155.
Hemipodius plumbipes, Hodgs. Beng. Sport. Mag., May 1837, p. 346.
Hemipodius atrogularis, Eyton, P. Z. S. 1839, p. 107.
Turnix ocellatus, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 255; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 507 ;
Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. 2, p. 174 (nee Scop.).
Turnix taigoor, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 595 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli,
pt. 2, p. 250 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 7 ; v, p. 231 ; ix, p. 424 ; Ball,
S. F. vii, p. 226; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 169, pi.;
Hume, Cat. no. 832 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 761 ; Vidal, S. F. ix
B. M. XXll, p.
Munn, Ibis, 1894, p. 74 (with figure of chick).
Turnix puguax, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 161 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxix,
pt. 2, p. 333; Hume $ Gates, S. F. iii, p. 178; Hume, N. $ E.
p. 553; Oyilvie Grant, Ibis, 1889, p. 458; id. (T. taigooris
subsp.) Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 534.
Turnix plumbipes, Blyth fy Wold. Birds Burm. p. 152; Hume fy
Dav. S. F. vi, pp. 450, 521 ; Hume, Cat. no. 833 ; Scully, S. F.
•viii, p. 350 ; Gammie, ibid. p. 453 ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. ii,
p. 177, pi. : Oates, B. B. ii, p. 337 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 310.
Gulu, Gundlu, Salui-gundru, H. ; Koladu <J , Pured 2 , Tel. ; Ankddeh J ,
Kurung Kadeh $ , Tarn. ; Dune a, liatnagiri : Kdre-haki, Can. (Mysore);
Timok, Lepcha ; Ngon, Burm.
Fig. 31.— Head of T. pvgnax, $ . ^
Coloration. Male. Greneral colour of upper parts brown, varying
from bright chestnufc to dark greyish ; a more or less distinct pale
stripe down the middle of the crown ; supercilia, lores, and sides
of head whitish, more or less speckled with black; feathers of
crown black with brown or rufous edges, many of the dorsal
feathers irregularly banded black and rufous and more or less
edged on each side with white or whitish, generally having a black
inner border, so as to form longitudinal bands or spots that are
excessively variable ; wing-coverts in part broadly barred black
and buffy white ; quills dark brown ; outer webs of primaries with
buffy- white borders, outer webs of secondaries with rufous or buff
indentations ; chin and throat whitish ; breast barred black and
buff; rest of lower parts brownish buff. In immature birds the
black bars on the breast are represented by broad subterminal spots
on the feathers.
Female. The chin, throat, and a variable area in the middle of
TURXICID/E.
the breast are black ; feathers of the sides of the head and of the
median coronal band distinctly edged with black. Otherwise like
the male.
Young birds show more markings, and especially more buff
longitudinal lines, on the upper surface.
Bill dark slaty ; irides pale yellow ; legs plumbeous (Jerdon).
Length of male 6; tail 1-1; wing 3-2; tarsus -9; bill from
gape -65. Length of female 6-5 ; tail 1'3 ; wing 3'5.
By Jerdon and Hume the Himalayan and Burmese race of this
Hemipode was separated as T. oceUatus or T. plumbipes from the
Indian form, T. taigoor. The latter" is much more rufous, the
former greyer and darker. Birds from Sikhim are especially dark
and rather large. The rufous birds, too, appear to retain the buff
lines and spots on the back more than the dark Eastern specimens.
Mr. Ogilvie Grant, who, like Blyth, unites the two, has shown
that the dark birds are found in localities where the rainfall is
heavy, but some rufous specimens are from the South Konkan.
Undoubtedly, however, the two pass completely into each
other some Burmese specimens are identical with Indian ; and
although Mr. Grant keeps certain Japanese and Ceylonese skins as
a distinct subspecies called T. pugnax, on account of a tendency to
a rufous collar in the female, the difference appears of no specific
importance, for the Ceyloneso birds are very similar to some from
8. India. I follow Blyth and unite all these races. The true
T. ocellata proves to be a Philippine species.
Distribution. Throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma, except on
the higher hills, in dense forests, and in deserts. This species has
not been observed in Sind or the Punjab, though it occurs in
Cutch and Rajputana. It ascends the Eastern Himalayas to
about 7000 feet, but it has not been met with at so great an
elevation to the westward, and in Southern India and Ceylon it
keeps chiefly to the plains and lower hills. Beyond Indian limits
it ranges to the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Siam, Southern
China, Formosa, and the Loo-choo Islands.
Habits, <Sfc. The principal habits have been described under the
genus. The breeding-season in most parts of India and Burma is
in the rainy season, but in Ceylon from February to May, according
to Legge. The hollow in the ground used as a nest is sometimes
without lining, sometimes lined and covered above with a slight
dome of dry grass, and with a lateral entrance. The eggs, four
(sometimes more) in number, are greyish striped with reddish, and
usually blotched with brown, and measure about '94 by '78.
1383. Turnix dussumieri. The Little Button-Quail.
Hemipodius dussumieri, Temm. PL Col pi. 454, fig. 2 (1828).
Uemipodius sykesi, Smith, III. Zool. S. Afr.ii, notes to pi, 10 (1838).
Turnix dussumieri, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 161 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 227 ;
TURXIX. 153
S. F. ix, p. 77 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 64 ; Oates, E. B. ii, p. 336 ; Barnes.
Birds Bom. p. 319; Ogiloie Grant, Ibis, 1889, p. 462; id. Cat.
B. M. xxii, p. 540; Oates in Humes N. ty E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 371.
Turnix sykesi, Blyth, Cat. p. 256 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 600 ; King,
J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 216; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xliii,
pt. 2, p. 174.
Ghinwa Lawa, Chota Law a, Dabki, Tura, Chimndj CMuttra), Libbia
(Purneah), H. ; Darwi, Ratnagiri ; Chinna (or Telia) dabbaywidlu, Tel. ;
San yundlu, Uriya.
Tail-feathers elongate and pointed.
Coloration. Crown black and brown mixed, a buffy-white median
line ; supercilia and sides of head bully white, more or less speckled
with black ; back of neck ferruginous red to rufous brown, with
buff edges to the feathers ; back-feathers closely but irregularly
barred black and rufous with traces of whitish edges ; the rump
and upper tail-coverts the same but darker ; scapulars and wing-
coverts rufous and black with conspicuous broad buff edges ;
quills brown, outer primaries with buff outer borders ; chin, throat,
and abdomen almost white ; middle of breast brownish buff, sides
of breast lighter buff, with heart-shaped black or black-and-chestnut
spots. There is very little, if any, difference in the two sexes
except in size.
Bill plumbeous ; irides pale yellow ; legs fleshy whitish (Jerdon).
Length of female 5'5 ; tail 1*3 ; wing2'9 ; tarsus '75 ; bill from
gape '53. Males are a little smaller.
Distribution. The greater part of India and Burma, becoming rarer
to the southward, and not known to occur south of Mysore nor in
Ceylon. This species is found in Sind and the Punjab to the Salt
Eange, throughout the Indo-Grangetic plain and Lower Himalayas
up to, in places, about 6000 feet elevation, and it has been recorded
from the Khasi hills, Manipur, and Pegu, but not from Tenasserirn.
To the eastward it is met with in Hainan and .Formosa.
Habits, $c. Though generally a resident, the small Button-Quail
is believed to visit Kajputana, Siud, and open parts of the Deccan
only in the rains. It breeds from April to October, according to
locality, and lays usually 4, sometimes 5 or 6, eggs in a small
depression on the ground lined with grass. The eggs are stone-
coloured, minutely speckled with brownish and with larger spots of
darker brown, and they measure about '85 by *65.
1384. Turnix tanki. The Indian Button-Quail.
Turnix tanki (Buck. Ham.}, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii, p. 180* (1843) ;
id. Ibis, 1867, p. 161; Ogiloie Grant, Ibis, 1889, p. 466; id. Cat.
B. M. xxii, p. 544 ; Gates in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii^p. 370.
llemipodius joudera, Hodys. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 85 (1844),
descr. nulla.
Turnix dussumieri, apud Blytli, Cat. p. 256 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 599 ;
Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. 2, p. 174 ; nee Temm.
Turnix joiidera, Butler, S. F. iv, p. 8 ; v, p. 231 ; ix, p. 424 ; Hume,
S. F.\\, p. 225 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 226 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B.
154 TUBXICID^.
ii, p. 187, pi. ; Hume, Cat. no. 834 ; Reid, S. I. x,p. 64 ; Damson,
•ibid. p. 412; Terry, ibid. p. 479; Taylor, ibid. p. 529; Barnes,
Birds Bom. p. 318.
Lawd, Lawd-butai, H. ; Pedda daba-gundlu, Tel.
Coloration. Male. Sides of crown blackish, the feathers with
light brown margins, mesial line of crown and forehead generally
pale ; supercilia and sides of head buff, with, in most specimens,
black tips to the feathers ; upper parts greyish brown, with irregular
black cross-bars and vermiculation, almost disappearing in old
birds, generally traces of buff tips and edgings remain ; most of
the wing-coverts (except the primary-coverts) buff, each with a
broad subterminal black spot ; quills and primary-coverts brown ;
outer primaries with narrow buff outer margins ; chin and throat
whitish, rest of lower parts buff, darker and brownish in the middle
of the breast ; feathers of sides of breast with subtermiual round
or crescentic black spots.
Females have a broad ferruginous red collar on the back and
sides of the neck.
Immature birds of both sexes have the upper parts tinged with
ferruginous red throughout ; there is no distinct collar in the young
female ; the black markings on the back are more distinct and
coarser, and the feathers have buff tips and edges, not to so great
an extent, however, as in T. pugnax and T. blanfordi.
Bill, legs, feet, and claws orange-}^ellow ; iricles white; in males
the culmen and tip of the lower mandible are brown.
Length of female 6-5 ; tail 1*25 ; wing 3'5 ; tarsus *9 ; bill
from gape *7. Length of male 6 ; wing 3*^5.
Distribution. Throughout India, from the Himalayas, at an
elevation of about 4000 feet, to Travancore. To the eastward this
bird has been found in the Bhutan Duars, Tipperah, and the Naga
hills (I have examined Godwin-Austen's specimen from the latter),
but is replaced in Assam, Manipur, and Burma by T. blanfordi.
To the westward T. tanld is found, in the rainy season at all events,
in Cutch, Sind, and llajputana.
Habits, <$fc. A solitary, silent, skulking bird, found usually in
grassy patches in jungle or on the borders of cultivation. It breeds
in July and August in Upper India, about April in Mysore, and
lays four eggs of the usual Turnix type, measuring about *8G
by -75.
1385. Turnix albiventris. The Nicobar Button-Quail.
Turnix albiventris, Hume, S. F. i, p. 310 ; ii, p. 281 ; iv, pp. 279, 293 ;
id. Cat. no. 834 ter ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 199, pi. ;
Ogilvie Grant, Ibis, 1889, p. 467 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 545.
Coloration. Similar to that of T. tanlci, except that adults retain
much of the black and rufous barring and mottling on the dorsal
feathers ; the feathers on the sides of the crown are black with
rufous edges; and the collar in the female bird is much deeper
ferruginous, chestnut in fact. Immature birds are undistinguishable
TURNIX. 155
from those of T. tanki, and the soft parts are similarly coloured in
birds of all ages.
Length of female 6*5 ; tail 1-3 ; wing 3*1 ; tarsus '9 ; bill from
gape -7. Males rather smaller.
Distribution. Common in the Nicobar Islands in long grass ; rare
in the Andamans, which are mainly covered with forest.
1386. Turnix blanfordi. The Burmese Button-Quail'.
Turnix blanfordi, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxxii, p. 80 (1863) ; Blyth fy
Wald. Birds Burm. p. 151 ; Ogiloie Grant, Ibis. 1889, p. 466 ; id.
Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 542.
Turnix maculosa, apud G. R. Gray, Hand-l. B. ii, p. 270 ; Hume fy
Dav. S. f\ vi, p. 452 ; Hume, Cat. no. 834 bis ; Hume 8f Marsli.
Game B. xii, p. 1 83, pi. ; Binyham, S. F. ix, p. 196 ; Hume, ibid.
p. 208 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 335 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 312.
Nffon, Burmese.
This is but little more than a large race of T. tanki, but, besides
their greater size, adults are distinguished by being darker and by
retaining a larger amount of black barring on the back ; the sides
of the crown, too, are darker. In immature birds the pale edgings
to the dorsal feathers are conspicuous.
Upper mandible and tip of lower brown, remainder of bill, legs,
feet, and claws yellow ; irides white or yellowish white.
Length of female 7 ; tail 1'4 ; wing 4 ; tarsus 1'05 ; bill from
gape '75. Males are smaller — length 6'5 ; tail 1-3 ; wing 3*6 ;
tarsus '95.
Distribution. Throughout Burma, China, and the adjoining
countries, but not, so far as is known, south of Tenasserim. To
the north-west this species has been obtained iu Assam, the Khasi
hills, Hill Tipperah, and Chittagong.
Habits, fyc. The present species, like its allies, is generally found
in grass about clearings in forests, in gardens, &c. The eggs have
not been obtained.
The last three species, T. tanki, T. albiuentris, and T. blanfordi,
are little more than races ; but adults can be easily recognized,
though younger birds are very much alike in plumage.
Order XVI. GRALL^E.
In certain respects this order, consisting of the Bails,
Fiufeet, Cranes, Bustards, and some other families of scbizo-
gijathous birds, resembles the desmognathous Anisodactyli. Modern
ornithologists differ greatly as to the affinities of these groups
to each other and to birds belonging to other orders. By
some writers the JRallidce and the Heliornithidce are placed in an
ordinal group by themselves *, by others the Kails and Cranes
with some other families are associated together and the Bustards
transferred to the neighbourhood of the Plovers t. As in the case
of the Anisodactyli, so in the present instance I adopt Gadow's
classification J partly in order to avoid increasing the number of
ordinal groups, for if the Rails are made an order distinct from the
Cranes, the Bustards, and probably the Finfeet, would have equal
claims to ordinal distinction. In using for the present order the
Linnean term Grallse, the example set by Newton is followed, but
he omitted the Bustards.
In the Grallae the hind toe when present is slightly raised, the
legs are generally long, and part of the tibia is bare. All are
schizognathous and none possess basipterygoid processes. The
vomer is always present and the angle of the mandible is truncated.
There are two carotids. Nostrils pervious (except in Ithinochetus}.
Ambiens muscle always present, and caeca generally well developed.
The deep flexor tendons are, as a rule, Galline (peculiar in
Heliornithidce and modified in Otididce}. The young of most of the
families are hatched covered with down and able to run almost
immediately, but in Heliornis the young are hatched helpless and
nearly naked. All, so far as is known, lay double-spotted eggs — that
is, eggs with one set of spots distinct and deeply coloured and a
second set often purplish or grey, less distinct, and apparently
beneath the surface. To the Gralla3 belong several families ; but
there are great differences of opinion as to their affinities, and it is
sufficient to deal herewith the four represented in India. They
may be referred to three suborders :—
a. Oil-gland tufted ; a hallux present.
a. Holorhinal; sternum with a single
notch on each side FuLiCARijE.
V. Schizorhinal ; sternum without notches. GBUES.
I. No oil-gland ; holorhinal ; sternum with
two notches on each side ; no hallux . . OTIDES.
* For instance, Sclater, ' Ibis,' 1880, p. 408 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. vol. xxiii ;
Fiirbringer, ' Untersuchungen,' p. 1566.
t Newton, "Ornithology," Encycl. Brit. p. 46.
J P.Z. S. 1892, p. 244 ; id. in Bronn, Kl. u. Ord. Thier-reichs, vi. 4, p. 178.
BALL1D&.
Suborder FULICASIM
Schizognfltboufl and holorhinal birds vvitli heterocoelous vertebrae,
and 14 or 15 cervical vertebrae. The sternum has a single notch
on each side of the posterior margin. Oil-gland tufted. Caeca
well-developed. Besides the ambiens, the femoro-caudal, accessory
femoro-caudal, and subtendinosus muscles are always present ; the
accessory subtendinosus is found in llallidcK, not in Heliornitlddce.
Key to the Families.
Rectrices 10 to 14, usually 12 ; an aftershaft present . Rallidae, p. 157.
Rectrices 18 ; no aftershaft Heliornithidae,
[p. 181.
Tamily KALLID^E.
The Rails, Crakes, and Coots constitute this family and have
numerous representatives in India. They are marsh-birds in
general, living amongst reeds or grass, and are such adepts in
running through thick vegetation, a proceeding which is facilitated
by their slender narrow build, and in hiding, that their presence is
often unsuspected until they are betrayed by their voice. Owing
to their skulking habits, the range of some of the Indian species is
still imperfectly known.
In this family the sternum much resembles in form that of
Turnix, and has a similar deep notch on each side. There is a
small aftershaft to the contour feathers, and the fifth secondary is
absent. There are long lateral bare tracts on the neck. The deep
flexor tendons are Gralline — that is to say, the /. longus hallucig
supplies the hallux and the /. perforans digitorum the other three
digits, but the two are connected by a vincultim passing from the
first-named to the second.
The food is in most forms chiefly vegetable, consisting of various
water-plants, seeds, &c., but in addition most of the species live on
molluscs, on insects and their larvae, and on small crustaceans.
Asa rule, the eggs are numerous and are laid in a coarse, roughly
built nest of grass, rushes, and similar substances. The young are
hatched covered with down, very often of a black colour, and are
able to run or swim within a few hours.
Key * to the Genera.
a. Bill from gape as long as the tarsus or longer.
a'. No white markings on back ; bill slender. RALLUS, p. 158.
6'. Back with white bars or spots ; bill stouter. HYPOTJENIDIA, p. 160.
* As in some other cases, this Key only applies to Indian specie?.
158 RA.-LLWJE,
b. Bill from gape much shorter than tarsus.
c'. No frontal shield.
a". 2nd quill longest, 1st between 6th and
7th.
a3. Tarsus longer than middle toe with-
out claw CREX, p. 162.
b3. Tarsus shorter than middle toe .... PORZANA, p. 163.
b". 3rd to 6th quills longest, 1st shorter
than 8th.
c3. Tarsus longer than middle toe and
claw ; plumage banded beneath . . RALLINA, p. 167.
d*. Tarsus shorter than middle »toe
without claw ; plumage not banded. AMAURORNIS, p. 170.
d'. Upper mandible prolonged on forehead to
form a frontal shield.
c". No lobate fringe to toes.
e3. Plumage not blue ; frontal shield not
truncated behind.
«4. Toes with a narrow straight-edged
lateral fringe ; sexes alike GALLINULA, p. 175.
b*. No fringe to toes ; sexes differing . GALLICREX, p. 176.
f. Plumage blue; frontal shield trun-
cated behind PORPHYRIO, p. 178.
d1'. To^s with a membranous fringe
divided into convex lobes; plumage
blackish grey FULICA, p. 180.
Genus RALLUS, Linn., 1766.
This genus contains the typical Water-Rails. The bill is as long
as the tarsus or longer, straight or slightly curved, and compressed ;
the nostrils are linear and placed in an elongate groove on each
side of the mandible. Wings short, 2nd quill usually longest.
1st between 6th and 8th. Tail short. Tarsus slender, shorter
than the middle toe in typical species, and always shorter than
the middle toe and claw ; toes long, slender, free. Feathers of
forehead bristly.
The genus is almost cosmopolitan. Two species are Indian.
Key to the Species.
A brown band from lores to ear-coverts J?. indicus, p. 168.
No brown band running back behind eye R. aquations, p. ICO.
1387. Eallus indicus. The Indian Water-Hail.
Rallus indicus, Blyth, J. A, S. B. xviii, p. 820 (1849) ; id. Cat. p. 286 ;
id. J. A. S. It. xxviii, p. 281 ; Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 508 ; Jerdon,
B. I. iii, p. 726 ; Hume, S. F. iii, p. 416 ; Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 162 ;
JJvme, Cat. no. 914: Hume $ Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 257, pi. ;
Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 778; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 342; Sioinh. #
Barnes, Ibis, 1885, p. 135 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 373 ; Reid,
8. F. x, p. 453 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 24.
RALLUS. 159
Coloration. Feathers of upper surface, including scapulars,
tertiaries, and tail-feathers, black, with broad olive-brown margins,
black predominating on the head and brown on the rump;
supercilia, cheeks, and sides of throat ashy grey, the supercilia
paler or whitish anteriorly ; lores and a band beneath (or sur-
rounding) the eye to the ear-coverts dark brown ; secondary wing-
coverts olive-brown, usually with a few white cross-bars ; primary-
coverts, primaries, and most of the secondaries dark brown ; chin
and middle of throat white ; breast ashy, washed with brown ;
Fig. 32.— Head of R. inclicns. i.
abdomen dingy rufescent in the middle ; flanks black with white
cross-bars ; lower tail-coverts black, with white edges ; edge of
wing white, wing-lining black mixed with white.
Younger birds have more white bands, which are dark-edged, on
the wing-coverts ; these bands disappear with age.
Bill brown, the basal two-thirds of the lower mandible and a
stripe on the upper along the commissure vermilion in adults,
reddish yellow in the young ; irides red ; legs and feet dull dingy
pink or brownish (flume).
Length 11 ; tail 2; wing 5; tarsus 1/7; bill from gape 1*75.
Females run smaller.
Distribution. A winter visitor to parts of India, ranging west as
far as Indore, according to Barnes, and Sind, whence a specimen,
collected by Dr. Gould, is in the British Museum. Adams says
this Rail is common in the Punjab, but when he wrote the species
was not clearly distinguished. It is common in Bengal, especially
about Calcutta, and has been obtained in Tipperah and Arrakan,
but not elsewhere in Burma. It has been recorded from Ceylon,
but there is no distinct evidence of its occurrence in Southern
India. Outside Indian limits it has been found in China, Eastern
Siberia, and Japan.
Habits, §c. The Indian Water-Eail is usually found in thick
grass or rushes on the banks of marshes and wet cultivation. It
is a skulking running bird, with a croaking call, seldom seen, and
difficult to flush ; it feeds partly on small insects, mollusca, and
worms, and partly on vegetables. It is not known to breed in
India.
160 RALLLD^E.
1388. Rallus aquaticus. The Water-Rail.
Rallus aquaticus, Linn. Sysf. Nat. i, p. 262 (17C6) ; Hume, S. F.
iii, p. 416 ; id. Cat. no. 914 bis ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. ii,
p. 261 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 98; Scully, ibid. p. 591 ; George,
Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. iv, p. 311 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii,
p. 20.
Precisely like R. indicus, except that there is no brown band
through the eye to the ear-coverts, the sides of the head being
generally ashy throughout ; the lores are sometimes brownish, but
there is no streak behind the eye ; .the breast is pure ashy grey,
without any browrnish wash, the middle of the abdomen is sullied
buff, and the under tail-coverts are chiefly white.
Upper mandible dark brown, basal half of upper mandible along
commissure and basal two-thirds of lower orange-red, end of bill
horny ; irides red ; legs and feet brownish pink to fleshy brown.
Length 1 1 ; tail 2'25 ; wing 5 ; tarsus 1-6 ; bill from gape 1-7.
Distribution. Throughout Europe and thePalaearctic region as far
east as Yarkand and Cabul. A rare winter visitor to the
Himalayas, obtained in Gilgit (Scully}; Kulu (Hay} ; and Dehra
Dun (Hume}. A skin from Sind, included under this species in
the British Museum Catalogue, is, 1 find (and Dr. Sharpe agrees),
R. indicus, but Mr. R. George states that he killed a specimen
near Shikarpur. There is also a skin of Hodgson's, labelled Nepal
and perhaps collected there.
Habits, Sec. Similar to those of R. indicus. The nest in Europe
is placed in a swamp, and consists of dried leaves loosely put
together. The eggs, 8 to 10 or more in number, are pale stone-
colour, sparingly spotted with purple and dark red, and measure
about 1-4 by I'Oo.
Genus HYPOTJENIDIA, Eeichenb., 1852.
The typical species of this genus, //. pliilippensis, has a much
thicker and shorter bill than Rallus, with both tarsus and middle
toe exceeding the bill in length. In the Indian representatives
of the genus, however, the bill is as long as the tarsus and is only
distinguished by its greater thickness and by the genys being
distinctly angulate. There are 10 species, widely distributed in
the Oriental and Australian regions ; of these two occur within
Indian limits.
Key to the Species.
Wing 4'5 to 5 : breast ashy grey H. striata, p. 160 .
Wing over 5 ; breast slaty grey H. obscurior, p. 162
1389. Hypotaenidia striata. The Blue-breasted Banded Rail.
Rallus striatus, Linn. St/st. Nat. i, p. 262 (1766) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 285 ;
Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 508 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 726 ; Godw.-
Aust. J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. 2, p. 175.
161
If vpotaenidia striata, Hume, N. # E. p. 605 ; Hume Sf Oates, S. F.
iii, p. 189; Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 349; Oates, S. F. v, p. 165 ;
Wardl.-Rams. Ibis, 1877, p. 471 ; Hume fy Dav. 8. F. vi, p. 468 ;
Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 692 ; Leyge, Birds Ceyl. p. 775 ;
Hume, Cat. no. 913 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 245, pi. ; iii,
p. 435, pi. ii (egg) ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 87 ; Butler, ibid. p. 432 ;
Davison, S. F. x, p. 415; Terry, ibid. p. 480; Oates, B. B. ii,
p. 339 ; id. in Hume's N. § E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 399 ; Hume, S. F. xi,
p. 329 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 372 : id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi,
p. 141, pi. fig. 913 (egg) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 33.
ana-kolij Tarn. ; Wade-koli, Tel. ; Yay-gyet, Burin.
Fig. 33. — Head of H. striata. }.
Coloration. Crown, nape, and sides of neck chestnut, more or
less streaked with dark brown, that disappears in old birds ;
upper parts, including the wing and tail-feathers, dark brown with
narrow broken white cross-bars, forming spots rather than bars,
on the back, all the feathers except the quills with lighter olive-
brown edges ; chin and middle of throat white ; sides of head
below eyes, whole fore neck and breast ashy grey ; abdomen,
flanks, and under wing- and tail-coverts blackish, barred with
white.
Females are rather duller, especially on the crown and nape ;
middle of abdomen sullied white.
Young birds have the crown and nape brown, not rufous, and
no white cross-bars on the back.
Colours of soft parts very variable : upper mandible and tip of
lower brown, basal portion of lower mandible and basal commissure
of. upper various shades of red ; irides light yellowish brown to
Indian-red : legs and feet olive-green to leaden grey or fleshy
grey.
Length 10-5 ; tail T9 ; wing 475 ; tarsus 1-5 ; bill from gape T6.
Distribution. Probably the greater part of India, Burma, and
Ceylon in marshy places ; a resident species. This Rail has
not been recorded from North-western India north of 20° N. lat.
except by Adams, who states that it is pretty common in the
Punjab. It has, however, not been obtained either there or in
the North-west Proviuces by later collectors. It is common in
Lower Bengal and in Pegu. Outside Indian limits it is found
in South-eastern Asia and the Malay Archipelago as far as the
Philippines and Celebes.
VOL. iv. M
162 EALL1DA'.
Habits, <$'c. Very similar to those of Eallus indicus, except that
the present species is a very silent bird, and only occasionally
utters a rather sharp though not loud whistled note. The
breeding-season in Bengal and Pegu is from May to the end of
October; the nests are pads of grass, varying in thickness, in
swampy ground, and the eggs are usually from 5 to 7 in number,
pinkish stone-colour, spotted or blotched, chiefly about the larger
end, with reddish brown and greyish lilac. They measure about
1-35 by 1-02.
1390. Hypotaenidia obscurior. The Andamanese Banded Hail.
Rallus striatus, apud Ball, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 288 ; id. S. F. i,
p. 86 ; nee Linn.
Hypolaemdia striata, apud Hume, S. F. ii, p. 302: Walden, Ibis,
1874, p. 146.
Hvpotsenidia obscuriora, Hume, S, F. ii, p. 302 (Jan. 1874) ; i\*,
p. 294 ; id. Cat. no. 913 bis ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 253,
pi. : Oates in Hume's N. 8f K 2nd ed. iii, p. 400.
Hypotasnidia ferrea, Walden, Ibis, 1874, p. 303 (April 1874).
Hypotasnidia abnorinis, Hume, 8. F. iii, p. 147 (1875) ; id. Cat.
no. 913 ter.
Hypotaenidia obscurior (H. striatas subsp.), Sharpe, Cat. B. M.
xxiii, p. 37.
Like the last species, but larger and much darker in colour; the
head and nape dark rufous brown ; upper parts generally blackish
brown, with narrow pale edges to the feathers ; breast slaty grey.
Bill Indian-red, tips of both mandibles and whole culmen deep
horny brown ; irides deep brown ; legs and feet dark greenish
horny (Daviton).
Length 12 ; tail 2 ; wing 5'4 ; tarsus 1*6 ; bill from gape 1*75.
Distribution. The Andaman Islands.
Habits, $c. As in the last species. Nests with 4 and 6 eggs,
resembling those of H. striata and measuring about 1'43 by 1,
have been taken in May and July.
Genus CREX, Bechstein, 1802.
The Land-Kail stands apart from all other genera of the family.
It has a comparatively short, stout bill, the depth at the base of
the upper mandible being more than half the culmen ; the tarsus
is about equal to the middle toe and claw. The wings are rather
broad, the 2nd quill longest, the 1st about equal to the 5th or
6th.
There is but a single species, and that is a European bird,
hitherto only recorded from the north-western extremity of the
Indian area. It is easily recognized by its rufous wings, and is
more of a land and less of a water bird than most of the liallidw.
PORZAXA. 163
1391. Crex pratensis. The Land-Rail or Com-Crahe.
Rallus crex, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 201 (1768).
Crex pratensis, Bvchst. Naturg. Deutschl. 2" Aufl. ii, p. 461 (1805) ;
Crex
p. 82.
Coloration. In winter the feathers of the crown, hind neck,
back, rinnp, and tail, with the scapulars and tertiaries, are black,
with broad brown borders growing grey at the margins ; upper and
under wing-coverts and axillaries bright chestnut ; wing-feathers
and primary-coverts dark brown, the exposed portions rufous ;
outer web of first primary and edge of wing buffy white ; sides of
head, including supercilia, and of neck, and the whole of the
breast light brown, a darker band through the eye ; chin, throat,
and abdomen whitish ; flanks, thighs, and shorter under tail-
coverts brown with white cross-bars, longer under tail-coverts
white.
In summer the supercilia, cheeks, and fore neck are ashy grey,
a light brown band passing from the lores through the eye and
ear-coverts to the side of the neck ; the breast is grey washed
with light rufous brown, and the bands on the flanks are more
distinct.
Young birds have white barring on the wing-coverts. The
nestling is clad with black down.
Bill, feet, and claws pale brown ; iris hazel (Seebohm).
Length 10 ; tail 2 ; wing 6 ; tarsus 1*5 ; bill from gape 1*05.
Distribution. A migratory bird, found in the summer throughout
the greater part of Europe and in Central Asia, and in winter in,
Africa and Arabia. It is said to be found at that season near
Cabul. Various reports of its occurrence in Northern India have
been heard from time to time, but all are of doubtful authenticity,
and the only trustworthy record is by Scully, who obtained a
single specimen at Grilgit on Oct. 8th.
Genus PORZANA, Vieill., 1816.
The- little, short-billed, long-toed Water-Bails, with a brown
back, grey or greyish breasts, and more or less white spotting,
form a fairly natural genus. The bill is comparatively short and
moderately stout. The tarsus, which is at least half as ong again
as the bill, is considerably shorter than the middle toe and claw.
The 2nd quill is longest, or 2nd and 3rd subequal ; the 1st is
much shorter, and about equal to the 6th or 7th. The tail-coverts
extend nearly or quite to the end of the tail.
The Little Crake, Rallus parvus, has been separated from the
Spotted Crake and its allies on account of having slightly shorter
secondaries, and some difference in coloration between the sexes, and
was referred to Leach's genus Zapornia by Sharpe ; but I cannot
1C 2
164 RALLIED.
regard the Little Crake as generically distinct from its near ally,
Bullion's Crake, which has the same relation between the secondaries
and primaries as the Spotted Crake, the type of Porzana.
The genus Porzana is almost cosmopolitan. Three species are
Indian, all of which are migratory, though one breeds in India.
Key to the Species.
a. Breast not spotted with white.
a'. Outer edge of 1st primary brown ; winjr 4 . . P. parva, p. 164.
b'. Outer edge of 1st primary white ; .wing 3-5 . P. ptisillrt, p. 165.
b. Breast spotted with white ; wing 475 P. maruetta, p. 166.
1392. Porzana parva. The Little Crake.
Rnllus parvus, Scop. Ann. i, p. 108 (1769).
Gallinula minuta, Montagu, Orn. Diet. Suppl. cum fig. (1813) ; nee
, Hallus minutus, Pall.
Porzana minuta, Hvme, S. F. i, p. 251.
Porzana parva, Hume, Cat. no. 910 bis ; Hume fy Marsh. Game E.
ii, p. 209, pi. ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 98 : Scully, ibid. p. 500 ;
Swinhoe, Ibis, 1882, p. 123 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 371 ; St. John.
lbi8,I88d, p. 178.
Zapornia parva, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 89.
Coloration. Male. Upper plumage light olive-brown, darker on
the crown, rump, and tail-coverts, pale on the scapulars, and
whitish on the inner borders of the tertiaries, back, rump, and tail-
leathers ; scapulars and tertiaries with broad black shaft-stripes,
interscapulary region speckled with white streaks ; quills and
primary-coverts dark brown ; forehead, supercilia, and sides of
head, with the whole lowrer surface, light slaty grey, with white
edgings on the lower abdomen and flanks, and especially on the
lower tail-coverts.
Female. Supercilia and part of the cheeks ashy, a light brown
band from the lores through the eye to the ear-coverts ; chin,
lower cheeks, and throat white ; rest of lower parts isabelline buff,
with brown and white edgings to lower abdomen, thigh-coverts,
and lower tail-coverts ; otherwise similar to the male.
Young birds are whitish beneath, with brown tips and edges to
the feathers of the breast and flanks, forming bars on the latter;
they have fine wrhite bars on the scapulars, and white tips to the
tertiaries and greater coverts.
Bill, legs, and feet green with a yellow tinge : irides red. In
summer the base of both mandibles is red, but Indian birds shot
in winter do not show this.
Length of males 8; tail 2-25 ; wing 4; tarsus 1-2; bill from
gape '9. Females are rather less.
Distribution. Throughout Europe, except in the north ; also in
South-western and Central Asia. A winter visitor to parts of
Africa and to Sind, where it is common on some of the dhands or
marshes. It has been observed passing through Quetta and
OHlgit when migrating.
PORZANA. 165
Habits, $-c. A thoroughly aquatic bird, often seen running over
leaves of water-lilies and other floating plants, and living mainly
on water-insects and larvae. It swims well and has even been
seen to dive, and it has a fairly strong flight. It does not, in all
probability, breed in India. The nest and eggs are very similar to
those of the next species.
1393. Porzana pusilla. The Eastern Baillon's Crake.
Rallus pusillus, Pallas, Reis. Rus*. Reichs, iii, p. 700 (1776).
Porzana pygmaea, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 284 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 723 ;
Hume $ Renders. Lah. to Yark. p. 293 ; Blanf. S. F. v, p. 247 ;
Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xlvii, pt. 2, p. 21 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881,
p. 98 (nee Brehm, nee Naum.).
Zapornia pygmaea, Hume, 3T. $ E. p. 603 ; Butler, S. F. v, p. 215.
Ortygometra pygmaea, Hume, S. F. ii, p. 301.
Porzana bailloni, apud Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi, p. 467; Ball, S. F.
vii, p. 229 ; Hume, Cat. no. 910 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 358 ; Legge,
Birds Ceyl. p. 766 ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 203, pi. ;
iii, p. 435, pi. ii (egg) ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 87 ; Butler, ibid. p. 432 ;
Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 590 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 73 ; Gates, B. B. ii,
p. 344 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 370 ; Hume, S. F. x, p. 415 ; xi,
p. 328; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 178 (nee VieilL).
Porzana pusilla, Gates in Hume's N. Sf E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 395 ; Sharpe,
Yark. Miss., Aves, p. 147 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 106.
Jhitti, Nepal.
Fig. 34. —Head of P. pusilla. \ .
Coloration. Upper parts rufescent olive-brown, all the feathers
except the wing-coverts with broad black median stripes ; feathers
of back and rump, with the scapulars and some of the wing-coverts,
streaked with white in a peculiar way as if smeared with white
paint ; edge of wing white ; quills dark brown ; first primary with
a white outer border ; tail-feathers blackish brown ; an ochreous-
brown streak from the lores, including orbit and ear-coverts, to
side of neck, which is uniformly brown; superciliary stripes, cheeks,
and lower parts to abdomen ashy grey ; abdomen brown with white
cross-bars ; lower tail-coverts barred black and white. Sexes
alike.
Young birds have the lower parts whitish or white, not grey,
but more or less tinged with brown.
Bill green, dusky on culmen and at tip ; irides red in adults,
reddish brown in young birds; legs and feet green with a
yellowish tinge ; claws pale brown (Hume).
Length 7*5 ; tail 1*75 ; wing 3'5 ; tarsus 1-1 ; bill from gape '7.
Distribution. Eastern Asia generally, including all India, Ceylon,
166 EALLID.C.
and Burma, in suitable localities, and as far west as Afghanistan
and Baluchistan. This Crake has been obtained at the Andaman
Islands. Throughout Western Asia arid Europe it is replaced by
the closely allied Baillon's Crake, P. intermedia (Herm.), dis-
tinguished by having the sides of the head grey, without any brown
stripe through the eye and ear-coverts. A specimen from Deesa
is intermediate in character.
Habits, $c. Though a large proportion of the birds found in
India are probably migratory, some breed throughout the country
and even in Tavoy. A large number breed in the Lower
Himalayas, but many appear to go farther north. Like the last
species, this Crake is sometimes found running on floating- water-
plants and it swims well, but it is more often met with in reeds
or swampy grassy thickets or wet cultivation. Tbe call is loud —
a single note repeated slowly at first, then more rapidly, ending
with a sharper note. The breeding-season is July, August, and
September in the plains of India, June and July in the Himalayas.
The nest is of rush or similar material amidst water and grass or
reeds, and the eggs, 6 to 8 in number and measuring about 1*16
by -87, are pale olive, thickly freckled and indistinctly mottled
with faint dusky clouds and streaks.
1394. Porzana maruetta. The Spotted Crake.
Eallus porzana, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 262 (1766).
Butkr, S. F. v, p. 215; vii, p. 187: ix, p. 432; Hume, Cat.
no. 909 ; Hume 8f Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 213, pi. ; Biddulph,
Ibis, ;i881, p. 98; Scully, ibid. p. 590; Reid, S. F. x, p. 73;
Davidson, ibid. p. 322 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 345 ; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 370 ; Sharpe, Yark. Miss., Aves, p. 147.
Porzana porzana, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 93.
Gurguri-khairi, Beng. ; Venna mudi-kodi, Tel.
Coloration. Upper plumage and tail rufescent olive-brown with
white spots and streaks ; all the feathers, except the wing-coverts,
with more or less concealed broad black central stripes ; inner
borders of tertiaries pale brown ; the white markings on the back
are longitudinal streaks, those on the tertiaries zigzag, on wing-
coverts fewer and V-shaped, all black-edged; border of wing
white; quills dark. brown, olive-brown on exposed margins: outer
edge of first primary white ; broad and long supercilia, cheeks,
chin, and throat dark grey, all speckled with white posteriorly ;
lores black with a whitish streak above; a brown band from
behind each eye, including the ear-coverts and extending to the
side of the neck, which is of the same colour and sprinkled
throughout with white spots, more or less dark-edged; breast
grey, washed with brown and similarly spotted ; abdomen white,
passing into buff on the vent and under tail-coverts; flanks and
KALLINA. 167
wing-lining, except near the edge of the wing, brown barred with
white. Sexes alike.
Young birds have a white throat and brown breast, and are
much speckled with white. Nestling black.
Bill yellow, orange at the base and shading into dusky olive at
the tip and on the culmen ; irides red-brown ; legs and feet bright
olive -green.
Length 9 ; tail 1'9 ; wing 4'75 ; tarsus 1*3 ; bill from gape *8.
Distribution. A migratory bird, found in summer in ^Europe
and in Western and Central Asia, and visiting Northern Africa
and India in the winter. At this season it is found not un-
commonly throughout Northern India from Sind to Arrakan. It
has been recorded from the Deccan as far sou^h as Belgaum, and
Jerdon states that it is found all over India, though of late years
it has not been observed to the southward nor in the Central
Provinces, Chutia Nagpur, or Orissa, and it is not known to occur
in Ceylon, in Assam, nor in Burma east of Arrakan.
• Habits, 6fc. The Spotted Crake arrives in Northern India in
September and leaves about April. It keeps to thick reeds and
cultivation in swampy ground aud is rarely seen. It is not known
to breed in India.
Genus RALLINA, Eeichenb., 1846.
Bill much stouter than in Rallus, and considerably shorter than
the middle toe, which is shorter than the tarsus. Wing rounded ;
1st quill much shorter than 2nd, which is exceeded by the 3rd.
Secondaries nearly as long as primaries or a little longer.
To this genus in Sharpe's Catalogue five species are referred,
ranging from India and Ceylon to Australia ; two are Indian or
Burmese. I also leave in this genus the Andaman 11. canningi,
separated by Sharpe as Castanolimnas because the secondaries
slightly exceed the primaries, whilst in typical Rallina the former
are a little shorter than the latter. The difference is small, and
scarcely, I think, of .generic importance.
Key to the Species.
a. Back and wings brownish olive;; bill from
gape 1-2 R. snperciliaris, p. 167.
b. Back and winge rufous brown ; bill from
gape 1 R.fasciata, p. 169.
c. \Vhole upper surface deep ruddy chestnut ;
bill from gape 1'4 R. canninyi, p. 169.
1395. Rallina snperciliaris. The Banded Crake.
Rallue nigrolineatus, G. R. Gray, List Gratia B. M. p. 117 (1844 :
descr. nulla).
llnllus superciliaris, Eyton, A. M. N. H. xvi, p. 230 (1845).
Porzana ceylonica, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 285 ; Jerdon, B. L in, p. 72o ;
168 HALLIDJE.
Hume, S. F. i, p. 440 ; Hume $ Oaf eg, S. F. iii, p. 188 ; Hume fy
Bourd. S. F. iv, p. 405 ; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 465 ; uec Hull us
zeylanicus, Gm.
Porzana superciliaris, Blyth, Cat. p. 339.
Porzana zeylanica, apud Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxi, p. 353 ; id. Ibis,
1867, pp. 171, 309 ; nee Gm.
Porzana amauroptera, Blyth, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 725.
Rallina euryzonoides, apud Tu-eeddale, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 767 (partim);
Hume, Cat. no. 912; Leyge, Birds Ceyl. p. 772 ; Hume fy Marsh.
dnvttft Ti ii r» 9517 -r>l • finfaa 7? ff ii -i-v .^/lO- Tlniiifl&nrt .7i»JI'
, \^uv. iiu. »i^ , j^eyye, j)trua \^cyi. p. / i& , Ji«//tc 9 .IUM*
_ ^. ii, p. 237, pi. ; Ort^s, ^. B. ii, p. 340 ; Davidson, Jour
Bom. N. H. Soc. ix, p. 489 ; nee Lafresn.
Rallina telmatophila, Hume, S. F. vii, pp. 142, 451.
liallina superciliaris, Sharpe, Cat. £. M. xxiii. p. 76.
Fig. 35. — Head of B. superciliaris. \.
Coloration. Head and neck all round, with upper breast, chestnut ;
chin and throat pale rufous to white ; upper parts from the neck
dark brownish olive ; quills dark brown; lower parts from breast,
including wing-lining and lower tail-coverts, barred across with
white and dusky black ; the dusky bars becoming narrow7 and
partly disappearing in the middle.
Old females appear to resemble the male, but this is not quite
certain; generally in females the chestnut is confined to the fore-
head, sides of face, fore neck, and breast, the crown and nape
being brownish olive like the back. Young birds have the rufous
on the head, neck, and breast entirely replaced by brown ; the
inner webs of the quills are barred with white, and there are
occasionally a few white bars with dusky edges on the upper
wing-coverts.
Base of upper mandible, and greater portion of the lower, green ;
remainder of the bill dark brown ; irides blood-red ; legs black
(Oates). Iris mottled closely on the exterior portion with red-
brown on an olive ground; legs and feet plumbeous (Leyye).
Length 10; tail 2'3; wing 5 ; tarsus 1'7 ; bill from gape 1'2.
Distribution. A winter visitor to Ceylon, arriving about the end
of October and leaving about February. Isolated specimens have
been obtained in the North-west Provinces and Oudh, JN"epal,
Sikhim, Bengal, Orissa, Gumsiir, Cauara, and Travancore, also at
Thayet Myo in Pegu, at Malacca, and Singapore ; but. except in
Ceylon, the occurrence of this species appears to be occasional, and
its summer quarters and breeding-haunts are unknown. The
Philippine species, the true 11. euryzonoidcs, is regarded by
Dr. Sharpe as distinct.
Habits, <$fc. The Banded Crake arrives on the west coast of
EALLIXA. 169
Ceyloa when the north wind sets in ; it is then in an exhausted
condition as if from a long flight, and often seeks shelter in
houses. After a few days all the birds leave for the hills, where
they frequent sedgy places near streams and paddy-fields ; they
are also found in drier ground. Nothing certain is known of the
nidification.
1396. Rallina fasciata. The Malayan Banded Crake.
Rallus fasciatus, Raffi. TV. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 328 (1822).
Porzana fasciata, Blyth, Cat. p. 285 ; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 483 ; iii,
p. 188.
Rallina fasciata, Wald. in Blyth' s Birds Burm. p. 162 ; Hume Sf
Dav. S. F. vi, p. 467 ; Hume, Cat. no. 912 bis ; Hume $• Marsh.
Game B. ii, p. 235, pi. : Oates, B. B. ii, p. 341 ; Salcadori, Ann.
Mm. Civ. Gen. (2) vii, p. 427 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 76.
Coloration. Head and neck all round, with the breast, dull
chestnut, paler, sometimes whitish, on the chin and throat ; upper
parts from the neck rufous brown; primary and some of the
secondary wing-coverts with dark-edged white cross-bars; quills
dark brown, all except the tertiaries with imperfect white bars on
both webs ; abdomen barred black and white, the white bars
becoming rufous on the lower tail-coverts.
In some skins, probably females, the black bars on the abdomen
are narrower and disappear more or less in the middle. Young
birds are brown, not chestnut, on the head, neck, and breast.
Bill blackish, plumbeous, or greenish slaty ; gape, chin, and
orbital ring crimson ; irides brown to crimson ; legs and feet
coral-red ; claws horny blue (Davison).
Length 9 ; tail 2 ; wing 5 ; tarsus 1'7 ; bill from gape 1.
Distribution. Erom Karennee to Celebes and the Moluccas,
throughout the Malayan Peninsula and islands. Found by
Davison at Moulmein, Amherst, and Tavoy, and by Eea in
Karennee.
Habits, fyc. Apparently a resident species, found in scrub and
brushwood on the borders of wet cultivation. Nidification not
known.
1397. Rallina canning!. The Andamanese Banded Crake.
Euryzona cauningi, Tytler, Blyth, Ibis, 1863, p. 119 ; Ball, J, A. S. B.
xli, pt. 2, p. 288 ; id. S. F. i, p. 86 ; Hume, S. F.'ii, pp. 302, 500.
Rallina canningi, Hume, Cat. no. 912 ter ; Hume Sf Marsh. Game
B. ii, p. 241, pi. ; Oates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 393.
Castanolimnas canning!, Sharpe, Bull. B. O. Club, vol. i, p. xxviii ;
id. Ibis, 1893, p. 260 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 80.
Coloration. Head and neck all round, upper breast, and whole
upper plumage deep ruddy chestnut ; quills blackish brown
externally, margined with chestnut, all except the tertiaries with
rufous-white bars on the inner webs ; primaries more or less
distinctly barred with rufous on the outer webs also ; lower parts
RALLIED.
from middle of breast, including the wing-lining, black with white
cross-bars.
Bill a delicate pale chrysoprase green ; irides red ; legs and feet
olive-green ( Wimberley}.
Length 13-5 ; tail 3-3 ; wing 6-25 ; tarsus 2'1 ; bill from gape 1-4.
Distribution. The Andaman Islands.
Habits , $c. A forest bird, haunting swampy ground and the
neighbourhood of hill-streams, and feeding on insects and fresh-
water Crustacea. A nest of grass loosely rolled together, with 6
eggs, was taken on July 17th and brought to Mr. de Roepstorff.
The eggs are pinkish, streaked and blotched, chiefly at the larger
end, with chestnut and purple, and measure on an average 1/4 by
1-09.
Genus AMAURORNIS, Eeichenb., 1852.
The members of this genus are distinguished from both Porzana
and GaUinula by having a more rounded wing, with the 3rd quill
longest, the 2nd equal to the oth or 6th, and the 1st much shorter.
The species are also distinguished at once from Porzana by very
different and much more uniform plumage. The bill is of moderate
length, much shorter than the tarsus, which is shorter than the
middle toe and claw.
The type of the genus, A. olivaceus, a Philippine species, has the
upper mandible slightly swollen at the base, and the same is the
case in A. phwnicurus { but in coloration A. olivaceus is perfectly
intermediate between A. phosnicurus and A. akool, which cannot be
separated from A.fuscus and A. bicolor. The difference in the bill
appears scarcely sufficient to justify generic separation, though,
if a division is made, A. licolor and A. akool should, I think, be
referred to Limnobcenus, of which A. fuscus is the type.
The genus Amaurornis, as here accepted, ranges throughout the
Oriental region to North Australia. Four species are Indian.
Key to the Species.
a. Breast grey or rufous ; bill not swollen at
base.
a'. Breast in adults vinous chestnut, in young
dark olive , A.fuscus, p. 170.
b'. Breast dark grey.
a" . Back rufous "brown A. bicolor, p. 171.
b". Back dark olive A. akool, p. 172.
I. Breast white ; bill swollen at base A. pha-nicurus, p. 173.
1398. Amaurornis fuscus. The Ruddy Crake.
Baling fuecus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 262 (1766).
Zapornia flammicepe, Hodgs. in Grays Zool. Misc. p. 86 (1844,
descr. nulla).
Porzana fusca, Blyth, Cat. p. 285 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 724; Slytk,
Ibis, 1867, p. 171 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. 3, p. 175 ;
AMAURORNIS. 171
Stoliczka, S. F. ii, p. 461 ; Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 161 ; Hume,
8. F. vii, p. 489 ; id. Cat. no. 911 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 769 j
Hume $• Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 217, pi. ; Vidal, 8. F. ix, p. 87 ;
Butler, ibid. p. 432 ; Damson, S. F. x, p. 415 ; . Reid, ibid. p. 453 ;
Taylor, ibid. p. 466 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 346 ; id. in Hume's N. # E.
2nd ed. iii, p. 390 ; Ba *nes, Birds Bom. p. 372 ; Hume fy Cripps,
S. F. xi, p. 329; Sharpe, Yark. Miss., Aves, p. 146.
Kallina fusca, Hume, N. fy E. p. 604 ; Oates # Hume, S. F. iii,
p. 188 ; Hume, ibid. p. 500 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped.,Aves, p. 691.
Limnobsenus fuse us, Sharps, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 146.
Coloration. Upper parts dark brownish olive; rump, upper tail-
coverts, and tertiaries browner ; auills and tail dark brown ; fore-
head and sinciput, sides of head, including supercilia, and of neck,
and lower parts to abdomen vinous chestnut; sides of body and
abdomen brown tinged with olive, the latter streaked with white ;
lower tail-coverts blackish with broader white fringes. In many
skins, irrespective of sex, the chin and throat are whitish or
white.
Young birds are dusky olive throughout, except the chin, throat,
and middle of abdomen, which are whitish. Apparently the rufous
garb is gradually assumed, beginning on the head.
Bill greenish brown ; iris crimson ; eyelids plumbeous, the edges
red ; legs and toes red (Oates).
Length 8'5 ; tail 2'1 ; wing 4 ; tarsus 1'4 ; bill from gape ].
Distribution. India, Ceylon, and Burma, ranging to Java, the
Philippines, China, and Japan. This species is common in Lower
Bengal and along the Lower Himalayas as far west as Kashmir,
where it breeds, but is rare in the Upper Provinces and not known
to occur in the Western Punjab, Sind, Rajputana, or Guzerat,
whilst throughout the Peninsula it is only known to have been
obtained in Mysore and the Wynaad, though Vidal saw \vhat he
believed was this species near E-atnagiri. It is a winter visitor to
Ceylon. It is common in Pegu, and has been found at Shillong
and Dibrugarh in Assam, also in Arrakan and in Yunnan, but not
in Tenasserim.
Habits, fyc. Around Calcutta, as observed by Hume, this Rail is
common on rushy ponds, where it seeks food on the floating leaves
of water-lilies and other plants, and amongst reeds and grass in
swamps. It swims jerkily like a Moorhen. It has a soft call,
and feeds on insects and seeds. It breeds in Bengal from July to
September, makes the usual Kail's nest of grass or rush, and lays
about live eggs (perhaps more), creamy white with red and inky-
purple spots, chiefly at the broad end, and measuring about 1-2
by -84.
1399. Amaurornis bicolor. Elwes's Crake.
Porzana bicolor, Walden, A. M. N. H. (4) ix, p. 47 (1872) ; Godic.-
Aust. J. A. 8. B. xliii, pt. 2, p. 174 ; Hume, S. F. iii, p. 283 ; id.
Cat. no. 911 bis; id. $ Marsh Game B. ii, p. 223, pi. ; Hume,
,p. 113.
S. F. xi, p. 329 ; tifarpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 113.
Porzana elwesi, Hume, S. F. iii, p. 283, note (1875).
172 HALLID.E.
Coloration. Head, neck, and lower parts dark slaty grey, darker
on the crown and nape, paler and ashy on the sides of the head
and throat ; upper parts from the neck rufous brown ; primaries
and secondaries dark brown ; tail black.
Bill glaucous green, with a slight tinge of red near base of
mandibles and tipped grey ; irides crimson-red ; orbits red ; legs
pale dullish vermilion (Godivin-Austen).
Length 8-5; tail 2; wing 4-5 ; tarsus 1-5 ; bill from gape 1-1.
Distribution. Elwes and Mandelli obtained this Rail in the valleys
of Sikhim at from 4000 to 6000 fee^ and Godwin-Austen found
it on the Khasi hills at a similar elevation. Hume saw what was
probably this species in Manipur.
Habits, $c. Grass around marshy pools and swamps and irrigated
rice-fields are the places where this Rail has been found. It
probably descends to lower levels than those above quoted in
summer. An egg, presumably of this species, brought to Godwin-
Austen, measured 1'4 by 1 and was creamy white, spotted, chiefly
towards the larger end, with pale grey and light and dark sepia.
1400. Amaurornis akool. The Brown Crake.
Rail us akool, SyJces, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 1C4.
Porzana akool, Blyth, Cat. p. 284 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, pp. 722, 875 ;
Adam, S. F. i, p. 398 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 21 ; v, p. 224 ; ix,
p. 431 ; Godiu.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xlvii, pt. 2, p. 21 ; Ball, S. F.
vii, p. 229 ; Hume, ibid. p. 489 ; id. Cat. no. 908 ; Hume $ Marsh.
Game B. ii, p. 225, pi. ; iii, p. 435, pi. iii (egg) ; Davidson, S. F.
x, p. 322 ; Macgregor, ibid. p. 441 ; Taylor, ibid. p. 466 ; Swinhoe §•
Barnes, Ibis, 1885, p. 135; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 369; Hume,
S. F. xi, p. 328 ; Gates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 296 ;
Barnes, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 139, pi. at p. 129 (egg).
Amaurornis akool, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 155.
Coloration. Upper parts uniform dark olive; quills and tail-
feathers dark brown, olive on the exposed portions ; sides of head,
including the supercilia, and the lower parts ashy grey, passing
into white on the throat and chin and into brown on the flanks
and lower tail-coverts.
Young birds appear to moult into the adult plumage from the
downy stage. Some young birds from. Saugor in the Hume
collection, though nearly full-grown, retain some black down on
the head ; one of these is figured in Hume and Marshall's ' Game
Birds.'
Bill greenish ; irides red-brown ; legs and feet fleshy brown or
livid purple (Jerdon).
Length of males 11; tail 2'5 : wing 5; tarsus 2; bill from
gape 1*5. Females are rather smaller.
Distribution. Resident throughout Northern India, commonest
along the base of the Himalayas, rare in Bengal and the plains
generally. This Rail has been recorded from several parts of
Central India and the Central Provinces, S.E. Bengal, Rajputaua,
the Deccan, and Mysore, but not from the Western Punjab or
AMAUKOKNIS. 173
Siud, nor from the Carnatic, the Malabar coast, or Ceylon. To
the eastward it has been obtained in the North Khasi hills,
but not elsewhere in Assam or Burma ; it occurs, however, in
China.
Habits, $c. This is rather a Moorhen than a Rail ; it is less
aquatic than other Indian Crakes, and may often be seen running
about in the early morning searching for food — insects, small
snails and slugs, worms and seeds — on bare ground and even on
rocks near water. It is found as often about rivers and ponds as
about marshes, and it walks and swims like Gallinula. It breeds,
according to Barnes, twice in the monsoon, in June or July and
again in August and September. The nest of coarse grass
resembles that of a Moorhen, but is smaller. The eggs, 4 to 8
in number, are oval, pinkish white, with purplish and reddish-
brown spots and underlying faint purple blotches. They measure
about 1-49 by M.
1401. Amaurornis phcenicuras. The White-breasted Water-lien.
Gallinula phoenicurus, Penn. 2nd. Zool. p. 10, pi. ix (1769) ; Morgan,
Ibis, 1875, p. -323 ; Newton, S. F. viii, p. 415.
Porzana phcenicura, Bluth, Cat. p. 284; id. Ibis, 1867, p. 171;
Hi/me, S. F. i, p. 251 ; Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burm. p. 161 ;
Butler, S. F. vii, p. 187.
Gailinula phcenicura, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 720; Godiu.-Aust. J. A.
S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 274 ; Aitken. S. F. i, p. 424 ; Hume, 8. F.
ii, p. 300 ; id. N. 8f E. p. 599 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 21 ; v, p. 224 ;
Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 466 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 229.
Erythra phcenicura, Reichenb. Natiirl. Syst. Vogel, p. xxi (1852) ;
Gates, S. F. v, p. 165 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 691 ;
Cripps, S. F. vii, p. 306 ; Hume, Cat. no. 907 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl.
p. 786 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 87 ; Butler, ibid. p. 431 ; Reid, S. F.
x, p. 73; Davison, ibid. p. 415; Macgregor, ibid. p. 441 ; Parker,
Ibis, 1883, p. 195 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 368 ; Hume, S. F. xi,
p. 328 ; Oates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 391.
Erythrura phcenicura, Oaten, B. B. ii, p. 348.
Amaurornis phoenicura, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) iv, p. 612 ;
Barnes, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. i, p. 60 ; vi, p. 138, fig. 907 ; Shar^e,
Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 156.
Amaurornis insularis (subsp.), Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 162.
Dawak, Dahak, Dauk, H. ; Kinati, Oudh ; Kurahi, Sind ; Kureyn,
Gond ; Boli-Kadi, Tel. ; Tannin-Koli, Kanung-Koli, Tarn. (Ceylon) :
Kdlu-ywet, Burm.
Coloration. Broad forehead and sides of face, including the
orbits and ear-coverts, chin, throat, fore neck, and breast white ;
upper parts generally and sides of body dark slaty grey, more or
less washed and concealed by olive ; rump and upper tail-coverts
olive-brown ; quills blackish brown ; outer margin of first primary
and edge of wing white ; tail dark brown ; abdomen buff in the
middle ; lower flanks, sides of rump, vent, and lower tail-coverts
pale dull chestnut.
174 RALLID/E.
In young birds the forehead, crown, and upper parts generally
are olive-brown, and the white of the face and underparts obscured
by dusky tips to the feathers.
Bill green, the frontal portion red ; hides brown to red ; legs
and feet yellow to yellowish olive.
Length 12'5 ; tail 2-5 ; wing 6'5 ; tarsus 2*25 ; bill from gape
1*5. Females are rather smaller than males, and skins from
Ceylon appear to measure less than those from Northern India.
Fig. 36. — Head of A. phoenicurus. ^.
The race inhabiting the Andamans and Nicobars forms the sub-
species A. insularis of Sbarpe. It has the white of the forehead
extended over the anterior part of the crown, whilst that of the
breast is confined to a narrow strip in the middle. Undoubtedly
the insular form is a well-marked race, but its peculiarities are
sometimes found in mainland specimens.
Distribution. Almost throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma,
with the greater part of the Oriental region, to Celebes and
Formosa. This Water-hen appears not to be found in the
Himalayas above the swampy ground at the foot of the hills, and
becomes rare in North -western India.
Habits, <$f*c. This is the commonest and most familiar Indian
bird of the whole family, and is often found about gardens and
village cultivation, as well as near tanks and marshes. It feeds
in the open, and when disturbed runs rapidly, with its tail raised,
into cover. It feeds on insects, molluscs, grain, &c. It is an ex-
cessively noisy bird : its loud, hoarse, reiterated call, predominating
in the evening and morning over the cries of the other waders and
the ducks in the village tank, must be familiar to most people in
India. The breeding-season is from May to September, varying
with the locality. The nest, sometimes 011 the ground, more often
on reeds, bamboos, bushes, or trees standing in water, is the usual
pad of grass, rushes, and leaves, often resting on twigs. The eggs,
4 to 8 in number, measure about 1-57 by 1*18, and are buff with
spots, streaks, and blotches of brownish red and pale purplish
grey.
GALLINULA. 175
Genus GALLINULA, Brisson, 1760.
Bill moderate, the basal portion of the culmen bent up on the
forehead to form a frontal shield that is rounded behind ; nostrils
elongate. Toes fringed with a membrane and extremely long,
the mid-toe without claw exceeding the tarsus in length. In the
wing the 2nd quill is longest, or the 2nd and 3rd equal ; the 1st
is equal to the 5th or 6th.
Of this genus, which is found throughout the greater part of
the world, six species are enumerated in Sharpe's Catalogue, but
onlv one occurs in India.
1402. Gallinula chloropus. The Moorhen.
Fulica chloropus, Linn. Si/sf. Nat. i, p. 258 (1766).
Gallinula chloropus, Blyth, Cat. p. 286 ; Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 718 :
Godw.-Anst. J. A. 8. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 274; xlv, pt. 2, p. 84 ;
Hume, S. F. i, p. 250 ; Adam, ibid. p. 398 ; Stoliczka, S. F. ii,
p. 461 ; Hume $ Oates, S. F. iii, p. 187 ; Blyth $ Wald. Birds
Burin, p. 162; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 20; v, p. 224; ix, p. 431 ;
Inglis, S. F. v, p. 46 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 466 ; Anders.
Yunnan Exped., Aves p. 692; Ball $ Hume, S. F. vii, p. 229;
Legae, Birds Ceyl. p. 781 ; Hume, Cat. no. 905 ; Doig, S. F. viii,
p. 371 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 87 ; Parker, S. F. ix, p. 483 ; Biddulph,
Ibis, 1881, p. 98; Scully, ibid. p. 590; Reid, S. F. x, p. 73;
Davison, ibid. p. 415; Macgregor, ibid. p. 441; Oates, B. B. ii,
p. 347 : Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 368 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. i,
p. 62 ;' vi, p. 138 ; Parker, Ibis, 1886, p. 187 ; Hume, S. F. xi,
p. 328; Oates in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 389; Sharpe,
Yarkand Miss., Aves, p. 146 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 169.
Gallinula parvifrons, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii, p. 180 (1843).
Gallinula burnesii, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxiii, p. 737 ; Jerdon, B. I.
iii, p. 719 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 171 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 599 ; id.
Cat. no. 906.
Jal-Murghi, H. ; Dakah-paira, Beng. ; Jumbu-Kodi, Boli-Kodi, Tel.
Fig. 37. — Head of G. chloropus. \.
Coloration. Head and neck blackish grey, passing into dark
slaty grey on the breast arid flanks, the latter with a few broad
white stripes; back and scapulars brownish olive; rump and
tertiaries browner ; wing-coverts more olive ; quills and primary-
coverts blackish brown ; edge of wing and generally the outer
1 76 EALLID.E.
border of the first primary white ; outer tail-feathers black :
middle of abdomen, with rare exceptions, partly white ; under tail-
coverts white, except a tuft of shorter coverts in the middle, which
is black.
Young birds have the head, neck, and lower parts brownish
grey ; the latter much mixed with white.
Frontal shield and basal half or two-thirds of bill red, remainder
of bill greenish yellow ; irides red ; tibia and front of tarsus greenish
yellow, hind part of tarsus and all toes slaty green ; an orange ring
round the tibia just below the feathPred portion (Oates}.
Length 12-5 ; tail 2-75 ; wing 6*5 ; tarsus 1'9 ; bill from gape I'l.
Females run smaller. Indian birds are smaller than European.
Distribution. The greater part of Europe, Asia, and Africa,
including the whole of India, Ceylon, and Burma. This species
is in India a resident or a partial migrant, leaving particular tracts
in the season when swamps and streams are dry. In Gilgit the
Moorhen is only found when passing in the spring and autumn.
Habits, $c. In India the Moorhen is more commonly found
about reedy tanks and marshes, especially those much covered
with floating vegetation, than on the banks of rivers, though it
also resorts to the latter at times. It swims well with a jerky
movement, and it runs when on land with the tail erect and the
white under tail -coverts conspicuous. Like other Bails, it feeds
on various kinds of vegetable food and on insects. The breeding-
season in India varies somewhat, but is generally in July, August,
and September in the plains. In the hills this bird is believed to
breed twice : in May and again about July. The nest is a bulky
platform of straw, flags, or rushes, in the water or close to it,
sometimes in a bush, and the eggs, 5 to 9 in number, are pale
stone-colour, spotted and speckled with red, reddish brown, and
purple, and measuring about 1-62 by 1-21.
Genus GALLICREX, Blyth, 1849.
Bill stout, of moderate length, about as long as the long hind-
toe without the claw ; frontal shield pointed behind, much larger
in males than in females, and in the breeding- season terminating
on the vertex in a fleshy horn-like peak. All toes long, the middle
toe, without claw, longer than the tarsus. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th
quills subequal, the 3rd generally slightly the longest, 1st between
the 6th and 8th in length. Sexes dissimilar, males larger than
females.
A single species.
1403. Gallicrex cinerea. The Kora or Water-Cod'.
Fulica cinerea, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 702 (1788).
Gallinula cristata, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, p. 773 (1790).
Eallus rufescens, Jerdon. Mad. Jour. L. S. xii, p. 205 (1840).
GALLICREX. 177
Gallicrex cristata, Blyth, Cat. p. 283; Jcrdon, B. I. iii, p. 716;
Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 171 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2,
p. 142 ; Adam, S. F. i, p. 397 ; Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burm.
p. 161; Blanford, S. F. v, p. 247; Butler, S. F. vii, p. 187;
Simson, Ibis, 18S2, p. 94 ; Littledale, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. v,
p. 416; Lester, op. cit. xi, p. 321.
Gallicrex cinerea, W olden, Ibis, 1873, p. 317 ; Hume, N. fy E. p. 596 ;
Hume, S. F. ii, p. 300 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 531 ; Hume $ Oates, S. F.
iii, p. 187; Oates, 8. F. v, p. 165; Wardl. Rams. Ibis 1877,
p. 471 ; Hume fy Dav. 8. F. vi, p. 466; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 229 ;
Cripps, ibid. p. 305 ; Hume, Cat. no. 904 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl.
p. 791 ; Barnes, S. F. x, p. 167 ; id. Birds Bom. p. 367 ; id. Jour.
Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 137, fig. 904 (egg) ; Oates, B. B. ii,
p. 349; id. in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 387; Hume fy
Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 327 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 183.
Kora, Kongra, H. &c. ; Ktttala, Cing. in North Ceylon ; Willi-
kukulu in South ; Tannir-koli, Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Boun-dote, Burm.
Fig. 38.— Head of Gr. cinereus. |.
Coloration. Males in summer plumage have the head, neck,
and lower parts black, more or less tinged with grey, and
generally with some white mixed on the abdomen ; back, rump,
scapulars, and upper surface of wings blackish brown with ashy-
grey borders to the back-feathers, scapulars, and some of the
coverts, and light brown borders elsewhere; quills and tail-
feathers blackish brown ; white on the edge of the wing and on
the outer web of the 1st primary; under tail-coverts buffy white
with dark brown bars. In autumn the male moults into the
female garb, which it wears in winter, the breeding-plumage being
reassumed in spring, by change of colour in the feathers according
to Blyth.
Females are dark brown above, with pale brown edges to the
feathers except on the crown ; sides of head and neck lighter
brown ; lower parts light brown to pale buff, with rather wavy
dark brown cross-bars ; the chin, throat, and middle of the
abdomen generally unbarred ; wing- and tail-feathers as in male.
Young birds resemble the female, but the bars on the lower
plumage are often indistinct and sometimes wanting.
YOL. IV. N
ITS BALLIDJE.-
In males the bill and shield are red, anterior portion of bill
duller; irides red; eyelids plumbeous; legs and toes red (Gates).
In females the bill is yellowish horny ; irides yellowish brown ;
legs and feet dusky green.
Length of male 17 ; tail 3 ; wing 8-5 ; tarsus 3 ; bill from gape
1-7. Length of female 14 ; tail 2-6 ; wing 7 ; tarsus 2*6.
Distribution. Common in the damp warm swampy plains of
India, Ceylon, and Burma, especially in Bengal, Cachar, Assam,
and Pegu, also in the Andamans, parts of Ceylon and of the
Malabar coast ; rare in drier tractsf though specimens have been
obtained in Sind, Cutch, Guzerat, and Kajputana; wanting in
general in hilly regions. Outside of Indian limits this bird
is found throughout the Malay countries to China, Japan, the
Philippines, and Java.
Habits, $c. The Water-cock hides in the thick vegetation of
swamps, in grass or rice cultivation, and in brushwood, and is
more often heard than seen, being crepuscular or nocturnal in
habits. It has a loud booming cry, uttered especially during the
breeding-season. It is often kept tame in Dacca, Sylhet, and
Assam ; tame males, according to Mr. Cripps, being employed to
capture wild birds of the same sex. The Water-ccck is said by all
to be excellent eating : its food is mainly vegetable. The breeding-
season is in July and August, the nest being a mass, varying in
size, of rushes, grass, &c., amongst reeds or on floating leaves
of lotus and singhara (Trapa\ and the eggs are stone-coloured
with spots of brownish red and pale purple, and measure about T7
by 1-27.
Genus PORPHYRIO, Brisson, 1760.
The Blue Moorhens are distinguished at once by coloration and
by the thick, compressed, rather short and high bill, small rounded
nostril not placed in a groove, and broad frontal shield covering
all the anterior portion of the crown and squarely truncated
behind. The wing is rounded, the first quill about equal to the
6th or 7th ; 2nd, 3rd, and 4th subequal. Tarsus and toes very
long. Sexes alike.
About 13 species are known from Africa, Madagascar, the
Mediteranean region, Southern Asia, the Malay Archipelago,
Australia, Kew Zealand, and the Pacific islands. One species is
Indian.
1404. Porphyrio poliocephalus. The Purple Moorhen.
Gallinula poliocephala, Lath. Ind. Orn. Suppl. p. Ixviii (1801).
p. c>9 ; Ball, ibid. p. 229 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 305 ; Hume, Cat. no. 902 ;
POIIPILYRIO. 179
Doiq, S. F. viii, p. 371; Leyge, Birds CeyL p. 795 ; 'Binyham,
F. ix, p. 197 ; Parker, ibid. p. 483 ; id. Ibis, 1883, p. 194 ; 1886,
. 187 ; Barnes, S. F. ix, p. 459 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 72 ; Davidson,
vi, p. 135, fig. 902 (egg) ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 326 ; St. John,
Ibis, 1889, p. 177 ; Oates in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 384 ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 197.
Porphyrio neglectus, Schfeyel, Mus. Pays-Bas, v, Ralli, p. 53 (1865) ;
Hume, N. $ E. p. 691 j id. S. F. i, pp. 125, 136, 249 ; Hume $
Oates, S. F. iii, p. 181
Kaim, Kalim, Kharim, Khima, II.; Nila boli-kodi, Tel.; K'dtala,
Cing. ; Indura-kukula, dp. (S. Province) ; Sanmiry, Tarn., Ceylon.
Fig. 39.— Head of P. poliocephalus (from above). }.
Coloration. Head pale brownish grey, tinged with cobalt on
cheeks and throat, and passing on the nape into the deep purplish
lilac of the hind neck, back, rump, and upper tail-coverts ; wings
outside, scapulars, and breast light greenish blue ; abdomen and
flanks like the back; wing- and tail -leathers black, blue on the
exposed portions ; under tail-coverts white. No immature plumage;
nestlings on leaving the egg are clad in black down like other Rails
and Water-hens. The grey of the head is due, partly at all events,
to the wearing away of the feathers.
Bill and casque deep red, tinged brown in places ; iricles deep
red ; legs and feet pale rod, brown at joints (Davison}.
Length 17; tail 3'75 ; wing 10; tarsus 3'2; bill from gape
1*5. Females are rather smaller.
Distribution. Throughout the plains of India, Ceylon, and
Burma, in suitable localities. This bird is replaced in the Malay
Peninsula and to the eastward by different species, but ranges
throughout South-western Asia to the Caspian.
Habits, $c. The Purple Moorhen or, as Jerdon calls it, the
Purple Coot (but it is far more like a Moorhen than a Coot),
is found on large pieces of water— tanks, marshes, or rivers —
portions of which are thickly covered by high reeds or bushes ;
amongst these the bird makes its way, clinging to the reeds and
twigs with its huge feet like a gigantic Grass-Warbler. It has,
according to Jerdon, a fowl-like call, and it cortainly is given to
cackling. Its food is mainly vegetable, and it commits great havoc
N 2
180 BALLIDJE.
in rice-fields by cutting down the growing rice. This Moorhen
breeds from July to September, makes a large rush nest, some-
times floating on water, sometimes in reeds, and lays 6 to 8 or even
10 eggs, pale pinkish in colour with numerous red and pale
purplish-grey spots and measuring about 1-93 by 1*39.
Genus FULICA, Linn., 1766.
The Coots, which constitute this, genus, are distinguished by
having their long toes fringed by a broad membrane divided into
convex lobes corresponding to the phalanges, and by the tarsus,
which is considerably shorter than the mid-toe without claw,
bearing a membranous fringe behind. The bill is of moderate
length, compressed, and rather deep, terminating on the forehead
in a frontal disk of varying form. The plumage of all species is
dark grey or blackish. Sexes alike.
This genus is nearly cosmopolitan and includes about 12 species,
of which one is Indian.
1405. Fulica atra. The Coot.
Fulica atra, Linn. Sy*t. Nat.\,y. 257 (1766) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 286 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 715 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 254 ;
Hume $ Henderg. Lih. to Y*rk. p. 293 ; Hume, S. F.\, p. 249 ;
Adam, ibid. p. 397 ; Sutler, S. F. iv, p. 20 ; v, p. 233 ; ix, p. 431 ;
Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 465 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 229 ; Hume,
Cat. no. 903 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 358 ; Tidal. S. F. ix, p. 86 ;
Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 97; Scully, ibid. p. 590 ; Swinhoe, Ibi*,
1882, p. 122 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 72 ; Damdson, ibid. p. 3:22 ; Taylor,
ibid. p. 466 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 352; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 366 ;
id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 136; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 327 ;
Oates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 386 ; Sharpe, Yark. Miss.,
Axes, p. 145 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 210.
Dasari, Dasarni, Ari, Khuskul, Thekari, H. ; Barra Godan (Purneah) ;
Boli-kodi, Tel.
Coloration. Head, neck, and lower tail-coverts black; upper
plumage from neck blackish grey with a steel-blue tinge ; lower
plumage paler and more ashy ; edge of wing and outer web of first
primary white or whitish.
Young birds are brown with the lower plumage partly white
and with white tips to the secondary quills.
Bill and shield bluish white ; irides red; legs and toes liver-
brown, tinged with green on the tarsus ; in summer there is a ring
of yellow-green and red round the tibia (Oates}.
Length 16 ; tail 2-25 ; wing 8-5 ; tarsus 2-25 ; bill from gape 1-4.
Distribution. The greater part of Europe and Asia, with Japan,
the Philippines, and the Ma^ay Archipelago as far as Java. The
Coot has not been observed in Ceylon, but it is found in almost
all parts of India and Burma where there are large pieces of water
HELIORNITHIDjE. 181
much covered with vegetation. It is a resident and breeds in
many parts of India, but in some localities it is merely a cold-
season visitor.
Habits, $c. The Coot resembles a Duck rather than a Rail in
many of its habits, it swims and dives well, and although it rises
with difficulty from the water, flapping along the surface with
wings and feet for many yards, it flies strongly and well, when
once on the wing ; but though often occurring in great numbers, it
never keeps in flocks as Ducks do. It is a noisy bird, especially
in the breeding- season. Its food consists of water-plants, insects,
mollusca, &c. The breeding-season in the Himalayas and Kashmir
is May and June, in the plains of Northern India July and
August. The nest is a huge mass of green rushes and weed,
sometimes in shallow water, sometimes floating, amongst reeds ;
the eggs, 7 to 10 or even 12 in number, are grey or pale brown,
minutely speckled with black, with a few larger purplish-black
spots, and measure about 1-98 by 1*4.
Family HELIOKNITHID.E.
This is a very small family, consisting of 3 genera, each con-
taining one or two species only, and inhabiting the tropical parts
of America, Africa, and South-eastern Asia, one genus in each.
All are externally much like Rails; and the lobed membrane oil
each side of the toes, on account of which the name of Finfoot
was applied by Latham to ihe only form with \\hich he was
acquainted, is very similar to that found in the Coots.
In the Pinfeet the sternum is more massive than in the Rails,
and is broader behind, with a shallow notch on each side. There
is no aftershaft, but the wing is quincubital, the 5th secondary
being present (Seebohm says that it is wanting in Heliornis, but
present in Podica}. There are no bare tracts on the neck. Rec-
trices 18. The deep flexor tendons are somewhat peculiar; the
flexor loncjus hallucis gives off a slip to supply the hallux, and is
then divided into three, each part uniting with a similar branch of
the trih'd ft. perforans diyitorum in order to supply one of the
other three digits. It is manifest that this is merely a modifica-
tion of the ordinary Galline arrangement *.
Very little is known of the food, which probably is similar to
that of Rails. The eggs have not been described, but the young
of Heliornis are said to be two in number and to be hatched naked
and helpless.
* The anatomy of Podica is described by Beddard (P. Z. S. 1890, p. 425),
and that of Heliornis by the same author (Ibis, 181KJ, p. 30).
182
Genus HELIOPAIS, Sharpe, 1893.
Bill from gape longer titan tarsus, stout ; culmen considerably
curved ; no frontal shield ; nostril elongate, pervious, placed ii^ar
the middle of the upper mandible : tarsus shorter than middle toe
without claw ; toes broadly fringed with skin, which is lobed as in
Coots. Wing rounded, 2nd quill or 2nd and 3rd longest, 1st
between 5th and Gth. Tail of 18 feathers, about half as long as
wing, slightly rounded, rectrices broad and stiff. Sexes slightly
different.
A single species. This bird has until recently been placed in
the same genus as the African Podica ; but Dr. Sharpe has shown
that the Asiatic bird is really quite as nearly related to the
American Heliornis, and has rightly, I think, placed it in a distinct
genus.
1406. Heliopais personate. The Mashed Finfoot.
Podica personata, Gray, P. Z. S. 1848, p. 90, Aves, pi. 4 ; Blyth,
J. A. S. B. xxviii, p. 415 ; Tickcll, ibid. p. 455 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1862,
p. 91 ; Blanf. J. A. S. B. xxxviii, pt. 2, p. 191 ; Hume $ Oat.es,
S. F. iii, p. 185 ; Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 102 ; Hume 4" Dav. S. F.
vi, p. 465; Godiv.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xlvii, pt. 2, p. 21;
Cat. no. 903 bis ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 353 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 327.
Heliopais personata, Sharpe, Bull. B. O. Club, vol. i, p. xxxvii (1893) ;
id. Ibis, 1893, p. 439 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 232.
Fig. 40. — Head of H. personata. f .
Coloration. Male. Forehead and anterior part of crown with a
streak running back on each side of the occiput, sides of head to
back of eye, chin, throat, and fore neck, ending in a point behind,
velvet-black, all the black area below the superciliary streaks
narrowly bordered with white; occiput and hind neck bluish grey;
sides of neck and lower fore neck light brownish olive; upper
parts, wings, and tail rufescent brown washed with olive, except
on the larger coverts; quills and rectrices, rump and upper 1ail-
coverrs slightly paler : breast and abdomen white, passing into
light brown on the sides of the body : flanks, vent, and lower
tail-coverts more or less barred brown and white.
HELIOPAIS. 183
In females the chin, throat, and fore neck are white with a
black border, broadest on the cheeks and edged outside with
white as in the male ; the frontal black band is rather narrower ;
otherwise the plumage resembles that of the male sex. Young
birds are like females.
Bill chrome -yellow in males, dull yellow in females ; irides dark
brown in males, yellow in females ; legs and feet pale green,
edges of the webs bright yellow in males, faintly tinged with
yellow in females (Davisori).
Length of male 22 ; tail 5 ; wing 10 ; tarsus 2 ; bill from
gape 2-4. Length of female 20'5; tai!4'5; wing 9*25; tarsus 1*75.
Distribution. From Assam and Cachar throughout Burma to
Malacca and Sumatra, in suitable localities, but very rare.
Habits, $c. This very curious bird has been found on the sea-
coast, in swamps, and on rivers and mountain streams. 1 believe
I once killed one on the Irrawaddy above Prome, but I did not
know the bird and did not preserve it. According to Dcivison
it swims deep in the water, with only the head and neck above
the surface ; it runs quickly, holding its body in a peculiar way,
at an angle to the ground of about 45°. It is shy, and when
disturbed takes refuge in cover or flies up, slowly at first, but
strongly when fairly on the wing. The food consists of mollusca
and insects, probably of vegetable substances also ; the flesh is
said by Davison to be delicious. Nidification unknown.
Fig. 41. — Anthropoides virgo.
Suborder GRUES.
Schizognathous and schizorhinal birds with 17 to 20 cervical
vertebrae and, as a rule, without notches on the posterior border
of the sternum. Oil-gland tufted. Caeca present. Deep flexors
Galline. Ambiens present, also the seniitendinosus and accessory
semitendinosus ; the femoro- caudal and its accessory are wanting in
one genus, Balearica, present in, others. The young are hatched
clad in down, and run at once.
Besides the true Cranes or Gruidce, the American Aramidce and
Jce are referred to this suborder.
GRUIDJE. 385
Family GRUID^E.
The true Cranes are birds of large size with long necks and legs,
19 or 20 cervical vertebrae, the bill as long as the head or longer,
and a depression which extends on each side halt' or more than half:
the length of the upper mandible, and contains the nostril shut in by
a large membrane on the posterior side. Tail-feathers 12, primaries
11. Aftershaft present, but small ; no fifth secondary; the lateral
bare tracts extend some distance up the neck. Trachea passing
into a hollow space between the bony walls of the sternal keel, and
more or less convoluted ; furcula anchylosed to keel of sternum.
Cranes are generally grey or white in colour. They are in the
main vegetable feeders, though they occasionally eat insects,
reptiles, or fish. All have a loud trurnpet-like call, the production
of which is probably connected with the tracheal convolutions. The
majority are migratory and gregarious. They breed on the ground,
usually in marshy places, and lay two eggs, as a rule, in a rough
nest of grass and rushes. They generally appear to pair for life, and
indulge in most extraordinary dances during the nuptial season.
The Cranes have been divided into a large number of genera,
some of which, distinguished solely by differences in the extent to
which the head is feathered, are not here adopted.
Key to the Genera.
a. Crown naked or scantily clad with black
hairs; feathers of fore neck not lengthened. Gnus, p. 185.
b. Head feathered throughout, feathers of fore
neck lengthened ANTHROPOIDES, p. 190.
Genus GRUS, Pallas, 1766.
Head partly or wholly bare of feathers. Wings long, ample,
3rd quill usually longest ; tertiary quills lengthened, exceeding the
primaries considerably : tail short ; tibia naked for a considerable
portion of its length. Toes short, stout; claws short, rather
obtuse. Sexes alike in plumage.
Cranes are widely distributed. Four species are Indian or
Burmese.
Key to the Species.
a. Plumage grey.
a'. Crown naked in adults ; sides of head and
upper neck feathered ; tarsus less than 10. G. communis, p. 186.
b1. ^VVhole head and upper neck without
feathers; tarsus over ll.
a". A white collar G. antigone, p. 188.
b". No white collar G. sharpii, p. 189.
b. Plumage white G. leucoyeranus, p. 187.
186
1407. Grus communis. The Common Crane.
Ardea grus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 234 (1760].
Grus comnmnis, Bechst. Naturg. DeutscJiL iii, p. 60 (1793) :
Cat. no. 865 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 21, pi. : Butler, S. F.
iv, p. 15 ; ix, p. 427 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 68 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 341.
Grus cinerea, Meyer $ Wolf, Taschenb. ii, p. 350 (1810) ; Blijth,
Cat. p. 274; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 664 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1873, p. 81 ;
Hnme, S. F. i, p. 235 ; Adam, ibid. p. 395 ; Butler, S F. iv, p. 15 ;
Fairbank, ibM. p. 263 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 227 ; Scully, S. F. viii.
p. 352 ; Simson, Ibis, 1882, p. 93.
Grus grus et G. lilfordi, Sharpe, Cat*B. M. xxii, pp. 2oO, 2c2 (1894).
Kunmch, Kurch, Kuhutg, H. ; Kutij, Sind ; Kallam, Deccan ; Kulangi,
Tel.
Coloration. Crown and lores nearly naked, with scattered black
hnirs ; on the nape a blackish-slaty triangular patch, the point
behind ; a white band down each side of the head from the eye,
joining behind the nape and covering the hind neck ; cheek, chin,
throat, fore neck, and sides of neck dark slaty like the nape ; rest
of plumage above and below ashy grey, paler or darker, except the
winglet, the primaries, the greater primary-coverts away from
their bases, and the tips of the secondaries and tertiaries, which
are black; ends of the tail-feathers blackish.
Young birds are brownish owing to the grey feathers having
isabelline edges, and the head is feathered throughout. The
nestlings are covered with down of a yellowish-buff colour. In
old birds the webs of the elongate tertiary quills are free, and the
tertiaries form a loose- textured plume.
Skin of crown blackish, with a broad band of dingy red across
the occiput; bill dingy horny green, yellowish towards the tip;
i rides orange-red to reddish brown; legs and feet black, soles
brown to fleshy.
Length about 45; tail 8; wing 22 to end of primaries; tarsus 9'5;
bill from gape 4-6.
Distribution. A migratory bird, breeding in Northern Europe
and Northern Asia, and wintering in Southern Europe, Northern
Africa, South-western Asia, Northern India, and China. In India
this Crane is found as far south as the Mahanadi of Orissa to the
eastward, and throughout the Bombay Deccan, and it is said to
occur in Travancore (this requires confirmation) ; but it is unknown
generally in Southern India and throughout Ceylon, Assam, and
Burma, and is more common in Northern than in Central India.
Dr. B. B. Sharpe in his Catalogue distinguished the Eastern
Crane as G. lilfordi on account of its paler coloration. Mr. Blyth
long ago pointed out some distinctions in the colour of the naked
crown. But it is extremely doubtful whether any differences are
constant, and I learn from Dr. Sharpe that he no longer looks
upon the Eastern Crane as a distinct species.
Habits, <$fc. The Common Crane arrives in Northern India in
October and leaves about March, a few stragglers remaining
Longer. It is usually seen in flocks, large or small, which pass the
. .GRUS. 187
middle of the day and the whole night in the sandy beds of rivers
or on the borders of banks or marshes, feed in the grain-fields in
the early morning and in the evening, and fly from one to the
other in an extended line, frequently more or less V-shaped. The
call of this bird is a fine clear note, often uttered during flight and
not unfrequently heard when the birds are at so great a height in
the air as to be almost out of sight. Cranes that have fed for a
time on the grain and shoots of wheat, rice, gram, arhar, and other
crops are delicious ; ill-fed birds are coarse. The Common Crane
has not been known to breed in India.
1403. Grus leucogeranus. The Great White or Siberian Crane.
Grus leucogeranus, Pall. Reis. Russ. R?ichs, ii, p. 714 (1773);
Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 243; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 663; Blyth, Ibis,
1867, p. 166 ; Hume, Ibin, 1868, p. 28 : Brooks, Ibis, 1869, p. 237;
McMasterj J. A. 8. B. xl, pt. 2, p. 215 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 23n ;
Butler, S. F. vii, p. 187; Hume, Cat. no. 864; Hume & Marsh.
Game B. iii, p. 11, pi.; Reid, S. F. x, p. 67; Barnes, Birds
Bom. p. 341.
Sarcoo-eranus leucopreranus, SJtarpe, Bull. B. O. Club, vol. i, p. xxxvii
(1893) ; id. Ibis, 1893, p. 439; id. Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 2H1.
Kdre-Khar (N. W. P.) ; Tunhi (Oudh); Chini Kulang (Hansi), H.
Coloration. Fore part of crown and sides of head to behind the
eyes bare of feathers. Plumage white throughout, except the
primaries and their greater coverts with the winglet, which are
black. Young birds have the head feathered throughout and the
plumage tinged with buff.
Naked skin of head dull reddish ; hill umber-brown ; irides
bright pale yellow ; legs and feet pale reddish pink (Hume).
Length of male about 54; tail 8: wing 24; tarsus 11; bill
from gape 7*75. Females are rather smaller, wing 23.
. Distribution. A rare winter visitor to parts of North-western
India, chieflv the Eastern Punjab, Northern Smd, the North-west
Provinces, and Oudh. Mr. Forsyth saw a flock at Dehri near
Sasseram, and Col. McMaster shot a straggler near Nagpur. This
Crane breeds in Siberia, and is found occasionally throughout
Northern and Central Asia.
habits, &fc. We are indebted to Hume for most of our know-
ledge of this bird. It is found in India, either in family parries
generally consisting of three (the two old birds and one young)
or in small flocks, probably composed of birds in their second
year that have not paired. They arrive in October and leave
about the end of March, and during their residence remain
constantly about particular large marshes (jhils), keeping in
shallow water and feeding on water-plants. They are exceedingly
wary. Their cry is described by Hume as a feeble repetition of a
sound like Kdrtlchar, the native name, but it is said by Brooks to
be merely a whistle. By all observers this Crane is described as a
most beautiful and graceful bird, excelling even the Sarus in this
respect. The nidification is unknown.
188 GBUID,E.
1409. Grns antigone. The Sams.
Ardea antigone, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 235 (1766).
Grus collaris, Bodd. Tabl. PI. EnL p. 52 (1783); Tec/etmewr, Ed.
Blyth's Cranes, p. 45.
Grus antigoue, Jerdon, Madr. Jour. L. S. xii, p. 193; Blyth, Cat.
p. 274; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 242 ; Jerdon, 11 . I. iii, p. 6(32 ; btoliczka,
J. A. 8. B. xli, pt, 2, p. 252; Hayes Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 416;
Hume, N. $ E. p. 584 ; id. 8. F. \, p. 234 ; Adam, ibid. p. 395 ;
Butler, S. F. iv, p. 14 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 227 ; Hume, Cat.
no. 863 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 352^ Hume $ Marsh. Game B. iii,
p. 1, pi., p. 435, pi. iv (egg) ; Teyetmeier, Ed. Blyth's Crane*,
p. 47 : Reid, S. F. x, p. 67 ; JDavidson, ibid. p. 319; Simson, His,
1882,' p. 93; Swinh. fy Barnes, Ibis, 1885, p. 133; Barnes, Birds
Bom. p. 340 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Sue. i, p. 59 ; ii, p. 149 ; Oaies
in Humes N. Sf E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 372 ; Bulkley, Jour. Bom. N. II.
Soc. viii, p. 148.
Antigone collaris, Sharpc, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 262.
Saras, Sirhans, II. ; Khui'-sany, Assam.
Coloration. Head and upper neck without feathers, except a
grey patch of ear-coverts on each side, the throat and a ring round
the nape rather thickly covered with black hairs. Neck pure
white, passing at the base into the bluish ashy grey of the plumage
generally ; the primaries, greater primary-coverts, and winglet are
black or blackish brown ; secondaries towards their tips and the
whole tertiaries varying from grey to white.
Young birds have the head and upper neck clad with short
rusty-buff feathers. The nestling is covered with down, rich
deep brown above, rufous on the sides and head, whitish beneath.
Bill pale greenish horny with dark tip ; skin of crown pale ashy
green ; papillose skin of head and neck orange-red ; iris orange ;
legs reddish or flesh-colour (TicJcell). The red of the face and
neck becomes brighter about April, and the white neck-collar more
denned and conspicuous.
Length of male about 58 ; tail 10 ; wing to end of primaries 25 ;
tarsus 12; bill from gape 6*5. Females are slightly smaller :
wing 24 ; tarsus 11.
Distribution. Eesident throughout the plains of Northern India
in suitable places, from the base of the Himalayas to the Tapti or
perhaps a little farther in Western India, and to the Godavari
near the east coast. This Crane ranges west to the Indus and
eastward as far as Lakhimpur in Assam (unless the Assam bird
turns out to be the next species). Jerdon says the JSarus is
common in Khaudesh, but Davidson and Major Probyn found it
very rare there ; and it is unknown in the Bombay Deccan. The
statement in some works that 6r. antiyone is found around the
Caspian Sea is probably due to error, caused by Pallas having
used the name for a different species.
Habits, fyc. The ISarus is usually seen in pairs, each pair often
accompanied by a young bird, or occasionally by two, in open
GRUS. 189
marshy ground, on the borders of swamps or large tanks. Some-
times small flocks are met with. Though not regarded as sacred,
except in a few localities, these birds are very rarely molested in
India, and they are consequently tame and unwary. They have a
loud trumpet-like call, uttered when they are disturbed, and
especially on the wing. When they fly they only rise a few yards
from the ground. The food of this Crane is varied ; vegetables,
reptiles, insects, and mollusca contributing. The Sarus pairs for
life, and if one of a pair is killed, the survivor is said not unfre-
quently to pine and die. The breeding-season is in July, August,
and September, though nests and eggs have been found in
February and March. A huge nest is built of rushes, grass, &c.,
several feet in diameter at the base, and frequently 3 or 4 feet
hio-h ; it is usually either in shallow water or surrounded by flooded
ground, and in it two eggs are laid (three very rarely). The eggs
are white or nearly white, blotched and clouded, thinly as a rule,
with pale yellowish brown and purplish grey, and they measure
on an average 3-96 by 2-56.
1410. GTUS sharpii. The Burmese Sarus.
Grus antigone, apud Jerdon, B. I. in, p. 662, pt. ; Beavan, P. Z. S.
1867, p. 762; Blyth, Birds Burnt, p. 157 ; Gates, S. F. v, p. 164;
Wardl. Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 469 ; Hume Sf Dav. S. F, vi,
p. 458 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 684 ; Gates, B. B. ii,
p. 354 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 317 ; nee. Ardea antigone, L.
Antigone antigone, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 264.
Grus (Antigone) sharpii, Blanf. Bull B. O. Club, vol. v, p. vii (1895) ;
id. Ibis, 1896, p. 136.
Gyo-gya, Burmese.
Coloration. The plumage generally is darker and the back less
pure grey than in G. antigone, and the secondaries and tertiaries
are grey like the back ; but the most conspicuous distinction is the
absence in the present species of any white ring round the neck at
all seasons.
Bill and coronal skin greenish glaucous, skin of the face and
neck pale brick- red ; irides reddish orange ; legs fleshy pink,
brownish in front ( Wardlaw Ramsay). Dimensions the same as
those of G. antigone.
Distribution. The plains of Burma, Siam, and Cochin China.
There are skins in the British Museum sent by Cantor from
Penang, but Hume doubts the occurrence of this bird wild in the
Malay Peninsula. Anderson obtained specimens at Tsitkaw, north-
west of Bhaino, and Hume saw several in Manipur, all probably of
the present species, but the limits of this and of G. antigone are
not ascertained.
Habits the same as those of the last species.
Hume once saw in Manipur (S. F. xi, p. 317) a flock of dark-
coloured Cranes with white heads and necks, resembling G.monachus
190 GRUIDJE.
of Xorth-easfern'Asia. Anderson also at Ponsee, west of Bhtimo;
saw flocks of Cranes flying towards Burma in March. He took
them for G. antigone (6r. sharpii), but that species is not known to
collect in flecks. Captain Couch man (Jour. Bom. N. H. 8oc. vii,
p. 450) saw Cranes in the marshes near Myothit, like G. cinerevs
in colour, shape, and call, but with a scarlet hood or crest. Our
knowledge of the Cranes of Upper Burma is evidently still
imperfect.
Genus ANTHROPOIDES, Vieillot, 1816.
The smallest Indian Crane, the Demoiselle, forms the type of n
well-marked genus, having the bill and legs shorter in proportion
than in Grus ; the head feathered throughout, with, on each side,
from behind the ear-coverts, a white plume or aigrette of feathers
with dissociated webs. The feathers of the lower fore neck
lanceolate and elongate, projecting in front of the breast.
Tertiary quills much lengthened.
1411. Anthropoides virgo. The Demoiselle Crane.
(Fig. 41, p. Ib4.)
Ardea vlrgo, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 234 (1766).
Grus vivgo, Full. Zooyr. Eos&o-Asiat . ii, p. 108; Scully, Ibis, 1881.
p. 588.
p. 263 ; Hume, Cat. no. 866; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 352 ; Hume
Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 31, pi. : Bidtlulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 95;
Butler, S. F. ix, p. 427 ; Reid, IS. F. x, p. 68 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 320;
Barnes, Birds B^m. p. 342 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 269.
Karkarra, H. ; Ghanto, Nepal : Karkuchi, Mahr. ; Kallam, Deccaii ;
Garara, Uriya ; Wada-Koruka, Tel. ; Karkoncha, Can.
Coloration. Forehead, sides of crown, and sides of head, with
the chin, throat, whole fore neck, and a broad ring round the nape
black; feathers on lower eyelid, arid a streak from the back of the
eye over the ear-coverts, ending behind in a long plume, white ;
crown and the upper parts from a little behind the nape ashy
grey ; breast and abdomen the same, slightly darker ; the sinciput
streaked with black; winglet, larger primary-coverts, and pri-
maries black, secondaries brownish grey tipped with blackish, and
tertiaries, for the most part, with black tips ; tail-feathers dark
grey above, blackish below.
Young birds have the head grey, streaked with black, and the
lengthened plumes are ill-developed.
Bill greenish, reddish at the tip; irides red ; legs black.
Length about 33 ; tail 6-5 ; wing 19 ; tarsus 7; bill from gape 3.
Distribution. A migratory bird, breeding in Southern and Eastern
OTTDES. 191
Europe, Southern Siberia, and parts of Central and Western Asia,
and spending the winter in North-eastern Africa, India, and
China. In India it is most common in the Deccan, Guzerat, and
Kattywar, occurring in immense flocks; less common, though far
from rare, throughout North- western and Northern India, and in
the Peninsula as far south as Mysore ; it is rare farther south,
though it has been seen at Kollegal, Coimbatore district, by
Mr. Theobald, and it is said to occur even at Tinnevelly ; but it is
unknown on the Malabar coastlands, in Ceylon, in Lower Bengal',
Assam, and Burma.
Habits, $-e. The Demoiselle arrives in India early in October,
and leaves, as a rule, in April. Hume says the birds apparently
arrive in Guzerat and the Deccan earlier than they do in Northern
India and remain later, and he suggests that the birds so numerous
in the Bombay Presidency may come from Africa. The habits of
this bird resemble those of the Common Crane, but it associates in
much larger flocks, and its call-note is quite different and much
harsher. The flocks often spend hours during the day flying and
circling in the air at considerable heights. The name of viryo is
said to have been derived from the bird's " elegant appearance and
dancing propensity" (//. T. Wharton). When well fed the
Demoiselle, like the Common Crane, is delicious eating.
Suborder OTIDES.
The Bustards appear, to form a link between Eails and Cranes
on one side and Plovers on the other, but are nearest on the whole
to the Cranes. They are sehizognathous and holorhinal, with 16
or 17 cemcal vertebrae, and with two small notches on each side
of the posterior border of the sternum. No oil-gland. Caeca long.
There is no hallux, and the deep flexor tendons simply unite, and
then the united tendon divides into three. Ambiens muscle,
accessory femoro-caudal, semitendinosus, and accessory semitendi-
nosus present; feinoro- caudal wanting. A single family.
192 OTIDLDjE.
Family OTIDID^E.
Cervical vertebrae 16 or 17. Bill as a rule shorter than the head
or equal to it in length. Tail-feathers 16 to 20: primaries 11.
An aftershaft present ; no fifth secondary ; no bare tracts on the
neck. Tarsus and bare portion of tibia covered with small scales ;
the three toes short, stout, scutellated above ; soles very broad,
claws short and blunt. Males of many species with a gular pouch
opening beneath the tongue and serving to inflate the neck.
Bustards are birds of stout build, with both neck and legs rather
ong, and both carried, when the bird is walking, nearly at right
angles to the body, giving a peculiar and characteristic appearance.
They chiefly inhabit open ground or grass. A small depression
in the ground, without lining or with very little, serves as a nest,
and the eggs are olive in colour and double-spotted. The young
birds when hatched are covered with down, and run almost
immediately after leaving the egg.
This family inhabits Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Six
species are Indian, each referred by some naturalists to a distinct
genus, but all are here classed in four genera. Only one of the
species is found in Assam, none in Burma or the Malay countries.
Key to the Genera.
a. No ruff; sexes differing in size or breeding-
plumage or both.
«'. No crest, at all events in females and in males
not breeding.
a". Tarsus about £ as long as wing OTIS, p. 192.
I". Tarsus more than r* as long as wing; head,
neck, and underparts black in breeding
males SYPHEOTIS, p. 198.
&'. A crest; size large EUPODOTIS, p. 194.
b. A ruff on each side of neck ; sexes alike HOUBARA, p. 19(5.
Genus OTIS.
Bill shorter than head, and broader than high, stout ; legs of
moderate length. Wings ample, rounded, third quill usually
longest. No crest or ruff, though in the typical species the male
has long bristly feathers with few and short webs on each side of
the throat, and in another the plumes at the base of the neck are
elongate in the breeding-plumage of the male bird.
A Palsearctic genus. The two species here included are often
referred to distinct genera, and show certainly some well-marked
differences. They have only been found within Indian limits in
the North-western Punjab.
OTIS. 193
Key to the Species.
a. Very large ; wing 19-24 inches O. tarda, p. 193.
b. Small ; wing about 10 inches O. tetrax, p. 193
1412. Otis tarda. The Great Bustard.
Otis tarda, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 264 (1766); Hume, Ibis, 1871,
p. 404: id. S. I. vii, p. 434; Hume $ Marsh. Game-B. i, p. 1,
pi. ; Hume, Cat. no. 836 bis ; Sharpe, Tr. Linn. Soc. (2) v, pt. 3,
p. 87 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 284.
Coloration. Male. Head and upper neck light ashy grey, chin
and long bristly feathers on each side of the throat white ; the
grey passes all round the base of the neck into dull rufous with a
few black spots, which forms a band across the upper breast ; bark,
scapulars, tertiaries, and smaller wing-coverts rufous-buff, closely
and broadly but rather irregularly barred across with black ; lower
back and rump deeper rufous with fewer bars ; median and greater
wing-coverts greyish white ; primaries dark brown ; secondaries
greyish white, with black tips that diminish gradually on the inner
quills ; middle tail-feathers deep rufous like the rump with rather
distant black cross-bars, outermost feathers greyish white with a
subterminal black band, the other rectrices intermediate in colo-
ration between the middle and outer pairs : lower parts from
breast white.
In females and young males the grey of the fore neck comes
down to the upper breast, and there is no rufous gorget ; other-
wise the sexes are similar in plumage. The whiskers are wanting
in females, and the size is smaller.
Bill dull lead-grey, blackish at the tip ; irides dark brown ; legs
dirty earth-grev (Dresser).
Length of male about 42 inches ; tail 11 ; wing 24 ; tarsus 6'5 ;
bill from gape 3-25 : of a female, length 33 inches ; tail 10 ; wing
19 ; tarsus 5 ; bill from gape 2-6. Large males have been shot
weighing as much as 30 pounds, but they take several years to
attain their full growth.
Distribution. Southern and Central Europe and Northern Africa,
with Central Asia as far east as China. A single specimen in the
Hume Collection (now in the British Museum) was obtained near
Mardan, in the extreme north-west of the Punjab, Dec. 23, 1870.
The individual secured, a female, was one of a party of five or six
in a field of mustard.
1413. Otis tetrax. The Little Bustard.
Otis tetrax, Linn. St/st. Nat. i, p. 264 (1766); Jerdon, B. /. Hi,
p. 625 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 163 ; Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 388 ;
Hume, S. F. vii, p. 435; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. i, p. 3, pi.;
Hume, Cat. no. 836 ter; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 94 ; Scully, ibid.
p. 586 ; Swinhoe, Ibis, 1882, p. 119; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 175 ;
Sharve, Yark. Miss., Aves, p. 145.
Tetrax 'campestris, Leach, Syst. Cat. B. M. p. 28 (1810).
Tetrax tetrax, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 287.
Chnta tilur, Punjab.
VOL. IV. O
194 OTIDID^E.
Coloration. Male in winter plumage. Whole upper surface buff,
vermiculatecl with black and with some larger black blotches ;
crown much blotched with black ; hind neck brownish, with fine
black specks and pale mesial streaks to the feathers ; greater
primary-coverts blackish brown with \vhite tips ; primaries dark
brown, all tipped white except the first two or three, and all white
at the base, the wrhite increasing on the inner feathers : second-
aries with their greater and some of their median coverts white,
often a few black spots on the quills : tertiaries like back ; middle
tail-feathers mottled black and buff,*with narrow black cross-bars,
outer feathers similar, but with white instead of buff and with
white tips and bases, the white increasing on the outermost
feathers ; chm and throat whitish ; sides of head and neck and
fore neck streaked and mixed with black and buff ; breast and
remainder of lower parts white.
Females are more coarsely vermiculatecl as a rule on the back
and more blotched with black ; the feathers of the upper breast
are buff with subterminal, more or less crescentic black bars.
Males in breeding-plumage have nob been noticed in India.
They have the cheeks, chin, and throat dark bluish grey, neck all
round blacls, except a U-shaped white band on the fore neck, and
another white pectoral band followed by an equally broad black
one on the upper breast. The feathers of the hind neck are
elongate.
Bill dusky, yellowish at base ; irides light brown ; legs dirty
yellow (Scully}.
Length 18 ; tail 4*75 ; wing 10 ; tarsus 2'5 ; bill from gape 1*5.
Distribution. Southern Europe, Northern Africa, and Central
Asia, including Afghanistan and Tarkand. A few birds occur in
Gilgit, and this species is a regular winter visitant to the extreme
North-western Punjab near Peshawar. A few stragglers are found
occasionally east of the Indus, and the species has been recorded
from Gurdaspur and even from Saharanpur.
Habits, fyc. In the Punjab the Little Bustard keeps much to
fields of mustard. This species has a different flight from other
Bustards ; it rises to a great height in the air, and nutters and
twists about in a peculiar way. It is sometimes shot but more
frequently hawked, the Saker Falcon being trained to capture it.
Genus EUPODOTIS, Lesson, 1839.
This genus is distinguished from Otis by having a considerably
longer bill, longer legs, tail, and wings, by the possession of an
occipital crest in both sexes, and by the feathers of the throat and
fore neck being lengthened. The size is large, but the male much
exceeds the female in this respect.
Four species are known, two of which are African, one Indian,
and one, scarcely distinguishable from the Indian bird, Australian.
EUPODOTIS. 195
1414. Eupodotis edwardsi. TJte Great Indian Bustard.
Otis edwardaii, Gray m Hardw. Ill Ind. Zool. i, pi. 59 (1830-32) ;
Hume, S. F. i, p. 227 ; Adam, S. F. i, p. 393 : ii, p. 339.
Otis nigriceps, Vigors, P.Z.S. 1831, p. 35; SykeSj P. Z. S. 1832,
p. 155.
Eupodotis edwardii, Bfyth, Cat. p. 258.
Eupodotis edwardsii, Jerdon. B. I. iii, p. C07 ; Stoticzka, J. A. S. B.
xli, pt. 2, p. 250 ; Hayes Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 415 ; Hume, N. $ F.
p. 557 ; Sutler, S. F. iv, p. 9 ; ix, p. 424 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game
B. i, p. 7, pi. ; iii, p. 423, pi. i (eggs) ; Davids. Sf Wend. S. F. vii,
p. 87 ; Ball, ibid. p. 226; Hume, Cat. no. 836 ; Wilson, S. F. viii,
p. 490; F. W. Butler, ibid.-, id. S. F. x, p. 161; W. Elliott,
P. Z. 8. 1880, p. 486 ; Tostems, S. F. x, p. 1(57 : Davidson, ibid.
p. 318 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 320; id. Jour. Bom. N. If. Soc. i,
p. 57; vi, p. 11 ; Oates in Humes N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 375;
Shai'pe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 325 ; Rayment, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc.
ix, p. 107.
Tugdar, Punjab ; Gurayin, Hariana ; Sohun, Gughunbher, Hukna. H. ;
Serailu, H. (Nerbudda) ; Bhtrar, Saugor; Hum, Mahr. ; Mdrdhonk,
Mdldhonk, Kdrndhonk, Karfunk, Deccan ; Tokdar of Mahomedan
Falconers: Gurahna, Siiid ; Bat-meka, Bat-myaka, Tel.; Batta mekha,
Yanadi ; Gunad, Pardi ; Kanal-Myle, Tarn. ; Heri-hukki, Ari-kujina-
hukki, Yerc-iaddu, Can.
Coloration. Male. Forehead, crown, and occipital crest black,
rest of head and whole neck white in old birds, minutely barred
with black in younger individuals ; back, scapulars, smaller coverts,
tertiaries, and rump minutely and beautifully vermiculated with
black and buff ; median wing-coverts blackish brown, more or less
tipped with white : greater wing-coverts dark grey, black on outer
edge and tipped white ; outer primaries dark brown, passing into
dark grey on inner primaries and secondaries, the inner secondaries
becoming vermiculated and passing into the coloration of the ter-
tiaries, inner primaries and all secondaries tipped with white, basal
portion of inner webs on the later primaries with white bands ;
tail greyer than back, but similarly vermiculated, all feathers
except the middle pair with a blackish -brown end and the outer-
most tipped with white beyond the brown ; lower parts white
except a black band across the breast, corresponding to the limit
between the white neck and brown back, a few black feathers
intervening round the hind neck ; feathers around vent, lower
tail-coverts, and generally some of the thigh-coverts, blackish
brown with white tips.
The female is much smaller and has narrow blackish vermicu-
lations on the neck, the black pectoral gorget is imperfect. Young
birds have buff tips to the feathers of the crown and mantle,
forming pale spots.
The nestling is covered with down, buff above with black
markings on the head and mantle, whitish below.
Bill dusky above, yellowish beneath ; irides pale yellow with
some brownish specks ; legs and feet dingy pale yellow (Jerdon).
Length of male about 48; tail 12'5; wing 27: tarsus 7'8 ; bill
from gape 4*5 : length of female 37 ; tail 9-5 ; wing 21 ; tarsus
o2
196
6*25. Hens weigh 10 to 20 lb., cocks 25 to 35, and even 40 is
recorded. The male possesses a large gular pouch opening under
the tongue (Elliot, I.e.), as in Otis tarda.
Distribution. The plains of the Punjab between the Indus and
Junma, also Eastern Sind, Cutch, Kattywar, Kajputana, Guzerat,
the Bombay Deccan, the greater part of the Central Provinces,
'extending as far east as Sambalpur, the Hyderabad territories, and
parts of the Madras Presidency, and the Mysore State as far south
as Southern Mysore, and perhaps farther south. Stragglers may
be found outside the area specified, as in Western Sind, Meerut,
and Oudh ; but this Bustard is unknown in Behar, Chutia JNTagpur,
Orissa, and Bengal, on the Malabar coast, and in Ceylon.
Habits, <$'c. The Great Indian Bustard is usually found singly or
in twos or threes, more rarely in flocks, and it keeps chiefly to open
dry country, especially wastes covered with low grass and scattered
cultivation, or sandy ground with small bushes ; it is never found
in forests nor on hills, but it sometimes enters high grass or fields
of millet (jowari), mustard, pulse, &c. It feeds on insects,
especially grasshoppers, on small reptiles, on fruit, grain, shoots of
grass, &c. Its flight is heavy but strong. It has a peculiar deep
booming note, imitated in its Mahratta name, and also a call-note,
described by some observers as a bark or a bellow, by others as a
trumpet sound. These birds, when in open ground, are very difficult
to approach, except on a cart or camel or on horseback, or by the
aid of a bullock or buffalo, but they squat and rest at times, and
are then much less wary. Th* males are magnificent birds, often
standing four feet in height, and they have a peculiar method,
in the breeding-season especially, of inflating their white throats,
doubtless by the aid of the gular pouch, and strutting about to
attract the hens. They are polygamous ; the hen between March
and September, chiefly in July or August, lays in a hollow on the
ground, unlined or thinly lined with grass, a single drab or olive
egg, faintly marked as a rule with brownish clouds, streaks, and
mottlings, and measuring about 3*11 by 2-24:. According to some
writers 2 or even 3 eggs are laid.
, Genus HOUBARA, Bonap., 1831.
This genus is distinguished by having a ruff of black and
white feathers descending along each side of the neck, and a
small crest in the middle of the crown. The feathers of the
fore neck are lengthened and overhang the breast. Sexes alike.
In other characters Houbara resembles Otis. There are two
closely allied species : one found around the Mediterranean, the
other inhabiting a considerable tract in Western Asia aud
visitin North-western India in winter.
1415. Houbara macqueeni. The Houbara.
J_-±_L*J. ttvuinun niAuiJ[ucc/JLii. -t /te uuuvuru.
Otis macqueenii, GVay m Hardw. III. Ind. Zool. ii, pi. 47 (1833-34) ;
Hume, Ibis, 1868, p. 241.
Houbara macqueenii, Hittton, J. A. 8. B. xvi, p. 786 ; Blyth Cat.
HOUBABA. 197
p, 258 ; Jerdou, B. I. iii, p. 612 ; StoticsJta, J. A. S. B. xll, pt. 2>
p. 250; Hayes-Lloyd, Ibis, 1878, p. 415 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 227;
Adam, ibid. p. 393 ; Le Mess. S. F. iii, p. 379 ; Butler fy Hume,
S. F. iv, p. 9 ; Butler, 8. F. v, pp. 231, 286 ; Hume $ Marsh.
Game B. i, p. 17, pi. ; Hume, Cat. no. 837 ; Doig, S. F. ix, p. 281 ;
St. John, Ibi*, 1«89, p. 175 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 321 ; id.
Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 12, fig. 837 (egg) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M.
xxiii, p. 318.
Tilur, Punjabi ; Taltir, Sindhi ; Hobdra, P.
Coloration. Crown and greater part of upper surface sandy
buff minutely vermiculated with black ; in the middle of the crown
a crest of lengthened leathers, white with long black tips ; nape
greyish white with dusky speckling; feathers on hind neck buff,
very downy ; back, scapulars, tertiaries, and lesser wing-coverts
with blackish patches produced by bands of coarser black mottling
on the feathers ; ruff of lengthened feathers on each side of the
neck black near the head, white behind; median and greater
wing-coverts albescent, but vermiculated ; some or all of the
greater coverts in most birds with subterminal black bars and
white tips ; winglet black ; greater primary-coverts black, creamy
white at the base and generally white-tipped ; primaries and
secondaries white at the base, becoming buff on the outer web,
black near the end, the secondaries white-tipped ; upper tail-
coverts and tail-feathers like back, but more rufous ; tail-feathers
crossed by bluish-grey bars (black beneath), mottled with buff on
the median rectrices only ; all the outer rectrices with white tips,
the black vermiculation disappearing on the basal portion of the
tail-feathers ; chin and throat white ; sides of head buff, with a
few black streaks ; fore neck buff speckled with black, passing
into bluish ashy-grey on the upper breast ; lower breast and
remainder of lower parts white, generally a few black bars or
spots on the flanks and lower tail-coverts, the latter in part bull.
•Sexes alike in plumage, but females run smaller.
Bill blackish above, paler below ; irides yellow ; legs and feet
dull yellow (flume). .
Length of male 29 ; tail 9 ; wing 15-5 ; tarsus 3-8 ; bill from
gape 2-25. Length of female 26; tail 8-5; wing 15; tarsus 3*6.
Distribution. A cold- weather visitor to North-western India,
common from early in September to the end of March in parts
of the Punjab, Hind, and the desert portion of Kajputana north of
the Aravallis, also in Cutch and Northern Guzerat. A few birds
occur farther east, single individuals having been shot in Meerut
and Bhurtpore. The Houbara breeds in the highlands of
Afghanistan and Persia, and a few stragglers may do so occa-
sionally in the Indian desert.
Habits, §c. This Bustard is generally found solitary or in small
parties on open sandy semi-desert plains, very often in the neigh-
bourhood of mustard-fields. It feeds on seeds, small fruits, shoots
of plants, and insects. It runs quickly and is difficult to approach
on foot, but it is generally shot from a camel. I have repeatedly
198
shot Houbara (from horseback) by circling round, never going
directly towards the bird unt;l it squats down. Wheii thus
lying down, even in bare ground, only a, trained eye can detect it,
the resemblance to a stone or a small heap of sand is remarkable,
and the transformation that takes place when a Houbara, or, as
sometimes happens, two, three, or more, spring into flight from
the apparently lifeless waste, is not easily forgotten by any one
who has witnessed it. Houbara are excellent eating as a rule,
but they contract a strong and unpleasant flavour at times from
feeding on shoots of mustard and other allied plants grown as oil-
i
Genus SYPHEOTIS, Lesson, 1839.
This is an Indian genus of small or moderately-sized Bustards
without a ruff, and with longer bill and legs thau in the other
genera found in India. The chief generic cnaracter, however, is
that the male in the breeding-season assumes a peculiar plumage,
with the head, neck, and lower surface black, and the wings partly
white. In this stage there is a considerable difference between the
males — S. bengalensis being crested, with long feathers in front of
the neck, whilst S. aurita has a tuft of peculiar elongate plumes
from each side of the head — and consequently the two have been
placed by Sharpe in different genera. With the exception, how-
ever, of the male ornamental plumes, the two species, which inhabit
different parts of India, agree very well. An African genus
(Lissotis) is very similar in coloration.
Females are larger than males. The primary-quills are notched
on the inner web and attenuate towards the end, much more so
in S. aurita than in /S. benyalensis.
Key to the Species.
a. Wing 7'3 to 975; tarsus 3'5 to 4*5 inches . . S. aurita, p. 198,
b. Wing 13-5 to 1475 ; tarsus 5-0 to 6*5 inches . S. benyatensis, p. 200.
1416. Sypheotis aurita. The Lesser Florican or Likli.
? Otis iudica, Gm. SysL Nat. i, p. 725 (1788).
Otis aurita, Lath. 2nd. Orn. ii, p. 6(30 (1790).
Sypheotides auritus, Lesson, Jiev. Zool. 1839, p. 47 ; Blyth, Cat.
p. 259; Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 619 ; King, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2,
p. 216; McMaster, J. A. S. B. xi, pt, 2, p. 215; Stdiczka,
J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 250; Hayes-Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 415;
Hume, S. F. i, p. 228 ; id. N. $ E. p. 561 ; Adam, tf. F. i,
p. 393 ; ii, p. 339 ; Ball, S. F. ii, p. 42« ; vii, p. 220 ; Le Mess.
S. F. iii, p. 380 ; Morgan, Ibis, 1875, p. 323 ; Biyth, Birds Burnt.
p. 152 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 10 ; v, p. 231 ; ix, p. 424 ; x, p. HU ;
Davidson fy Wend. S. F. vii, p. 87 ; Hume 8f Marsh. Game B. ir
p. 33, pi. ; iii, p. 425, pi. i (eggs) ; Hume, Cat. no. 839 ; Mclnroy,
S. F. viii, p. 491 ; Vidal, S. F\ ix, p. 77 ; Uavidson, 8. F. x, p. 318 ;
Syph
Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed'. iii, p. 380 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii,
p. 313.
STPHEOTIS. 190
Likh, Chota Charat, Barsdti or Kala, H. ; Ker mor, Guzerat ; Tan-mar,
Mahr. ; Chini mor, Belgaum ; Khartitar, Bhil ; Charas, Chulla Charas, H.
(S. India) ; Niala Nimili, Tel. ; Kannoul, Can. ; Warrayu Roli, Tain.
Fig. 42.— Head of 8. aurifa, £ - |.
Coloration. Female and male in winter plumage. — Crown black,
more or less streaked with buff, and generally with a pale mesial
band ; back of neck finely vermiculated or speckled buff and
black ; sides of head and neck buff, with coarser black marks ;
back, scapulars, and tertiaries black mottled with sandy buff, and
with a V-shaped buff streak, more or less distinct, near the margin
of each feather ; wing-coverts chiefly sandy buff, with irregular
black bars ; first two or three primaries uniform dark brown, the
other primaries becoming more and more banded with ochreous
yellow, which is mottled with black towards the tips of the
feathers ; secondaries dark brown, with broad mottled bands
throughout ; tail yellow-buff with black bars, and mottled with
black towards the tips, middle feathers mottled throughout ; chin
and throat white ; fore neck and upper breast buff, with black
streaks that become fainter on the latter ; lower breast, abdomen,
and lower tail-coverts buffy white ; axillaries black.
Male in breeding-plumage. — A few (usunlly three on each side)
narrow ribbon-like feathers about 4 inches long, spatulate towards
the ends and curved upwards from behind the ear-coverts. Head,
neck, and lower parts black, except the chin and a varying portion
of the throat, which are white ; band across the hind neck at the
base white ; back, scapulars, and tertiaries black, with fine whitish
mottling and V-shaped marks, the black disappearing on the wing-
coverts, which are mainly white ; the larger primary and the tips
of the larger secondary coverts black ; quills as in the female :
rump and upper tail-coverts black finely speckled with white ;
tail pale, whitish and mottled with black at the end, buff towards
base, with distant black bars throughout.
The male, after the breeding-season, moults into the female
plumage, but retains some white on the shoulder of the wing.
Bill dusky above, the edges of the upper and all the lower
mandible yellowish ; irides pale yellow, clouded with dusky in the
male ; legs dirty whitish yellow (Jerdon).
Length of male 18 ; tail 3'5 : wing 7'75 ; tarsus 3'5 ; bill from
gape 2. Females are considerably larger : length 20 ; tail 4-5 ;
wing 9*5 ; tarsus 3'75.
Distribution. This Florican may be found at times in suitable
places throughout India from the Himalayas to Cape Coraorin, but
200 OTIDID.E.
it chiefly inhabits the Peninsula ^outh of the Godavari in winter,
whilst it breeds in the Deccan, Western Central Provinces, Central
Indian Agency, Bajputana, South-eastern Punjab, Guzerat, Cutch,
and even in Southern Sind. Some birds are permanent residents
almost throughout the Peninsula. Stragglers have been met
with near Gwadar in Biluchistan, and in Oudh and the N.W.
Provinces, Nepal, Bengal, Chutia Nagpur, Orissa (I once shot a
bird not far from C attack), and on the Malabar coast. One
specimen is on record shot at Sandoway, Arrakan ; but the bird
is not found in Ceylon, nor, with the exception mentioned, is it
known to occur east of the Bay of Bengal.
Habits, 6fc. The smaller Floxican or Likh is, as a rule, found
solitary or in pairs in grass of moderate height, or occasionally in
growing crops ; it keeps to plains and open country, and is very
rarely met with on the hills. Although a migrant to a certain
extent, its migrations are confined to India. It feeds, like other
Bustards, on seeds and insects. It flies well, with a quicker
flight than other Bustards, having, when flying, a slight but
peculiar resemblance to a Duck. Floricans pair and breed in
grass, their presence being betrayed in the breeding-season by the
males jumping above the grass every now and then with a peculiar
croak. The breeding-season is from August to November, chiefly
in September and October to the northward ; but earlier, even in
April or May, in parts of Southern India. The eggs, usually 3 or 4
in number, deposited in a hollow in the ground, are light greenish
olive to olive-brown in colour, variously mottled and blotched, and
measure about 1*88 by 1*6.
The numbers of this bird are being greatly reduced by the
unsportsmanlike practice of shooting it in the breeding-season.
It is excellent eating, though inferior to S. benyalensis.
1417. Sypheotis foengalensis. The Bengal Florican.
Otis bengalensia, Gm. Syst. Nat. i,p. 724 (1788) ; Hodgson, J. A. S. B.
xvi, p. 883, pis. 37, 88.
Sypheotides beng-alensis, Blylh, Cat. p. 258 ; Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 010 ;
* Blythj Ibis, 1867, p. 162 ; Godw.-Anst. J. A. S. £. xlv, pt. 2, p. 84 ;
xlvii, pt. 2, p. 21 ; Sims&n, Ibis, 1882, p. 94.
Sypheotis beniralensis, Bonap. C. R. xliii, p. 416 (18o6) : Ifwnet
N. $ E. p. 659; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. i, p. 23; iii, p. 424;
Hume, Cat. no. 838; id. S. F. ix, p. 199; Markham, ibid. ; Butler,
S. F. x, p. 162 ; Hume # Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 312 j Gates in Hume's
N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 378.
Houbaropsis beng-alensis, Sharjte, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 315.
Charas, Charf, Charat, H. ; Dahar, Ablak <5 , JBor $ , Terai ; Ulit
Mora, Assamese.
Coloration. Female (and, according to somer male in winter
plumage). — Upper parts sandy buff, mottled and blotched with
blackish brown or black ; crown mostly black with a pale mesial
streak ; hind neck finely speckled with black and with pale shaft-
stripes ; back, scapulars, and tertiaries black, with buff V-shaped
markings and mottling ; rump and upper tail-coverts more uniform,
STPIJEOTJS. 201
mixed buff and dark brown ; wing-coverts paler, pale buff pre-
dominating ; primary coverts and quills brownish black with
Avhite mottling, forming more or less distinct bars confined to
inner webs of first primaries and to outer webs and tips of later
secondaries, on which the mottling is buff; tail rufous-buff, with
black mottling and cross-bars; chin and throat white; lores and
sides of head and neck and lower parts from throat pale sandy
buff, with a few black markings on sides of head, neck, and breast,
on fore neck and upper breast ; under wing-coverts much blotched
with black ; axillaries black.
The male in breeding-plumage has a long median erectile crest-
on the head and nape, and the feathers of the chin, throat, and
fore neck are conspicuously elongated. Head, neck, and lower
parts black : back and scapulars black, with mottlings and a few
narrow V-shaped markings of buff; outer scapulars entirely black ;
wing-coverts white ; primaries and secondaries white, except a
progressively diminishing portion of the outer web on the first
2 or 3 primaries and the tips of the first 6 or 7, which are black,
as also an increasing portion, chiefly on the inner web, of the
later secondaries ; tertiaries mottled black and buff like the back,
and with black cross-bars ; rump and upper tail-coverts black
speckled with buff; tail-feathers black, the middle two or three
pairs with mottled buff bars, gradually disappearing on the outer
leathers, which are all tipped white.
The black plumage of the male is acquired by a moult, and is
retained partly or wholly by some birds in the winter ; but in
others, probably younger, it appears to be replaced by the ordinary
garb of the female. Blyth noticed the latter change repeatedly in
birds kept in confinement.
Bill dusky above, yellowish beneath ; irides brown in males,
dull yellow in females ; legs dingy pale yellowish (Jerdon). Irides
pale yellow to golden in both sexes (Hume}.
Length of male about 26 ; tail 6*5 ; wing 13*5 ; tarsus 5*6 ; bill
from gape 2-5. Females are larger in general : wing 14 to 14-75.
Distribution. The country between the base of the Himalayas
and the Ganges River, together with the plain of Assam. Rare
stragglers have occurred west of the'Ganges as far as the Jumna,
but not farther west. This Bustard is most common in the grass
of the Terai.
Habits, fyc. Very similar to those of S. aurita, but the larger
Plorican is resident in the high grass of the Gangetic plain (not,
however, in thick cover), and does not migrate; it has also a slower
and heavier flight. The cocks have the same habit of jumping up
above the grass in the breeding-season, June and July. According
to Hodgson, these birds do not pair, and the female lays two eggs
beside a tuft of grass in deep cover, without any nest. The only
egg of which the measurements are recorded was 2-6 by 1'76,
dull pale green stone-colour, sparingly streaked and blotched with
dull brown. This Elorican is one of the most delicious game-
birds of India.
Order XVII. LIMICOL^E.
The bulk of the present order consists of the Plovers and Snipes
with their allies ; with these are united the Stone-Curlews,
Coursers, Pratincoles, and Jaganas, besides two Neotropical and
Antarctic families ( Chionididm and Thinocoridce) not represented in
India. The birds named form a fairly natural group, having
distinct relations on one side with the Gulls, and being connected
on the other by the Plovers with l\rodes and the Pigeons, and
through (Edicnemus with the Bustards.
In the Limicolce the bill varies greatly, but is generally slender,
and the nostril is situated in a groove or depression at the side of
the bill. The tibia, with but few exceptions, is naked for some
distance above the tibio-tarsal joint. The wings as a rule are
long, and most of the birds are strong flyers ; many are migratory.
The spinal feather-tract is forked on the upper back except in
(Edicnemidce, and the dorsal naked tract or aptcrium is well
developed anteriorly. An aftershaft is always present, but varies
in size. There are eleven primary quills ; the fifth secondary is
wanting. There is a tufted oil-gland, and caeca are always
present.
The palate is schizognathous *, and the vomer well developed,
pointed in front ; basipterygoid processes vary. The furcula is
U-shaped, strong, and complete. The sternum has usually two
notches on each side of the posterior border, but there are several
Fig. 43.— Skull of (Edicnemus
scolopax (holorhinal).
Fig. 44. — Skull of Numcnius
arquata (schizorbiual).
The skull of Charadrius pluvialis, the Golden Plover, is figured, Vol. Ill,
p. vn.
(EDICNEMID^E. 203
exceptions with only one pair o£ incisions. Two cai'otids are
always present.
The eggs vary, but are in general pale brown or olive, and
double-spotted. The young are hatched covered with down and
able to run.
Indian families of Limicolce are thus distinguished.
a. Holorhinal ; nostrils pervious CEdicnemidae, p. 203.
b. Schizorhinal *.
«'. Nostrils impervious Glareolidae, p. 209.
b'. Nostrils pervious.
a". No hasipterygoid processes. . . Dromadidae, p. 207.
b" . Basipterygoid processes present.
a3. Toes and claws enormously long . . Parridae, p. 207.
b3. Toes and claws moderate * Charadriidae, p. 220.
Family CEDICNEMIDAE.
Holorhinal ; nostrils pervious ; no basipterygoid processes.
Cervical vertebrae 16. No hind toe. the three anterior toes united
by a membrane at the base ; tarsus long, reticulated all round.
Spinal feather-tract not forked on the upper back. Eyes very
large, the birds being, to a considerable extent, nocturnal. They
build no nest and lay on the ground two eggs, stone-coloured and
double-spotted. The nestling is covered with down of a sandy
colour with two black lines down the back.
The Stone-Curlews or Stone-Plovers have a great resemblance
to Bustards, and are associated with them by some naturalists.
They are, however, far more nearly allied to the Plovers. Two
genera occur in India.
Key to the Genera.
a. Bill not longer than head, and not compressed . (EDICNEMUS, p. 20o.
b. Bill much longer than head and compressed . . ESACUS, p. 205.
Genus (EDICNEMUS, Temm., 1815.
Bill shorter than the head, stout, straight, broader at the base
than high ; nostrils elongate, in a shallow groove-like depression :
eyes very large ; forehead high ; wing long, pointed, 2nd primary
- Pluvianus is an exception, but it is not Indian. The figures on the opposite
page are intended to show the difference between holorhinal and schizorhinal
structure. In the former the external hiuder border of the osseous nares is
simple and usually rounded ; in the latter the orifice is prolonged posteriorly,
and terminates in a narrow fissure between the processes of the nasal boned.
This fissure varies in length and direction in different birds.
204 CEDICNEMIDJE.
as a rule longest ; tail of 12 feathers, of moderate length, slightly
rounded ; only 3 toes ; nail of middle toe broad, dilated on the
inner side.
This genus contains eight species found nearly throughout the
temperate and tropical regions of the Old World and in Central
and South America. A single species is Indian.
1418. (Edicnemus scolopax. The Stone-Curlew.
Charadrius cedicnemus, Linn. St/sf. Xat. i, p. 255 (1766).
Charadrius scolopax, S. G. Gmel. lieis. Mussl, iii, p. 87, pi. 16
(1774).
(Edicnemus crepitans. Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 322 (1815) ; JBlyt,h,
Cat p. 260 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 654 ; Blanf. J. A. S. B. xxxviii,
pt. 2, p. 190; id. Ibis, 1870, p. 470; Hume, S. F. i, p. 232;
Adam, ibid. p. 395; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 14.
(Edicnemus indicus, Salvadori, Atti Soc. Ital. Sc. Nat. viii, p. 380
(18<'5); Hume, N. $ E. p. 581 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2.
p. 251 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 227.
(Edicnemus scolopax, Dresser, Birds Eur. vii, p. 401, pi. 512 ; Hume.
fy Dan. S. F. vi, p. 458 ; Hume, Cat. no. 859 ; Doiy, «V. F. viii,
p. 371 ; Leffffe. Birds Ceyl p. 969 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 82 ; Butler,
ibid. p. 427 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 67 ; Davison, ibid. p. 413 ; Gates,
B. B. ii, p. 356 : Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 337 ; Gates in Hume's
Hr.£j£2nded.iii,p.331.
(Edicnemus cedicnemus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 4.
The Stone-Plover, Jerdon ; Karwanak, Barsiri, II. ; Lambiof Falconers ;
Kharma, Beng. ; Kaledti, Tel. ; Kana mosid, Tam. ; Bastard Florican of
some Anglo-Indians.
Coloration. Upper parts ashy brown, varying to sandy buff,
more or less rufescent towards the edges of the feathers, and with
black shaft-stripes that are broadest on the back, narrow on the
rump and upper tail- coverts ; hind neck often paler than crown ;
lores and a streak from thence below the eye, with a superciliary
stripe, creamy white ; remainder of sides of head pale brown with
blackish streaks ; smaller wing-coverts rufous brown, streaked
blackish, a white or whitish bar across them; median coverts ashy
brown with whitish ends, blackish fusiform shaft-stripes, and
brown patches near the tips ; larger coverts white, each with an
oblique subterminal blackish bar ; primary-coverts and quills
blackish brown, first two or three primaries with a white patch,
by far largest on the first, later primaries with their tips and bases
white, earlier secondaries white on basal portion of inner web ;
tail ashy brown, all the feathers except the middle pair with
blackish tips, each crossed by a subterminal white bar ; lower
parts white, fore neck rufous, and, together with the upper breast,
streaked with dark brown shaft-stripes ; under tail-coverts pale
rufous. Birds from dry sandy tracts are very pale-coloured.
The young have the wing-coverts and tail-feathers irregularly
banded darker. The nestling is clad in dark sandy-grey down
with a few black stripes, especially two down the back.
ESACUS. 205
The Indian bird is on an average smaller than the European,
and has generally a white patch on the third primary ; this patch
is usually wanting in skins from Europe, but neither distinction
is constant.
Bill black at the end, yellow at the base ; iricles bright yellow,
orbits duller ; legs and feet yellow.
Length about 16 ; tail 4-25 ; wing 87 (from 8-25 to 9-5) ;
tarsus 3 ; bill from gape 2.
Distribution. Central and Southern Europe, with North Africa,
Central and South-western Asia, and throughout India, Ceylon,
and Burma in suitable localities ; resident or nearly so.
Habits, $c. This well-known species is chiefly found on dry
stony plains, or undulating ground, bare or with scattered bush or
scrub jungle, not as a rule on hills, rarely, if ever, in forest. It is
a wary bird, and in many respects resembles a Bustard in its
habits, having the same trick of hiding by lying down on the bare
ground, when it becomes very difficult to detect. It has a
peculiar long wild Curlew-like cry, and is somewhat nocturnal;
its food consists of insects, worms, snails, &c. The flesh is said to
be excellent. It breeds from February to August in India, chiefly
about April, and lavs generally two, sometimes three eggs, pale
buff to olive-green in colour, blotched with black, sometimes with
purplish clouds and spots. The average size of Indian eggs is
1-9 by 1-39. There is no nest.
Genus ESACUS, Lesson, 1831.
This genus is distinguished from (Edicnemus by its very large
and massive compressed bill, much longer than the head, and
measuring from the gape nearly twice the length of the middle toe
without claw. In other respects the two genera are similar, but
whilst (Edicnemus is a bird of dry open stony country, Esacus haunts
the margins of rivers and the sea.
Only two species are known, both found within our area. By'
many ornithologists they are placed in distinct genera, on account of
the shape of the bill differing ; but as there is no other distinction,
I agree with Hume ($. F. v, p. 121) in regarding generic separa-
tion as unnecessary.
Key to the Species.
a. Oulmen almost straight ; 6th primary brown,
basal portion of inner web white E. recurvirostris, p. 205.
b. Culmen curved, convex ; 6th primary white,
except a brown spot on outer web near tip . . JE. magnirostris, p. 207.
1419. Esacus recurvirostris. The Great Stone-Plover.
(Edicneinus recurvirostris, Cuv. Eer/ne An. 2e ed. i, p. 500 (1829).
Esacus recurvirostris, Lesson, Traite, p. 547 : Bliith, Cat. p. 260 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 652; Hume, S. F. i,' p. 232; id. X. S> E.
p. 579 ; id. S. F. iii. p. 182 ; Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burm. p. 152 ;
206 (EDICNEMJD.E.
Butler, S. F iv, p. 14; v, p. 232; vii, p. 186 ; ix, pp. 299, 427 ;
Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 458 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 227 ; Cripps,
ibid. p. 301; Hume, Cat. no. 858; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 974;
Reid, S. F. x, p. 67 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 319 ; Gates, B. B. ii,
p. 357 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 336 ; Salvadori, Ann. Mm. Civ.
Gen. (2) iv, p. 46 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 316 ; Oates in Hume's
N. # E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 335 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 20.
Carvanaca grisea, Hodgson, J. A. S. B. v, p. 776 (1836).
Barra karwanak, H. ; Abi of Falconers ; Gang titai (Ganges lapwing),
Bengal ; Mien-zain, Burmese.
Coloration. Upper plumage light ash? brown with darker shaft-
lines ; supercilia, orbits, forehead, lores, and a stripe on each side
from them to the throat white ; above the white supercilium is
a blackish stripe joined by a dark line running in front of the orbit
and then beneath it to a broad black band including the ear-coverts ;
a dark stripe from below the gape ; smaller wing-coverts like the
back, this colour limited by a blackish-brown band, followed by a
narrow whitish one ; median and greater coverts pearly grey ;
Fig. 45. — Head of E. recurvirostris. %.
primary-coverts blackish brown ; edge of wing white ; quills chiefly
blackish, the first three primaries crossed more or less completely
by a white band, 6th primary with basal half of inner web white ;
later primaries white at base and tip ; tail-feathers like back,
all except middle pair blackish near the tip with a subterminal
white band ; lower parts white ; fore neck and upper breast
tinged isabelline ; under tail-coverts tinged rufous.
Base of bill and nostrils yellow, remainder of bill black ; irides
yellow ; legs plumbeous white {Oates) • legs and feet pale yellowish
green (Legge).
Length 20 ; tail 4'5 ; wing 10'5 ; tarsus 3'25 ; bill from gape 3'4.
Distribution. Plains of India, Ceylon, and Burma, on the banks
of the larger rivers : resident. Found in Sind and the Punjab,
but not known farther west.
Habits, fyc. This bird is usually solitary or in pairs, and is
seldom seen, in India or Burma, away from the sandy, stony, or
rocky banks of rivers. In Ceylon, according to Legge, it frequently
h aunts the sea-shore. It feeds on Crustacea, mollusks, and occa-
sionally insects. It is partially nocturnal, and has a loud harsh
croaking note. It lays two eggs between February and May in
river-beds, on the sand or amongst stones ; the eggs are stone-
DROMADID^. 207
coloured, with dark blotches and secondary purplish markings, and
measure about 2'15 by 1*6.
1420. Esacus xnagnirostris. The Australian Stone-Plover.
CEdicnemus magnirostris, Geoffr., Vieill. Nouv. Diet. tVHist. Nat.
xxiii, p. 231 (1818) ; Seebohtn, Charadr. p. 89.
Esacus magnirostris, Gray, Gen. B. iii, p. 535 ; Hume, S. F. ii,
p. 290; iv, p. 293 ; v, p. 121 ; id. N. $ E. p. 581 ; Hume # Dav.
S, F. vi, p. 458 ; Hume, Cat. no. 858 bis ; Oates in Humes N. $
E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 334.
Orthorhamphus magnirostris, Salv. Ucc. Born. p. 312 ; Sharpe, Cat.
B. M. xxiv, p. 22.
This species is nearly allied to E. recurvirostris, but is larger, and
may be at once recognized by its very differently shaped bill, the
upper mandible being much higher and the culmen curved and
convex, not straight. The differences in coloration are that in the
present species the plumage is generally darker, the black bands
at the side of the head are broader, and the white narrower than
in E. recurvirostris, the lores being blackish almost throughout ;
the smaller wing-coverts are much darker brown, the white
baud succeeding them more distinct, the 6th and later primaries
almost wholly white, except a few patches of brown near the end,
the secondaries mostly grey ; the chin and throat are white, the
breast light brownish grey; the fore neck the same with dark
streaks ; the abdomen white, often tinged with rufous, and the
under tail-coverts rufous buff.
Bill blackish or greenish horny ; base of upper mandible and
membrane covering the nostrils greenish yellow ; legs and feet
yellow (Hume) ; iris pale yellow (J. Gould).
Length 22-5 ; tail 4-5 ; wing 11 ; tarsus 3*25 ; bill from gape 3'5.
Distribution. Shores of Australia and the Malay Archipelago to
Borneo. Found on the sea-shore of the Andaman Islands and
Cocos, but not hitherto observed at the Nicobars. Davison saw
an Esacus in the Mergui Archipelago, but this might perhaps have
been E. recurvirostris, which has been noticed by Legge in Ceylon
on the shore, though it was more probably the present species.
Habits, Sfc. Very similar to those of the preceding species, except
that this is a bird of the sea-shore. Eggs have been taken on the
Cocos and Andaman Islands, in March and April ; they resemble
those of E. recurvirostris, but are larger, measuring 2'6 by 1'75,
and are laid on the sand, a little above high-water mark.
Family DROMADID.E.
Schizorhinal ; nostrils pervious, perforated in the bill itself,
without any membranous opercuium ; no basipterygoid processes ;
cervical vertebrae 15.
The nidification is peculiar. A single large white egg is laid in
a hole dug in the sand.
208 DBOMADID7E.
This family consists of a single genus and species inhabiting the
shores of the Indian Ocean. There has been much discussion, even
before the peculiar nest and egg were known, as to the affinities of
this bird ; Blyth, on account chiefly of the immature plumage,
regarding it as an aberrant Tern, whilst Van der Hoeven, from
an examination of the skeleton, placed it next to the Oyster-
catcher (Hcematopus) ; and A. Milne-Edwards showed that although
essentially related to the latter genus, Dromas exhibits certain
resemblances to the Storks. Gadow * includes it in one family
with Cursor'ms and Glareola, and this classification is adopted in
the British Museum Catalogue, though Sharpef in his own system,
like Milne-Edwards £ and Fiirbringer §, makes Dromas the type of
a peculiar family, a view which is here accepted, on account of the
conflicting relationships exhibited.
Genus DROMAS, Paykull, 1805.
Bill strong, longer than head, compressed, smooth, not grooved ;
cuhnen regularly curved ; angle of lower mandible prominent,
situated near the base ; nostrils oval, near base of bill, situated
in a small depression, not in a groove ; wings long, pointed, 1st
quill longest ; tail nearly even ; half the tibia bare ; tarsi long,
shielded in front and behind ; toes long, much webbed, especially
between the 3rd and 4th, middle claw broad, dilated on the inner
side, and notched or subpectinated. Eeathers of inters capulary
tract much lengthened, covering the lower back.
1421. Dromas ardeola. The Crab-Plover.
Dromas ardeola, Paykull, K. Svensk. Vet.-Ak. Handl. xxvi, pp. 182,
188, pi. 8 (1805) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 276 ; id. J. A. S. B. xxi, p. 352 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii. p. 058; Pelzeln, Novara Reise, Vb'r/. p. 124;
Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 166 ; Beavan, ibid. p. 332; v. d. Hoev. Nova
Acta Acad. C. L. xxxiii, no. 7 ; Ball, S. F. i, p. 85 ; Hume, S. F.
ii, pp. 59, 293 ; Leage, S. F. iii, p. 220, iv, p. 246 ; Le Mess, S. F.
iii, p. 378; Hume, S. F. iv, pp. 451, 464, 496; Butler, S. F. v,
pp. 212,232, 236; vii, p. 186; Hume, Cat. no. 861 ; id. S. F. viii,
p. 381 ; Parker, S. F. ix, p 482 ; Leaae, Birds Ceyl. p. 991 ;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 339 ; Oates in Humes N. fy E. 2nd ed.
iii, p. 327 ; Finny, Jour, Bom. N. H. Soc. viii, 1893, p. 320 ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 28.
Coloration. White, except the upper back and elongate inter-
scapulars, the greater coverts, and the outer webs and ends of the
inner webs of the primary and secondary quills, which are black ;
shafts of quills white ; a small speck in front of the eye and another
behind also black.
Young birds have the upper parts grey, the back darker and
brownish, the nape and hind neck streaked with black. After
* Bronn, Klass. Ordn. Thier-reichs, vi, pt. 4, p. 203.
t Keview of Eecent Attempts to Classify Birds, p. 72.
J Madagascar, vol. xii, Oiseaux, p. 614. § Untersuchungen, p. 1228.
GLABEOLID^E. 209
the back has become black the upper parts often retain a pearly-
grey tint.
Bill black ; irides deep brown ; legs and feet pale glaucous blue
(Hume).
Length 16; tail 2-8; wing 8-25; tarsus 3'7 ; bill from gape
2-75.
Fig. 46.— Head of D. ardeola. £.
Distribution. Asiatic and African shores of the Indian Ocean
west of the Malay Peninsula, including the Persian Griilf and
Red Sea. Local throughout the shores of India and Ceylon and
on the islands of the Bay of Bengal, the Laccadives, &c.
Habits, fyc. The Crab-Plover keeps to the sea-shore or the
margin of salt lakes, and is found as a rule in small or large
flocks, sometimes much scattered. It feeds chiefly on crabs. It
runs actively and flies well, occasionally uttering a low, rather
musical call. This bird breeds in the Persian Gulf and in Ceylon
about May, and lays a single egg at the end of a hole in sand near
the shore. The hole is dug by the bird obliquely in the form of
a bow curving up towards the end, which is about 4 feet from the
entrance ; there is no lining. The egg is pure white, much like
that of a Shearwater, and remarkably large for the size of the
bird, measuring 2-54 by T77.
Family GLAREOLID^E.
Schizorhinal (with the exception of Pluvianus) ; nostrils im-
pervious, oval, more or less protected by membrane, situated in a
basal depression, not a groove ; no basipterygoid processes ; cervical
vertebra 15 ; middle toe pectinated ; tarsus transversely shielded
in front and behind.
Eggs coloured much like those of Plovers, buff or stone-coloured,
spotted and blotched with black or brown, but more roundly oval
in shape and less pointed at the smaller end.
This family, which is confined to the Eastern hemisphere, com-
prises the Coursers and Pratincoles, which form subfamilies thus
distinguished : —
a. No hind toe ; tarsus long, about ^ wing . . Cursoriince, p. 210.
b. A hind toe ; tarsus moderate, about 1 wing. Olareolince, p. 214.
YOL. iv. p
210 GLAREOLID^E.
Subfamily CURSOKIIN^E.
Key to the Genera.
a. Bill slightly curved ; breast without bands . . CTJRSOBIUS, p. 210.
b. Bill straight ; breast transversely banded .... RHINOPTILUS, p. 212.
Genus CURSORIUS, Latham, 1790.
The Coursers or, as Jerdon calls 4hem, the Courier Ptovers, are
birds about the size of a Lapwing, and, like the Stone-Curlews,
show certain resemblances to Bustards both in structure and
distribution. The genus occurs sparingly in Southern Europe, it
is found throughout Africa, and all over South-western Asia with
the Indian Peninsula and Ceylon, but not farther east. Of five
known species two occur in India.
The bill in Cursorius is moderately long, slender, and slightly
arched. The wings are pointed, the 1st and 2nd quills subequal,
the 1st generally the longer. Tail short, nearly even. Tarsus
and bare tibia slender and shielded in front and behind; no
hind toe, anterior toes short, middle toe much longer than the
others, and its claw expanded on the inner side and slightly
pectinated.
Key to the Species.
a. Crown chestnut throughout C. coromandelicus, p. 210.
b. Crown rufous in front, ashy grey behind . . C. gallicus, p. 211.
1422. Cursorius coromandelicus. The Indian Courser.
Charadrius coromandelicus, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 692 (1788).
Cursorius coromandelicus, Blyth, Cat. p. 259 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii,
p. 626 ; Hayes-Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 415 ; Adam. S. F. i, p. 393 ;
James, ibid. p. 421 ; Parker, S. F. iii, p. 267 ; Sutler, S. F. iv,
p. 10; v, pp. 232, 327 ; ix, p. 425; Sail, S. F. vii, p. 226; Hume,
Cat. no. 840 ; Legye, Birds Ceyl p. 977 ; Vidal, 8. F. ix, p. 77 ;
Reid, S. F. x, p. 64; Hume, 'ibid. p. 412'; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 324 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. i. p. 57 ; vi, p. 15, fig. 840 ;
Seebohm, Charadr. p. 241 ; Oates in Hume's A', fy E. 2nd ed. iii,
p. 323 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 39.
The Indian Courier Plover, Jerdon ; Nultri, H. ; Yerra chitawa,
Durawayi, Tel.
Coloration. Crown chestnut, darker behind, the long occipital
feathers concealing a black nuchal spot ; long white supercilia
meeting at the nape, bordered below by a black band that includes
lores, orbits, and ear-coverts, and also extends round the nape ;
behind the black there is a rufous collar; upper plumage sandy
brown ; primary-coverts, primaries, and secondaries black, secon-
daries grey towards the ends, with white tips, passing gradually
into the colour of the tertiaries and back ; upper tail-coverts
white ; middle tail-feathers like the back, the others greyish
CUESORIUS. 211
brown at the base, then black and tipped white, the white tips
increasing on the outer feathers till the outermost pair are white
throughout ; chin white ; throat passing into the rufous of the
neck and breast, which deepens gradually into chestnut on the
Fig. 47. — Head of 6'. coromandelicus. -J.
lower breast and into a black patch on the upper abdomen ; sides
of breast and axillaries coloured like back ; lower abdomen with
flanks and lower tail-coverts white.
Young birds are buff above, irregularly barred with black,
having a pale supercilium ; quills black ; breast dull rufous with
black markings ; chin and abdomen white.
Bill black ; irides dark brown ; tarsus creamy white (Jerdon}.
The legs and feet have an enamelled or china- white aspect.
Length 9 ; tail 2'25 ; wing 6 ; tarsus 2-1 ; bill from gape 1-1.
Distribution. The Indian Peninsula from the base of the Hima-
layas, also the extreme north of Ceylon, on open dry plains away
from forest. Rare on the Malabar coast and in Lower Bengal,
and replaced in most parts of Cutch and Sind, and in the north-
west Punjab by the next species.
Habits, fyc. This bird is generally seen running about quickly,
singly or in small parties, on open sandy or stony ground; its
movements being much like those of the Stone- Curlew or of
Bustards, and it lives on insects. It breeds from March to July,
and lays, on the bare ground, usually two, sometimes three eggs,
broadly oval, stone-coloured, thickly spotted and blotched with
black, and measuring about 1-19 by *97.
1423. Cursorius gallicus. The Cream-coloured Courser.
Charadrius gallicus, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 692 (1788).
Cursorius gallicus, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 874 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867,
p. 163 ; Hume, Ibis, 1868, p. 239 ; id. S. F. i, p. 228 ; Adam, ibid.
p. 393; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 11; v, p. 232; Hume, Cat. no. 840
K bis : Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 324 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi,
p. 16 j Seebohm, Charadr. p. 235; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 175;
Gates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 325 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M.
xxiv, p. 34.
Cursorius jamesoni, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 875 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B.
xli, pt. 2, p. 250.
The European Courier Plover, Jerdon.
Coloration. Crown light rufous, in front ashy grev on the
*
212 GLAEEOLIDvE.
occiput, the grey feathers partly concealing a nuchal black patch ;
white supercilia, meeting behind the nape, and bordered throughout
beneath by a black band running from one eye to the other ; lores
and chin creamy white, sides of face buff ; upper parts generally
rufous buff; primary-coverts and primaries black, secondaries
blackish on the inner webs, tipped with white and bordered
externally with rufous buff, which gradually grows broader on the
inner feathers ; tail-feathers like back, all, except the median
pair (which have sometimes a sub terminal black spot), with a sub-
terminal black band and white tip ; lower parts buff, paler and
less rufous than the back ; lower abdomen and under tail-coverts
white ; wing-lining and axillaries black.
Young birds sandy, with many black bauds throughout, paler
below.
Bill black ; legs yellowish white (Jei'don). Iris umber-brown
(y. Heuglin}.
Length 10 ; tail 2'5 ; wing 6*5 ; tarsus 2'25 ; bill from gape
1-4.
Distribution. Dry barren tracts of Southern Europe, Northern
Africa, and South-western Asia, as far east as Baluchistan,
Afghanistan, and North-western India. This species is found
in the Punjab, Sind, Rajputaua as far east as Ajmir, Jodbpur,
and Erinpura, and in Cutch.
Habits, Sfc. Very similar to those of G. coromandelicus. The
eggs resemble those of G. coromandelicus in number and size, but
are much paler, light stone-coloured, thickly, rather finely spotted
with brown and pale lilac. It is doubtful whether this bird breeds
in India, there being evidently some mistake about the eggs found
near Sirsa, and formerly attributed to this species by Hume.
Genus RHINOPTILUS, Strickland, 1850.
This is almost entirely an Ethiopian genus, no less than seven
species being known from Tropical and Southern Africa, whilst a
solitary species, of great rarity, is peculiar to a small portion of
the Indian Peninsula. From Cursorius the present form is only
distinguished, by having the bill shorter than the head, straight ,
and somewhat broader at the base, a rounder wing, with the 2nd
and 3rd primaries longest, and a band across the breast; the
differences being scarcely of generic value. The eyes are large,
and the bird may perhaps have crepuscular habits.
1424. Rhinoptilus bitorquatus. Jerdons Courser.
Macrotarsius bitorquatus, Jerdon, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvii, pt. 1,
p. 254(1848); id. Cat. p. 260.
Rhinoptilus bitorquatus, Strickland, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 220 : Jerdon,
B. I. iii, p. 628 ; Blanford, Ibi*, 1867, p. 462 ; id. J. A. S. B.
xxxviii, pt. 2; p. 190 ; Hume, Cat. no. 841 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M.
xxiv, p. 50.
RHINOPTILUS. 213
Cursorms bitorqtiatus, Seebohm, Ibis, 1880, p. 119 ; id. Charadr.
p, 247, pi. xiii.
The Double-banded Plover, Jerdon ; Adava-wuta-titti, Tel.
Coloration. Crown dark brown, with a buff median band ; fore-
head, lores, and long broad supercilia, passing completely round
the nape, white ; a brown band streaked with black beneath the
eye, extending over the ear-coverts ; upper parts brown ; wing-
coverts slightly paler; across the wing is a broad white band
formed of the outer median and the greater coverts ; primary-
coverts, primaries, and most of the secondaries black, a broad
white band crossing obliquely the first two primaries near the
end, a large white spot on the 3rd primary and a small round spot
on the 4th ; inner webs of secondaries chiefly white, and white
edgings to the outer webs of the brown tertiaries ; upper tail-
coverts white ; tail blackish brown, the feathers white at the base
and with white spots at the tips, the amount of white increasing
on the outer feathers ; chin and throat buffy white, passing on
the fore neck into pale chestnut, followed by two narrow white
bands, both dark-edged behind, the posterior in front also ; the
two divided by a much broader brown gorget ; remainder of lower
parts creamy white.
Bill blackish at the tips of both mandibles, pale yellow at the
base and as far as the nostrils ; gape yellow ; iris umber-brown ;
legs pale yellowish white with a fleshy tinge, soles flesh-coloured,
nails horny.
Length 10-25 ; tail 2*5 ; wing 6*5; tarsus 2'7; bill from gape
1-05.
Distribution. Forest country from the Grodavari valley to the
neighbourhood of Madras. Jerdon discovered this species near
Nellore and Cuddapah, and I met with it close to Sironcha on the
G-odavari and again near Bhadrachalam, where however it was
very far from common. This bird must have a very restricted
range, as no other observer is known to have met with it. Neither
Jerdon nor Bail saw it in Bastar.
Habits, fyc. I first saw three birds together in May 1867 ;
afterwards, in March 1871, I twice found pairs, and I succeeded
in each case in shooting one, a male. The birds did not appear
on dissection to be breeding. They were in thin forest or
high scrub, never in open ground, and I never saw any on hills.
Their appearance on the ground is Courser-like, but the flight
is more rapid, more like that of Sarciophorus. Jerdon states
that this bird occasionally utters a plaintive cry. The eggs are
unknown.
214
Subfamily GLAREOLIN^E.
Genus GLAEEOLA, Brisson, 1760.
This genus consists of a well-marked group of birds, commonly
known as Pratincoles, but called Swallow-Plovers by Jerdon.
The latter name is appropriate, for the species resemble Swallows
both in some details of structure and in night. They keep much
to river-beds and the borders of tanks and backwaters, they feed on
insects, and lay from 2 to 4 eggs in. a small hollow in the sand,
without, as a rule, any lining. They possess to a remarkable
extent the habit, common to many Plovers, of feign ing inability to
fly in order to distract the attention of men, and probably of
animals, from their eggs and young, a favourite ruse with Glareola
being to lie prone on the ground with wings extended.
In this genus the bill is short, broad, and rather high at the
base ; the culmen much arched and the gape wide ; the nostril is
in a depression at the base of the bill ; wings long and narrow,
generally when closed extending some distance beyond the tail ;
1st primary longest ; tarsus short, scutulate before and behind ;
hind toe well developed, raised above the anterior toes at the
base ; lateral toes short, the outer and middle toe united by a
short web ; claws long, that of the middle toe distinctly pectinated
on the inner margin.
Nine species of Glareola are known, inhabiting the greater part of
the Eastern hemisphere : of these three occur in India, two of
which belong to the typical section of the genus with forked tails ;
the third, with the tail almost even, is by many placed with five
other species in a distinct genus, Galaetoehrysea.
Key to the Species.
a. Tail deeply forked ; wing 7-8 inches.
a'. Outer tail-leathers exceed median pair by
0-75-1-25 inches .................... G. orientalis, p. 214.
b'. Outer tail-feathers exceed median pair by
1-5-2-5 inches ...................... G. pratincola, p. 216.
b. Tail nearly even ; wing under 6 inches .... G. lactea, p. 216.
1425. Glareola orientalis. The Large Indian Pratincole or
Swallow-Plover.
Glareola orientalis, Leach, Trans. Linn. Sac. xiii, p. 132, pi. xiii
(1821) ; myth, Cat. p. 259; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p.. 631 ; Myth, Ibis,
1867, p. 163 ; Ball, J, A. S. JB. xli, pt. 2, p. 287 ; Hume, 8. F. ii,
p. 284; Field, ibid. p. 465; WardL-Rams. Ibis, 1877, p. 4b'9
Hume Sf Dav. S. I. vi, p. 454 ; Oates, S. F. vii, p. 49 ; Hume,
Cat. no. 842 ; Doia, S. F. viii, p. 375 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl p. 980 ;
Butler, S. F. ix, p. 425; Davidson, S. F. x, p. 318 ; Oates, B. B.
ii, p. 361 ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 258 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 325 ;
id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 17; Oates in Hume's N. $ K
2nd ed. iii, p. 319 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 58.
The Large Swalloiv- Plover, Jerdon.
GLAREOLA. 215
Coloration. Upper plumage brown, with an olive tinge when
freshly moulted, back of neck slightly rufous ; primaries and
earlier secondaries blackish, the secondaries gradually passing into
the brown of the tertiaries ; shaft of 1st primary whitish ; upper
tail-coverts white ; tail-feathers white at the base, broadly tipped
with blackish brown, most broadly on the median pair ; lores
black ; chin and throat pale rufous, surrounded by a narrow black
band running from above the gape on each side and slightly
bordered by white inside ; upper breast brown, passing down-
M-ards into rufous, which again passes into the white of the
abdomen and lower tail-coverts ; axillaries and under wing-coverts,
except near the edge of the wing, chestnut.
Young birds in their first plumage have the feathers of the
upper parts with blackish ends and buff terminal spots, no gorget,
and the throat marked with brown longitudinal streaks ; the breast
dark. The upper plumage becomes uniform before the gorget
is assumed.
Fig. 48. — Head of G. orientalis. §.
Bill black ; gape red ; irides dark brown ; feet dusky black
(Jerdon).
Length 9'5 ; tail to end of outer feathers 3 ; wing 7'25 ; tarsus
1-3; bill from gape 1. The outer rectrices are 0'75 to 1-25
longer than the middle pair.
Distribution. India, Ceylon, and Burma, locally distributed,
keeping to the plains, also in the Andarnans and Nicobars, through
China to Eastern Siberia, and through the Malay countries and
Archipelago to Northern Australia.
Habits, fyc. This Pratincole is generally found about the sandy
beds of large rivers, around tanks or open marshes, or on sandy
plains, as a rule in flocks that rest during the clay on the sand,
and hunt in the air for insects in the mornings and evenings. In
places this species is migratory, but it has been found breeding in
Sind, near Calcutta, in Ceylon, and in Pegu. It feeds principally
on moths, coleoptera, and hemiptera. The breeding-season in
Pegu and Sind is in April and May, and two or three eggs are
laid in a small hollow in the sand. The eggs are broad ovals,
very like those of Cursorius, of a pale stone colour, densely
blotched and spotted with blackish brown, and measuring about
1-18 by -93.
216 GLAREOLID^E.
1426. Glareola pratincola. The Collared Pratincole.
Hirundo pratincola, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 345 (1766).
Glareola pratincola, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 163; Blanf. S. F. iv,
p. 507 ; Sutler, S. F. vii, p. 186 ; ix, p. 425 ; Hume, Cat. no.
842 bis ; Doig, S. F. viii, p. 375 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 78 ; Swinhoe,
Ibis, 1882, p. 120 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 326 ; Seebohm, Charadr.
p. 256 ; Oates in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 318 ; Sharpe, Cat.
B. M. xxiv, p. 53.
This species is very similar to G. orientalis, but may be dis-
tinguished by its longer, more deeply forked tail, the outer
rectrices exceeding the middle pair'as a rule by 2 inches, and
scarcely ever by less than 1|. Generally, too, the tips of the
secondaries are white in the present species, and the throat and
lower breast are less strongly tinged with rufous.
Length 9 ; tail to end of outer feathers 4-3 ; wing 7*5 ; tarsus
1*2 ; bill from gape 1.
Distribution. A migratory bird, occurring in summer in Central
and Southern Europe, and throughout a large area in Western
and Central Asia, wintering in Africa. It has been met with
breeding in Sind, in company with G. orientalis, by Mr. S. Doig,
and stragglers have been recorded from Allahabad, the Deccan,
and Ratnagiri.
Habits similar to those of the last species.
1427. Glareola lactea. The Small Indian Pratincole or
Swallow-Plover.
Glareola lactea, Temm. Man. d'Orn. ed. 2«, ii, p. 503 (1820) ;
Blyth, Cat. p. 259 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 632 ; Beavan, Ibis, 1868,
p. 388; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 273 ; Hume, N.
$ E. p. 568 ; id. S. F. iii, p. 179 ; Blyth fy Wald. Birds Burm.
p. 154 ; Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 338 ; Wardl.-Rams. Ibis, 1877,
p. 469 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 454 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 226 ;
Cripps, ibid. p. 299 ; Hume, Cat. no. 843 : Legge, Birds Ceyl.
p. 984; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 425; Reid, S. F. x, p. 64; Barnes,
ibid. p. 166 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 363 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 326 ;
Hume fy Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 312 ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 264 ;
Littledale, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. i, p. 200 ; Oates in Hume's N. #
E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 320 ; Barnes, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 19,
fig. 843.
Galachrysea lactea, Bonap. C. R. xliii, p. 419.
Galactochrysea lactea, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 65.
Coloration. Upper plumage throughout pale sandy grey : fore-
head brown, and a band from the eye along the lower edge of the
lores black ; primary-coverts and primaries blackish, all the pri-
maries except the first two with part of the inner web white, and
some of the later primaries with part of the edge of the outer web
also white : secondaries white, with blackish-brown ends that
dimmish in breadth on the inner quills ; upper tail-coverts white ;
tail white at base, blackish towards the end, the black ends much
longer on the middle rectrices ; the tips, except on the outer pair
of tail-feathers, pale brown and white ; chin white ; throat, fore
neck, and upper breast more or less smoky brown, tinged with
PAKRID^E. 217
rufous, passing into white on the lower breast ; abdomen and
under tail-coverts white : edge of wing whitish ; wing-lining and
axillaries black.
Terminal half of bill black, basal half red, changing to yellowish
brown at the gape ; irides dark brown ; legs, feet, and claws
black (Oates) ; legs and feet neutral brown or plumbeous brown
(Legge).
Length 6'5 ; tail 2'1 ; wing 5-75; tarsus *8 ; bill from gape '75.
Distribution. Resident in suitable places throughout the plains
of India, Ceylon, and Burma as far west as the Indus. Found in
Kashmir, but not observed elsewhere in the Himalayas. Unknown
outside our area.
Habits, <$fc. This Pratincole also is mainly confined to the larger
rivers, the beds of which it frequents in large flocks. It is the
commonest Indian species, and has nearly the same habits as
G. orientalis. It breeds generally in company with Terns, on
sandbanks in rivers, in the months of March, April, and May.
The eggs are two to four in number, stone-coloured, pale greenish
grey or buff, sparingly speckled with brown and pale lilac. They
differ greatly in colour from those of G. orientalis. The average
measurement is I'Oo by '82.
Family PAKRID.E.
Schizorhinal ; nostrils pervious, and situated some distance from
the base of the bill, but nearer to it than to the tip ; basiptery-
goid processes present ; cervical vertebrae 16. A spur or tubercle
on the carpal joint of the wing. Four toes, all greatly lengthened,
and with very long and straight claws, that of the hallux or hind
toe especially long. According to Gradow, despite the long hallux,
the deep plantar tendons are of the same type as in three-toed
birds, the two tendons uniting and the united tendon dividing
into three to supply the three anterior toes, besides sending off a
short branch to the hallux (Bronn's Klass. u. Ordu. vi, 4, p. 224).
The eggs are exceedingly glossy, uniformly olive in HydropTiasianus,
peculiarly marked all over in other genera with a confused tangle
of black lines.
The Ja9anas (properly the c is soft and the accent is on the
last syllable) are a tropical family of marsh birds distinguished by
their enormously long toes, which enable them to run over the
floating leaves of water-lilies and similar plants. Two genera are
Indian.
Key to the Genera.
a. A frontal lappet ; primaries not produced
at the end METOPJDIUS, p. 218.
b. No frontal lappet; ends of 1st and 4th
primaries produced and attenuated . . HYDRGPHASIANUS, p. 219.
218 PAREID-E.
Genus METOPIDIUS, Wagler, 1832.
Head small ; bill moderately long, straight, compressed, culrnen
curved at the tip ; a lappet at the base of the bill, resting against
the forehead and rounded behind ; tail short ; wing with a small
tubercular spur at the bend ; 1st and 2nd quills longest ; middle toe
without the claw longer than tarsus, hind claw excessively long ;
tarsus transversely shielded before and behind.
There is no distinct breeding-plumage, but the garb of the
young differs widely from that of the adult, which appears to be
assumed by a moult in the spring when the bird is a year (or
according to some two years) old.
A single species. Many naturalists place the African and
Madagascar Jaganas in the same genus as the Indian, and it is ex-
tremely questionable whether either the Ethiopian or the South-
American forms (Parr a jacana and its allies) are entitled to generic
separation, their differences being of a trivial character.
1428. Metopidius indicus. The Bronze-winged Jacana.
Parra indica, Lath. 2nd. Orn. ii, p. 765 (1790) ; Hume # Dav. S. F.
vi, p. 464 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 2:29 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 304 : Hume, Cat.
no. 900 ; Bingham, S. F. ix, p. 197 ; Butler, ibid. p. 430 : Reid,
S. F. x, p. 72 ; Davison, ibid. p. 415 ; Maccjregor, ibid. p. 441 ; Hume,
S. F. xi, p. 326 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 363 ; id. Jour. Bom. A.
H. Soc. i, p. 221, vi, p. 133, fig. 900 (eggs, 2 figs.).
Metopidius indicus, Blyth, Cat. p. 273 ; Jerdon. B. I. iii, p. 708 ;
Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 170 ; Hume fy Gates, S. F. iii, p. 183 ; Bhfth
$ Wald. Birds Burnt, p. 157 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 19 ; Armstrong,
ibid. p. 348 ; Anderson, Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 683 ; Gates, B. B.
ii, p. 358 ; id. in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 356 ; Sharpe, Cat.
B. M. xxiv, p. 72.
Dal-pipi, Jal-pipi, Karatiya, Beng. ; Kattoi, Purneah ; Bi, Burmese.
Coloration. In adults the head, neck, and lower parts to the
abdomen, including the wing-lining, are black glossed with dark
green, the lower hind neck with a purple gloss ; superciliary band
Fig. 49. — Foot of M. indicus.
commencing above the eye and running back to the nape, with a
spot beneath the eye, white ; back, scapulars, tertiaries, and wing-
coverts olive-bronze ; primary-coverts and primary and secondary
quills black, glossed with dark green ; lower back, rump, and
upper tail-coverts dark chestnut ; tail and under tail-coverts
brighter chestnut ; lower abdomen and thigh-coverts dull blackish
brown.
HYDROPHASIANUS. 219
Young birds have the crown dull rufous, with a short pale
supercilium from above the lores ; hind neck black glossed with
dark green ; back and wings as in adults, but rather paler, and
the feathers in very young birds fringed with rufous ; lower back
and rump dull rufous barred with dusky ; tail concentrically barred
with black and buff; sides of face, chin, throat, breast, abdomen,
and lower tail-coverts white ; sides of neck, lower neck, and upper
breast dull rufous ; ear-coverts grey.
Bill greenish yellow, tinged with red at the base, and the frontal
lappet livid ; irides brown ; legs dull green (Jerdon).
Length of male 11 ; tail 1'75 ; wing6'25 ; tarsus 2*6 ; bill from
gape 1-2. Length of female 12 ; tail 1-85 ; wing 7 ; tarsus 2'7.
Distribution. The greater part of the Indian Peninsula and east
through Assam, Sylhet, Manipur, and Burma to the Malay
Peninsula, Siam, Sumatra, Java, and Celebes. This Jagana is
wanting in Ceylon, though recorded from Travancore ; it is rare
in the North-West Provinces, not known to occur in Kashmir, the
Punjab, ISind, or Western Eajputana, and chiefly found in the
damper parts of India, where there are permanent marshes or
tanks overgrown with floating leaves of water-plants.
Habits, tyc. A familiar bird, often seen on ponds close to houses,
hiding amongst the weeds, or running actively over the leaves of
water-lilies or Singhara, and feeding on insects, Crustacea, and,
according to Jerdon, largely on vegetable matter, seeds, roots, &c.
The cry is peculiar and harsh. This species breeds from June to
September, and lays, as a rule, four eggs in a nest of weeds,
roughly put together, placed on floating leaves or amongst rushes.
The eggs are very glossy, buff or olive, marked with numerous
black or dark brown lines, irregularly distributed in a confused
network, and the average measurement is 1*47 by 1'03.
Genus HYDROPHASIANUS, Wagler, 1832.
This is distinguished by having a slenderer bill than Metopidiits,
no lappet, and a shorter hind claw, and also by the 1st and 4th
primaries being produced at the end, the first into a filamentous
lanceolate appendage about an inch long, the 4th into an attenuated
point. There is a strong sharp spur on the wing at the bend.
An important character of this genus is that the breeding-plumage
is quite distinct from that worn at other seasons, and that, in the
nuptial garb, which is assumed by a change of colour in the
feathers without any moult, the tail-feathers are greatly elongated.
Sexes alike in plumage at all times, but the female larger thau the
male.
A single species.
1429. Hydrophasianus chirurgus. The Pheasant-tailed Jacana.
Tringa chirurgus, Scop. Del. Flor. et Faun. Insub. ii, p. 92 (1786).
Parra luzoniensis et P. sinensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 709 (1788).
220
Hydrophasianus sinensis, Gray, Gen. B. iii, p. 589 ; Blyth, Ibis,
1867, p. 170 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, p. 254 ; Hume $ Renders.
Lah. to Yark. p. 290 ; Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burm. p. 157.
Hydrophasianus chirurgus, Blyth, Cat. p. 273 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii,
p. 709 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 249 ; Adam, ibid. p. 397 ; Hayes Lloyd,
Ibis, 1873, p. 418 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 20 ; ix, p. 431 j Hume $
Dav. S. F. vi, p. 464 ; Hume, S. F. vii, pp. 97, 489 ; Ball, ibid.
p. 229 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 304 ; Legye, Birds Ceyl. p. 914 ; Hume, Cat.
no. 901 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 86 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 72 ; Scully, Ibis,
1881, p. 590 ; Davidson, S. F. x, p. 321 ; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 364 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 134, fig. 901 (egg) ;
Hydrophasis chirurgus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 69.
Piho, Pihuya, H., also Surdal or Sukdal, Miwa, Dal-kukra, Bhepi,
Jal-manjor, Chittra-Billai, Bee gal and Behar ; Balal Saaru, Newiya,
Ceylon.
Coloration. In winter plumage the crown, hind neck, back,
scapulars, tertiaries, rump, upper tail-coverts, and middle tail-
feathers are brown, slightly mixed with white on the forehead and
hind neck ; lores and supercilia white ; from the hinder extremity
of each supercilium a pale brownish-yellow band runs down the
side of the neck, bordered by a blackish band from the gape, in-
cluding the orbit and ear-coverts, and expanding into a broad
black gorget across the breast ; rest of lower parts and outer tail-
feathers white; wing-coverts white, except the inner, median, and
greater coverts, which are whity-brown barred with dark brown ;
1st primary black, 2nd black with part of the inner web near the
base white, the white increasing and black diminishing on the
inner primaries until only the tips and edges near the tips remain
dark ; secondaries white.
In the breeding season the head, throat, and fore neck are
white ; a patch on the occiput black ; back of neck pale shining
golden-yellow, bordered on each side by a black line ; back, sca-
pulars, tertiaries, sides of breast, and lower parts from neck choco-
late-brown, blackish beneath, passing into black on the rump and
upper tail-coverts ; tail black ; wing-coverts white, primary-
coverts tipped with black, quills as in winter ; under wing-coverts
and axillaries white.
Young birds resemble adults in winter plumage, except that the
crown is dull rufous and the feathers of the upper parts have
rufous edges ; there is no yellow at the side of the neck, but the
dark band remains ; the gorget, however, is replaced by brown
spots and bars.
The nestling is clad in black clown, with three bright brown
streaks, one down the head and back and one down each side
(Parker).
Bill in summer bluish ; iris brown ; legs and feet pale plum-
beous : in winter, bill dark brown, basal half of lower mandible
bright yellow ; iris pale yellow ; legs dull greenish (Oates).
CHARADBIID^. 221
Length of male in winter plumage 12 ; tail 3'75 ; wing, in-
cluding appendage to the 1st primary, 7*8 ; tarsus 2 ; bill from
gape 1*3: in summer, length 18, tail 10. Females are larger:
length in breeding-plumage 21 ; tail 12 ; wing 9.
Distribution. Resident throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma,
wherever suitable pieces of water with floating plants occur ;
common on the lakes in Kashmir, and straggling individuals have
been recorded from Gilgit and Pangi in the interior of the Hima-
layas. This bird is not found west of India, but ranges to the
eastward as far as South China, the Philippines, and Java.
Habits, &fc. Very similar 1 o those of the last species, but this Jagana
keeps much to larger and more open pieces of water, and hides
less. Its cry resembles the mewing of a cat or kitten. It lays
four eggs in a nest precisely similar to that of Metopidius, but the
eggs are very different in shape and colour, being pegtop-like,
short and broad, hemispherical at one end, conical at the other,
exceedingly glossy, and deep rufous brown to greenish bronze in
colour, without spots. They measure about 1*46 by 1*12.
Family CHARADHIID^E.
Schizorhinal ; nostrils pervious ; basipterygoid processes present.
Cervical vertebra 15. Hind toe short or wanting. Eggs large for
the size of the bird, always four in number and pegtop-shaped,
with one end rounded, the other conical ; this enables the four eggs
to lie with the pointed ends together in comparatively small space.
The eggs are laid in a small hollow in the ground, sometimes
slightly lined with grass, more often not.
The Plovers, Sandpipers, and Snipes are so nearly allied that
they must all be united into one family. There are clearly several
subfamilies, and the arrangement here proposed adds to the number
of attempts that have been made to arrange the group.
a. Bill moderate, not longer than head ;
nasal groove not extending more
than half the length of the upper
mandible ; tarsus reticulated behind
and frequently in front also Charadriince, p. 222.
&. Bill very long ; tarsus reticulated
throughout Hcematopodince, p. 245.
c. Bill variable ; nasal groove extending
along greater part of upper man-
dible ; tarsus shielded in front.
a'. Eyes not placed far back ; a dis-
tinct summer and winter plumage Totaninw, p. 250.'
&'. Eyes placed far back ; no distinct
summer and winter plumage . . Scolopacince, p. 283.
222 CHARADRIIDJE.
Subfamily CHARADRIIN^E.
The present subfamily consists of Plovers and Lapwings, the
only genus about which any doubt can arise being Strepsilas, the
Turnstone, which has a differently shaped bill, though it resembles
Plovers otherwise in structure. Plovers have the bill of moderate
length, rarely exceeding the head, the dertrum or terminal por-
tion of the upper mandible is distinctly swollen, and the culmen
convex towards the end. There is » considerable resemblance in
form between a Plover's bill and a Pigeon's. The tarsus is always
reticulated behind, but in front it is sometimes reticulated, some-
times transversely shielded.
The Plovers are birds of meadows and grassy or sandy tracts,
rather than marsh birds. They are often found at the edge of
water, but not as a rule actually in swamps.
Key to tlie Genera.
a. Bill conical, culmen flattened, no swelling
near tip STREFSILAS, p. 222.
b. Upper mandible swollen near tip.
«'. A wattle in front of the eye.
a". A small hind toe.
«3. Tarsus reticulated in front SARCOGRAMMUS, p. 224.
b3. Tarsus transversely shielded in
front MICROSARCOPS, p. 228.
b". No hind toe ,. SARCIOPHORUS, p. 226.
b'. No wattle.
c". A sharp spur at bend of wing HOPLOPTERUS, p. 229.
d". No spur.
c3. A hind toe.
«4. Head with a long crest VANELLUS, p. 230.
b4. No crest.
a5. 2nd or 3rd primary longest . . CHETTUSIA, p. 231.
W. 1 st primary longest SQUATAROLA, p. 235.
d3. No hind toe.
c4. Plumage spotted with yellow
above CHARADRIUS, p. 233.
d*. Plumage brown above, not
spotted yEoiALiTis, p. 236.
Genus STREPSILAS, Illiger, 1811.
Bill conical, pointed, the culmen flattened and straight ; nostrils
linear, in a groove that extends nearly halfway down the bill ;
wings long, pointed, 1st primary longest ; tarsus short, trans-
versely shielded in front, reticulated behind ; hind toe well
developed ; toes not connected by web.
Generally distributed. Two species are known ; of these one is
Indian. The name Arenaria of Brisson is used for the genus by
some naturalists, but not by the majority, who reject this term for
STRErSILAS. 223
the same reason as that already assigned for the disuse of Mkropus
as the generic name of the Common Swift : Arenaria, like
Micropus, being a well-known Linnean genus of plants.
1430. Strepsilas interpres. The Turnstone.
Tringa interpres, Linn. Syst. Nat.i, p. 248 (1766).
p. 376 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 452 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 338 j Sharpe,
York. Miss., Aves, p. 139.
Arenaria interpres, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxxiv, p. 345 ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 92.
Cinclus interpres, G. R. Gray, Gen. B. iii, p. 549 ; Hume, S. F. i,
p. 233 ; ii, p. 292.
Fig. 50. — Head of S. interpres. \.
Coloration. In winter the head above and at the sides is brown
with darker streaks, the ear-coverts more uniform brown ; upper
back, scapulars, tertiaries, and wing-coverts dark brown, the
feathers with slight pale edges ; some of the under scapulars are
partially or wholly white ; quills dark brown with white shafts and
part of the inner web white, some of the inner secondaries entirely
white ; lower back, rump, and longer upper tail-coverts white ;
shorter upper tail-coverts dark brown ; tail dark brown, the
feathers white at the base, and all except the median pair with
buff or white tips, outermost pair almost wholly white ; chin,
throat, and lower parts from breast white, fore neck and sides of
breast brown.
In summer plumage the head is white, with streaks of black on
the crown and a black band from the forehead to the front of the
eye, joined to a black patch below the eye; a band from the
gape, a partial collar on the sides of the neck, the fore neck, and
sides of the breast all black ; rest of lower parts white ; the back,
scapulars, tertiaries, and wing-coverts are partly black, partly deep
rufous. Intermediate stages between the summer and winter
plumage are common.
Bill black ; iris brown ; legs and feet orange-red ; claws black.
Length 8*5 ; tail 2-35 ; wing 6 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from gape 1.
Distribution. Almost world-wide, A winter visitor to the
Indian coasts and islands, but generally rare or of occasional
224
occurrence. Common about Karachi, found abundantly by Hume
at the Laccadives, and far from rare at the Andamans, Nicobars,
and other islands of the Bay of Bengal. The Turnstone is not, as
a rule, found away from the sea-coasts or estuaries except when
migrating. It is generally met with, in India, in the cold season,
but has been shot in Ceylon in June, and at Karachi in August ;
it is, however, only known to breed in high northern latitudes.
Habits, <Sfc. The Turnstone derives its name from its habit of
turning over stones, shells, &c., on the sea-shore in order to feed
on the crustaceans, mollusca, and worms that shelter beneath
them. At the Laccadives Hume foTmd Turnstones swimming in
the sea like Phalaropes.
Genus SARCOGRAMMUS, Eeichenbach, 1852.
Although, as Hume has shown, it is probable that Strickland
intended the Indian Eed -wattled Lapwing to be the type of his
genus Lobivanellus, still, as that genus comprises two fairly separ-
able groups of species, we must class one or the other under a
different generic heading, and the present is the first name pro-
posed. It contains only two Indian species.
The bill is of moderate length, the terminal portion of the
upper mandible slightly swollen, the culm en flattened at the base ;
nostrils linear, in a groove extending beyond the middle of the bill.
There is a fleshy wattle or latchet in front of the eye. The wing
is long and with a tubercle at the bend, developed into a short
horny spur at the breeding season. Tail even. Tarsus long,
reticulated throughout ; a small hind toe.
Key to the Species.
a. A white band down each side of neck to
breast & indicus, p. 224.
b. A white band from eye to ear-coverts only,
lower neck black all round S. atrinuchalis, p. 226.
1431. Sarcogrammus indicus. The Red-wattled Lapwing.
Tringa indica, Bodd. Tabl. PI. Enl p. 50 (1783).
Parra goensis, Gm. Syst, Nat. i, p. 706 (1788).
Lobivanellus goensis, Strickland, P. Z. S. 1841, p. 33; Blyth, Cat.
p. 261 ; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 237 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 648 ; Beavan,
Ibis, 1868, p. 390; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 70;
Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 273; C. H. T. Marshall,
Ibis, 1884, p. 424.
Lobivanellus indicus, Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 251 ; Hume,
N. fy E. p. 574 ; id. S. F. i, p. 232 ; Adam, ibid. p. 394 ; Ball, S. F.
iii, p. 209 ; vii, p. 227 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 14 ; ix, p. 427 ; Hume,
>. 66 : Damson, ibid. p. 413 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 334 ; id. Jour.
3om.'N. H. Soc.\\, p. 22; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 184; St. John,
SA.BCOGBAMM17S. 225
Ibis, 1889, p. 170 ; Oates, in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 340;
Skarpe, Yark, Mus., Aves, p. 139.
Sarcogrammus indicus, Sharpc, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 149.
Titiri, H., also Titaf, Titi, Tituri in various parts ; Titavi, Mahr.;
Yennapa Chitawa, Tel. ; Al-kati, Tain. ; Kiralla, Kibulla, Cing. " Did-
you-do-it " of Anglo-Indians.
Fig. 51.— Head of 8. indicus. f .
Coloration. Head, neck, and upper breast- black, except a broad
white band from each eye, including the ear-coverts and passing
down the side of the neck to join the white of the lower parts ;
this band expands below, and the black of the hind neck becomes
narrow where it joins on to the light brown, glossed with green
bronze and slightly washed with red, of the back, scapulars, and
tertiaries ; lower back darker and duller ; wiug-coverts like the
back but strongly washed with glossy lilac-red ; ends of greater
secondary coverts, bases of most of the secondaries, and the whole
of one of the later quills white, forming a wing-bar ; primary-
coverts, primaries, and greater part of secondaries black ; sides of
lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts white; tail white, with a
broad black subterminal band ; tips of middle feathers brown, of
the others white, the middle feathers have also a brown inner
border to the black band ; lower parts from breast pure white.
Young birds have the black replaced by brown, the chin, and
throat white, and the white band down each side of the neck
sullied.
Bill red at the base, tip black ; eyelid and wattle lake-red ; irides
red-brown ; legs bright yellow (Jerdon).
Length 13 ; tail 4-5 ; wing 9 ; tarsus 3 ; bill from gape 1*5.
Distribution. Resident throughout India and Ceylon in the
plains, extending on the east to Sylhet and Cachar, but not
recorded from Upper Assam. To the westward this Lapwing
ranges to Southern Persia and to Muscat in Arabia, and it is
found at low elevations within the North-western Himalayas,
amongst other places in Kashmir, and as a rare straggler at
G-ilgit.
Habits, Sfc. The Eed-wattled Lapwing is a familiar and noisy
bird, and most of its vernacular names are given in imitation of its
cry, which is well expressed by the English " pity-to-do-it." It
is met with in open ground, often near water, generally in pairs
or single, more rarely in scattered nocks. It lays in a small
YOL. IV. Q
226
hollow the usual four yellowish eggs blotched with brown, between
JMarch and August, chiefly in April, May, or June. The eggs
measure on an average 1'64 by 1'2.
1432. Sarcogrammus atrinuchalis. The Burmese Wattled
Lapwing.
Sareogramina atrognlaris, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxxi, p. 345 (1862) (nee
Charadrius atrogularis, Wagler),
Lobivanellus atronuchalis, Blyth, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 648 (1864) ;
Hume $ Gates, S. F. iii, p. 181 -9 Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 457 :
Anders. Yunnan Exped.. Aves, p. 675 ; Hume, Cat. no. 855 bis ;
Bingham, S. F. ix, p. 396; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 374; Salvador!,
Ann. Mm. Civ. Gen. (2) iv, p. 613 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 316 ; Dates
in Hume's JN7. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 344.
? Sarciophorus bilobus, Blanf. Ibis, 1870, p. 470, nee auct.
Sarcogramma atrinuchalis, Blyth fy Wald. Birds Burin, p. 152.
Sarcogrammus atrinuchalis, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv? p. 152.
Titidit, Burmese.
Similar to S. indlcus, except that the white baud from the eye
only extends to the ear-coverts, and the neck is black all round,
also that there is a white bar forming a border to the black on the
upper back ; there is also less white on the secondaries.
Terminal half of bill black, remainder of bill, the eyelids, and
wattles red ; irides crimson ; legs and feet pale yellow ; claws black
(Oates),
Length 13 ; tail 4-3 ; wins 8'5; tarsus 3 ; bill from gape 1-3.
Distribution. Throughout Burma, extending north to Bhamoaml
Manipur, east to Cochin China, and south to the Malayan Peninsula
and Sumatra.
Habits, fyc,. Similar to those of S. indicus, and the eggs are not
distinguishable. The breeding-season is in April and May in Pegu,
March in Tenasserim.
Genus SARCIOPHORUS, Strickland, 1841.
Bill more slender than in the last genus, but otherwise similar.
Head more or less crested ; a wattle in front of the eye, large in the
Indian species, and furnished with a descending lappet. Second
quill longest, first nearly as long. Tarsus long, slender, with
transverse shields in front ; no hind toe.
The single Indian species has been unnecessarily separated as
Lobipluvia from its African allies, S. tectus, &c., from which it only
differs in having a shorter and less-pointed crest, and a larger and
differently-shaped wattle.
1433. Sarciophorus malabaricus. The Yellow-wattled Lapwing.
Oharadrius malabaricus, Bodd. Tall. PI. Enl. p. 53 (1783).
Charadrius bilobus, Gin. Syst. Nat. i, p. 691 (1788).
Sarciophorus bilobus, Strickland, P.Z.S. 1841, p. 33; Blyth, Cat.
p. 261 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 649 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, 'p. 165 ;
SAftCIOPHORUS. 227
Bravan, Ibis, 1808, p. 390 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 251 ;
Hayes Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 416 ; Morgan, Ibis, 1875, p. 323.
Lobipluvia malabarica, Hume, N. 8f E. p. 577 ; Le Messurier, S, F.
iii, p. 418 ; Sutler, S. F. iv, p. 14 ; ix, p. 427 ; Bourdillon, S. F.
vii, p. 39 ; Sail, ibid p. 227 ; Hume, Cat. no. 856 ; Lsyf/e, Birds
Ceyl p. 966; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 82; Parker, ibid, p, 482; Reid,
S. F. x, p. 06 ; Davison, ibid. p. 319 ; Hume, ibid. p. 413 ; Barnes,
Birds Bom. p. 335 j Gates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 345 ;
Barnes, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 23 ; Sharps, Cat. B. M. xxiy,
p. 130.
Zirdi, II. : Jithiri, N.W. P. ; Chitawa, Tel. ; Al-kati, Tarn.
Coloration. Crown and nape black, bordered by a white streak
from one eye to the other round the nape ; chin black ; sides of
head, neck all round, upper breast, back, scapulars, tertiaries, and
wing-coverts light brown ; the brown of the upper breast with a
blackish border ; greater secondary coverts tipped white, forming a
wing-bar with the bases of the secondary quills, which increase on
the later secondaries till the whole feather is white ; primaries also
white on inner web near the base ; rest of primaries and secondaries,
with primary-coverts, black ; upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers
white, the middle rect rices with a broad subterminal black band
which diminishes rapidly and disappears on the outer feathers, the
median pair tipped brown, and brown on the inner portion of the
black band, the others tipped white ; lower parts from breast
white.
Young birds have no black on the head, and the brown of the
upper parts is banded jaler.
Bill yellow at base, black at the tip ; lappet pale yellow ; irides
silvery grey or pale yellow ; legs yellow.
Length 10-5 ; tail 3 ; wing 8 ; tarsus 2-5 ; bill from gape 1.
Distribution. Resident throughout India and Ceylon, ranging
east as far as Calcutta and Dacca, and west to the Sutlej. This
species occurs occasionally in Lower Bind, but is unknown in
Upper Sind and the Western Punjab. The reported occurrence
of this species in Burma is probably due to a mistake *.
Habits, $c. The Yellow-wattled Lapwing is found on dry plains
or in thin bush away from forest, sometimes in twos or threes,
often in flocks. It feeds on insects, and has a plaintive cry, far
less harsh than that of the Eed-wattled Lapwing. It breeds in
Northern India in April and May, in Ceylon in June and J.uly,
and lays four eggs of the usual Plover type on the bare ground.
The eggs measure about 1-45 by 1-07, and are buff or pale stone-
colour, blotched all over with dark brown and purplish grey.
*" * For this mistake I am responsible, as I included the species in a list of
Burmese birds with the locality Thayet Mjo (Ibis, 1870, p. 470). Nearly all
the specimens collected by me in Burma are in the British Museum, but there
is no skin of 8. mahibaricus amongst them. I wrote the paper when I was
away from the specimens, and I think there must have been some error in the
name.
228 CHARADBIIDJ;.
Genus MICROSARCOPS, Sharpe, 1896.
The present genus has been proposed for a migratory Indian
Lapwing hitherto referred to Chettusia, from which it is distin-
guished by its transversely shielded tarsi and by having a lappet.
It comes near to Sarciophorus, but it possesses a small hind claw,
and is a more stoutly-built bird.
1434. Microsarcops cinereits. The Grey -headed Lapiviny.
Pluvianus cinereus, Blyth, J. A. S.*B. xi, p. 587 (1842).
Lobivanellus inornatus, Temm. $ Schl. Faun. Jap., Aves, p. 10t»
pi. 6:3 (1847).
Lobivanellus cinereiis, BIyth, Cat. p. 261 ; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 238 ;
Seebohm, Charadr. p. 183.
Chettusia inornata, Jerdon, B. I, iii, p. 646 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. 8. II.
xxxix, pt. 2, p. 273.
Chaetusia cinerea, tilyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 165.
Chettusia cinerea, Stanford, Ibis, 1870, p. 470 ; Humefy Oatcs, R. F.
iii, p. 180 ; Blyth 8f Wald. Birds Burm. p. 152 ; Hume, S. F. \,
p. 347 ; Hume $ Dav. 8. F. vi, p. 456; Cripps, S. F vii, p. 300:
Hume, ibid. p. 483 ; id. Cat. no. 854 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 333 ;
Gates, B. B. ii, p. 372 ; id. Ibis, 1888, p. 73 ; Hume, >$'. F. xi,
p. 315.
Microsarcops ciuereus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv; p. 133.
Coloration. Head, neck, and upper breast ashy grey, slightly
washed with brown on crown and hind neck, the grey ending
with a broad blackish border on the breast; back, scapulars, and
tertiaries light brown, wing-coverts the same, but paler ; primary-
coverts and primaries black, greater secondary coverts and second-
aries white ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail white, middle tail-
feathers with a broad black subterminal band, the tips and a space
before the black band brown, the black baud diminishes in the outer
feathers, which are white-tipped ; outermost feathers often pure
white ; lower plumage from breast white.
In young birds the head and neck are brown, the cbin white,
and there is no black band across the breast.
Terminal third of bill black ; base of bill, lappets, and edges of
eyelids yellow ; irides red ; legs and toes dull yellow, claws black
(Gates).
Length 14'5 ; tail 4'5 ; wing 9'5 ; tarsus 3 ; bill from gape 1/6.
Distribution. A winter visitor to Bengal, Assam, Manipur, and
Burma, passing the summer and breeding in Mongolia, IST. China,
Corea, and Japan. This species has been obtained in the Aixla-
rnans. Irby reported it from Oudh, but perhaps, as Reid has
shown, may have mistaken Chettusia leucura for it.
Habits, <$fc. This Lapwing is usually found in small or large
flocks about marshes. It lives on various insects, and has a call
somewhat like that of Vanellus cristatus.
229
Genus HOPLOPTERUS, Bonap., 1831.
Head crested ; no lappet. Wing armed with a long, curved,
black spur on the bend. Second quill longest. Tarsus long and
slender, reticulated throughout ; no hind toe.
This genus, easily distinguished amongst Indian Plovers by its
wing-spur, comprises two African and one Indian species. One
of the African forms ranges to Southern Europe and Syria.
1435. Hoploptems ventralis. The Indian Spur-winged Plover.
Charadrius ventralis, Wagl. Syst. Av., Charadrius, no. 11 (1827).
Hoplopterus ventralis, Blyth, Cat. p. 260 ; Irbij, Ibis, 1861, p. 237 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 650 ; Godw.-Aust. J, A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2,
p. 273; flume, N. fy E. p. 578; Hwm $ Gates, S. F. in, p. 181 ;
Myth fy Wald. Birds Burm. p. 153; Hume $ Dav. & jF. vi,
p. '457; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 227; Cripps, ibid. p. 300; Anders.
Yunnan Exped., Aves, p, 675 ; Hume, Cat, no. 857; Scully, S. F.
viii, p. 352 ; Bingham, S. F. ix, p. 196 ; Reid, S. F. x,* p. 66 ;
Gates, B. B. ii, p. 373 ; id. in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 347 ;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 335; Hume § Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 316 ;
tihar-pe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 159.
Hoplopterus malabaricus, apud Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 165; Blanf.
J. A. S. B. xl, pt. 2, p. 276 ; nee Charadrius malabaricus, Bodd.
The Spur-winyed Lapwing, Jerdon.
Coloration. Crown and long occipital crest, lores, sides of face
in front of the eyes, chin, and a band extending far down the
throat black, the black everywhere surrounded by a white border,
Fig. 52. — Wing-spur of H. ventralis. \.
passing into greyish brown on the ear-coverts and sides of the
neck and into light brown on the breast; back, rump, scapulars,
tertiaries, and inner wing-coverts light brown ; outer smaller coverts
black, separated from the black primary-coverts and black quills
by a broad white bar formed of the outer median and the greater
coverts, with the bases of all the quills, the white increasing on the
secondaries and including the whole or nearly the whole of the two
inner secondaries ; upper tail-coverts and nearly two-thirds of the
tail from the base white, terminal third of tail black, narrow white
tips to outer rectrices ; underparts from breast white, except a
broad black patch on the abdomen.
Bill black ; irides deep brown ; legs reddish black (Jerdon).
230
Length 12 ; tail 375 ; wing 7'75 : tarsus 2-6 ; bill from
gape 1'3.
Distribution. Throughout the Ganges drainage, but not 0*1 the
Indus or its tributaries nor within the Bombay Presidency ;
this Plover is found on the Nerbudda as far west as the neigh-
bourhood of Jridore, throughout the Central Provinces, in Bengal
and Orissa, and as far south as the Godavari ; also in Assam,
Manipur, and Burma, extending to JSiarn and Southern China.
Habits, $~c. This bird keeps to the beds of the larger rivers, and
has a noisy call, not unlike that of Sarcogrammus indicus. It is
generally seen singly or in pairs, selcfom in small flocks. It breeds
in Northern India in March or early in April, and lays four eggs,
very much like those of the Red-v\attled Lapwing, but slightly
smaller, measuring on an average T45 by 1-07.
Genus VANELLUS, Brisson, 1760.
The common Lapwing of Europe and Northern Asia forms a
genus by itself, distinguished by the long recurved crest, the
absence of either lappet or wing-spur, and peculiar coloration,
without any white on the wing outside.
The bill is of the usual type in Plovers, moderate in length and
rather slender, with a flattened culinen and slightly swollen ter-
mination or dertrum ; the linear nostril in a groove that extends
more than half the length of the bill. The wings are slightly
rounded, the 2nd or 3rd primary longest. Tarsus of moderate
length, reticulated all round ; a small hind toe.
1436. Vanellus vulgaris. The Lapwing or Peewit.
Tringa vanellus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 248 (1766).
Vanellus vulgaris, Beckst. Orn. Taschenb. ii, p. 313 (1803) ; Dresser,
B. Eur. vii, p. 545, pi. 531 ; Hume, Cat. no. 851 ; Biddulph, Ibis,
1881, p. 94; Scully, ibid. p. 587 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 65; Barney
Birds Bom. p, 332 ; St. John, Ibis, 1881), p. 17(3.
Vanellus cristatus, Wolf $ Meyer, Naturg. Voy, Deutschl. i, p. 110
(1805) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 261 ; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 238 ; Jertloti,
B. 1. iii, p. 643; Stoliczka, J. A. 8. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 70;
Hume $ Henders. Lali. to Yark. p. 286; Hume, ti. F. i, p. 231 ;
Adam, ibid. p. 394 ; Butler, S. F. vii, p. 186 ; C. H. T. Marshall,
Ibis, 1884, p. 423 ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 210.
Vanellus vanellus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 166.
Coloration. In winter the crown is dark brown, passing into black
on the crest ; sides of face and supercilia, sides of neck, chin, throat,
and fore neck white, tinged with buff and more or less speckled
and blotched with blackish ; back, rump, and tertiaries glossy
olive-green, some of the feathers generally with fulvous edges ;
scapulars brighter green, passing at their tips into bronze-red and
lilac ; wing-coverts darker and bluer than back ; primaries and
secondaries black or blackish, the tips of the first 4 or 5 primaries
whitish, passing into ashy brown, bases of the secondaries white ;
upper tail-coverts cinnamon ; tail white for more than the basal
CHETTUS1A. 231
half, then black, with narrow white tips ; upper breast black ;
lower breast, abdomen, axillaries, and inner under wing-coverts
white ; lower tail-coverts pale dull rufous.
In spring the fulvous edges on the upper plumage disappear,
and the crown, sides of face in front of the eye, and a patch be-
neath the eye, with the chin, throat, fore neck, and upper breast,
become black.
Bill black ; irides hazel-brown ; legs orange-brown (Jerdon).
Length 12 ; tail 4*1 ; wing 8'75 ; tarsus 2 ; bill from gape 1'2.
Distribution. Throughout Europe and temperate Asia ; a winter
visitor to both coasts of the Mediterranean, to many parts of
South-western Asia, and to North-western India. The Lapwing
occurs in winter in Gilgit, Kashmir, the Punjab, and as far east
as Oudh, and throughout Bind, where however it is not common.
It has been said to breed in the Punjab, but the accuracy of the
statement is doubtful.
Habits, fyc. The common Lapwing is a highly gregarious bird,
collecting in winter in large flocks, which are chiefly found about
marshy ground, and which feed in fields or meadows. It lives
chiefly on worms, and on insects and their larvae, and is eatable in
the cold season, though far inferior to Golden Plover. Its call
of Pee-wit is well known, and also its habit of tumbling about in
the air. The eggs are the well-known 4t Plover's eggs."
Genus CHETTUSIA, Bonap., 1839.
Two Indian migratory Plovers, though differing somewhat in
pattern of coloration, and slightly in structure, are sufficiently
nearly allied to be classed in one genus. They have been separated
by Sharpe, but the new generic name proposed by him for C. leu-
eura cannot be used, as it belongs to a well-known genus of fossil
Crustacea.
The present genus differs from Vandlus in wanting a crest,
and in having much white on the wings inside and out. The
tarsi are longer, but the two species differ in this respect, and also
in the style of reticulation, C. leucura being almost scutellated.
Key to the Species.
a. Some black on the tail ; a broad white supercilium. C. gregaria, p. 231.
b. Tail entirely white ; no superciliu in. C. leuciira, p. 233.
1437. Chettusia gregaria. The Sociable Lapwing.
Charadrius gregarius, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reicks, i, p. 456 (1771).
Chettusia gregaria, Bonap. Iconogr. Faun. Ital., Introd. Cl. Ucc. p. 12 ;
Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 238 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 644 ; Bla*f. J. A. S. B.
xxxviiL pt. 2, p. 190 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 250 ;
-rr *•» -wi • ,"*f»-i A -i •! • f c\f\ A TT T 7 - _7 TL.'~ 1O^7O
Jiume,
p. 416;
Wend.
232
Biddulph. Ibis, 1881, p. 95 ; Scully, Unl. p. 587 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 65 ;
Davidson, ibid. p. 319 ; Barnes, '.Birds Bom. p. 332.
Vanellus gregarius, Blyth, Cat. p. 339 ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 211.
Chfttusia gregaria, Sharpe, Cat. B, M. xxiv, p. 174.
The Black-sided Lapwing, Jerdon.
Fig. 53. — Head of C. gregaria. %.
Coloration. Crown black ; forehead and broad supercilia, extend-
ing entirely round the crown, white; lores, orbits, arid a narrow
line extending to the ear-coverts black ; chin white, passing into buff
on the throat and the sides of the face, and this passing into the
light ashy brown of the neck, breast, back, scapulars, tertiaries,
and most of the wing-coverts ; lower back rather darker ; greater
secondary coverts grey at base and tipped white, secondaries pure
white ; primary coverts black, primaries the same except at their
bases and on the inner border of the last primary, which are white;
upper tail-coverts and greater part of tail white ; a broad sub-
terminal black band on median rectrices, becoming narrower on
the other tail-feathers and disappearing on the outermost pair ;
the greyish-brown breast passes into the black abdomen, bordered
with chestnut behind; thigh-coverts, vent and lower tail-coverts,
flanks and wing-lining white.
In youny birds (or, according to some, in winter plumage) the
crown is dark brown generally mixed with black ; forehead and
superciliary band buff ; upper parts darker than in adults and the
feathers pale-edged ; the black line from the lores and the black
and chestnut of the abdomen are wanting, and the lower parts are
white except the breast, which is mottled brown. Most Indian
specimens are in this plumage, but the adult phase appears to be
sometimes met with even in the cold season.
Bill black ; irides dark brown ; legs dull black.
Length 13 ; tail 3'4; wing 8 ; tarsus 2'4 ; bill from gape 1%2.
Distribution. A migratory bird, breeding in Eastern Europe
arid Central Asia, and visiting North-eastern Africa and North-
western India in winter. In India it is common in parts of the
Punjab, and ranges east to Ondh and Buudelkhand, and south to the
Deccan (Nagpur, Jalna, Ahmednagar) and even E-atnagiri.
Habits, $c. The Sociable Lapwing occurs in flocks from 4 or 5
to 50 or 60 in number, that keep to open country, arrive in
AV^.N. India in the beginning of October and leave about March.
CIIARADRIUS. 233
1438. Chettusia leucura. The White-tailed Lapwing.
Charadrius leiicurus, Licht. in Eversman's Reise v. Orenb. nach
Buchara. p. 137 (182.3).
Vaneilus vi'llotaei, Kav. Descr. Eyypte, pi. vi, tig. 2 ; Audown, Expl.
Som. p. 21)7 (1826).
Vanellus fiavipes, Less. Traite, p. 542 (1831).
Vaneilus leucurus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiii, p. 387 ; Seebohm, Charadr.
p. 213.
Lobivanellus leucuru?, Blyth, Cat. p. 261.
Chettusia leucura, Jerdon, B. I. ii'i, p. 646 ; Swinhoc, /&«>, 1882,
p. 120 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 17(5.
Chettuda flavipes, Hume, S. F. i, p. 232 ; Adam, ibid. p. 394 ;
Butler, S. F. iv, p. 13 ; v, p. 232.
Chettusia villotaei, Blanf. East. Pers. ii, p. 280 ; Hume, Cat.
no. 853 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 65 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 319 ; Swinh.
# /jW/^*, ZAw, 1885, p. 132 ; #«mes, Birds Bom. p. 333.
Eurypterus leuciirus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv. p. 171.
Coloration. Head and upper parts brown, with a pink gloss on
the back and wings ; fort- head and lores whitish ; sides of head
and neck slightly paler than crown ; a black bar across the median
coverts and inner greater coverts, the tips of the barred coverts
whire ; outer greater secondary coverts and secondary quills white ;
the outer secondaries with large black spots at the end ; primaries
and primary coverts black, both white towards the base : sides of
back, upper tail-coverts, and tail white ; chin and throat white ;
fore neck brown, passing into ashy grey on the breast ; abdomen
rosy buff ; vent, under tail-coverts, axillaries, and wing-lining
white.
In young birds the pink gloss on the back is wanting, and the
tail-feathers have brownish tips.
Bill black ; irides brownish red ; legs pale yellow (Jerdon).
Length of female 1 1 ; tail 3 ; wing 7 ; tarsus 3 ; bill from
gape 1-4.
Distribution. This Lapwing breeds in Persia and Turkestan, and
visits N.E. Africa on one hand, and Northern India on the other,
in winter. It is common in suitable parts of the Punjab, Upper
Sind, and Eajputana, and ranges throughout Northern India,
having been recorded from Calcutta, Sikhim, and Khandesh.
Habits, Jj-c. The White-tailed Lapwing occurs in small flocks or
singly near swamps and tanks.
Genus CHARADRIUS, Linn., 1766.
Bill slender and rather short, the dertrnm slightly swollen and
rounded ; nostril linear, in a groove that extends about two-thirds
the length of the bill. "Wings pointed, 1st quill longest; second^-
aries short ; tertiaries lengthened and pointed. Tail moderate,
rounded. Tarsi reticulated throughout with hexagonal scales ;
no hind toe ; outer and middle toes connected by a short web at
234
the base. A distinct breeding-plumage, the whole under surface
becoming black. Sexes alike.
The restricted genus contains two species, both Indian.
a. Axillaries greyish brown C. fulvus, p. 234.
b. Axillaries pure white C. pluvialis, p. 235.
1439. Charadrius fulvus. The Eastern Golden Plover.
Charadrius fulvus, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 687 (1788) ; Hume, S. F.
i, p. 228; ii, p. 287; iii, p. 179; Blyth 8f Wald. Birds Bu.-m.
p. 153 ; Butler $ Hume, S. F. iv, p* 11 ; Hume, ibid. p. 463 ; Blanf.
S. F. v, p. 247; Anders. Yunnan Eocped., Aves, p. 675 ; Hume Sf
Dav. S. F. vi, p. 455 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 226 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 299 ;
Hume, ibid. p. 482 ; id. Cat. no. 845 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 350
Leqge, Birds Ceyl. p. 934 ; Tidal, S. F. ix, p. 79 ; Bint/ham, ibid.
p. 396 ; Butler, ibid. p. 425 ; Parker, ibid. p. 482 ; Scully, Ibis, 1881,
p. 586; lleid, S. F. x, p. 64; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 364; Barnes,
Birds Bom. p. 328 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 313 ; Seebohm, Charadr.
p. 99 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 175.
Charadrius dominicus, P. L. S. Mull. Natursyst. Sup2)l. p. 116
(1789?) ; Sharpy Cat. B. M; xxiv, p. 195.
Charadrius virginicus, Licht. Terz. Doubl. p. 70 (1823) ; Blyth. Cat.
p. 262.
Charadrius longipes, Temm. MS., Jerdon. B. I. iii, p. 636; McM aster,
J. A. S. B. xl, pt. 2, p. 215; Blanf. ibid. p. 269; Hume $
Henders. Lah. to Yark. p. 284.
The Golden Plover, Jerdon ; Chata battan, II. ; Kotan, Tarn. (Ceylon) ;
Hana watuwa, Oliya, Maha oliya, Cing.
Coloration. In winter plumage the crown and upper parts are
dark brown, sometimes almost black, the feathers edged with
yellow spots, which become whitish or white on the wing-coverts ;
forehead and supercilia sullied white ; sides of head and neck
fulvous streaked with brown, ear-coverts brown; primary coverts
and primary and secondary quills dark brown, more or less tipped
with white, the inner primary coverts more broadly, distal halves of
shafts of primaries white except at the ends j tail dark brown, the
feathers sometimes distinctly pale- banded, more often indistinctly,
but generally with a margin of white or yellow spots ; sometimes
the lower parts are dull brown throughout, darker and streaked on
the breast and banded on the flanks ; more often the chin, throat,
lower breast, and abdomen are white ; the under wing-coverts and
axillaries always greyish brown.
In breeding-plumage — assumed partly by moult, partly by
change of colour — all the lower parts are black except the
wing-lining and axillaries, which remain brown ; the upper
parts are blacker than in winter, and the yellow spots larger and
brighter ; the forehead, supercilia, and a band from each side of
the neck bounding the black area pure white.
Bill black ; irides dark brown ; feet plumbeous black (Scully}.
Length 9-5; tail 2'4 ; wing 6'5 ; tarsus T7; bill from gape
1-1.
SQUATAROLA. 235
Distribution. This Golden Plover breeds in Siberia and the
Boreal regions of America, and in winter visits Southern Asia, the
Malay Archipelago, Australia, and the greater part of America
north and south. The American variety is larger than the Asiatic,
but there is no constant distinction. The Asiatic form is found
in suitable places throughout the plains of India, Ceylon, and
Burma, but avoids forest regions aud highlands ; it is rare in Sind,
and only stragglers occur further west. It is common at the
Andamans and ]Sricobars and also on the Laccadives, and is more
abundant on flat swampy land near the coas.t and the larger rivers
than elsewhere.
Habits, $c. Golden Plovers are generally found in flocks, small
or large, and feed on worms and insects. They have a rapid
flight and a peculiar bisyllabic whistling call, not often uttered by
the present species. Although Jerdon says that they breed in
India, this is very doubtful : they arrive about September, and
stay till the middle of May, when all have assumed full breeding-
dress, but hitherto no one has detected them actually nesting.
The hen lays four largish stone-coloured eggs, much blotched with
blackish. This bird is excellent eating, though scarcely equal to
0. pluvialis.
1440. Charadrius pluvialis. The Golden leaver.
Charadrius pluvialis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 254(1766); Blanford,
Eastern Persia, ii, p. 278 ; id. S. F. v, p. 247 ; Hume, Cat.
no. 845 bis ; Brooks, S. F. viii, p. 4&D ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 452 ;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 328 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 191.
The European Golden Plover is distinguished from C. dominions
by larger size, tibia3 feathered farther down, shorter tarsi, and by
the axillaries and wing-lining being pure white instead of greyish
brown. As a rule, in winter plumage this Golden Plover is more
closely spotted and the spots are brighter yellow; but there is no
constant distinction. Even in size the large American C. do-
minicus is scarcely separable.
Length 10-5 ; tail 2'8 ; wing 7'25; tarsus 1-6.
Distribution. Europe, Northern and Tropical Africa, and Western
Asia, breeding in the Northern Temperate zone and farther north-
ward, and migrating south in winter. Stragglers only have
occurred within Indian limits. I shot one at Gwadar in Baluch-
istan in January 1872, I believe I saw another in 1876 close
to Karachi, and a third was shot near Sehwan by Mr. Brooks a
year or two later. A skin was also in Mr. Reid's collection made
at Luckuow. The habits resemble those of C. fulvus, but the call
is shriller.
Genus SdUATAROLA, Leach, 1816.
This genus, containing only the Grey Plover, precisely agrees
with Charadrius in general coloration and structure, and only
differs in having a minute hind toe. It undergoes precisely
236
similar changes of plumnge in summer and winter. The distinc-
tion, which is accepted by almost all ornithologists, shows in fact
how artificial many of the bird genera are.
1441. Squatarola helvetica. The Grey Plover.
Tringa helvetica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 250 (1766).
Squatarola helvetica, Blytn, Cat. p. 2(52 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 635 ;
Jlitme, S. F. i, p. 228 ; ii, p. 287 ; Adam, S. F. ii, p. 338 ; Walden,
Ibis, 1874, p. 146; Blyth fy Wald, Birds Burm. p. 153; Hume,
S, F. iv, p. 11 ; Armstrong, ibid. p. 338 ; Blanf. East. Persia, ii,
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 327 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 182.
Barra batan, H.
Coloration. In winter the upper plumage of adults is dark brown,
the feathers edged paler ; forehead, lores, and sides of head and neck
white streaked with brown ; wing-coverts fringed and indented
with white ; primary-coverts, primaries, and secondaries blackish
brown, terminal half of shafts of primaries white except near the tip,
and the adjoining portion of the outer web white in all quills after
the first four, part of inner web in all quills white towards base ;
upper tail-coverts white, with a few dark bars ; tail white, barred
with dark brown, outer pair of rectrices generally unbarred ; lower
parts white, fore neck and breast streaked and spotted with dark
brown ; axillaries black.
In summer the lower parts, from the chin to the middle of the
abdomen, are black ; upper parts black, barred and spotted with
white ; lower abdomen and under tail-coverts white.
Young birds are spotted with pale golden-buff above.
Bill black; irides dusky brown; legs and feet blackish grey
(Jerdon) ; feet black (Armstrong).
Length 12 ; tail 2-9 ; wing 8 ; tarsus 1*8 ; bill from gape 1'4.
Distribution. Almost world-wide. The Grey Plover breeds in
the far North and is a winter visitor to India, Ceylon, and Burma,
chiefly occurring on and near sea-coasts, but sometimes inland
about rivers and marshes.
J/'tbits, <S)'c. Very "similar to those of Charadrius fulvus and
C.pluvia-lis, except that the Grey Plover is more a bird of the sea-
coast.
Genus JEGIALITIS, Boie, 1822.
It appears best to class together the Sand-Plovers, Dotterels,
and Ringed Plovers. At first sight the Sand-Plovers and Dotterels
appear to be distinguished by having a breeding- dress different
from the winter plumage ; but there is so complete a passage from
forms with a distinct nuptial garb to those which have none,
through species like the Kentish Plover in which the change
is slight, that it appears best to keep all in one genus.
JEGIAL1T1S. 237
Structurally there is no difference between the present genus
and Charadrius. Like that genus, jEyialitis is 3-toed, with
reticulated tarsi and the first quill longest. The only distinction,
except in size (all members of the present genus baing smaller), is
in plumage. The species of ^Ejlalitis have the upper plumage
uniform brown, not spangled with yellow or white, and the lower
parts are chiefly white in the breeding-season, the amount of
black never exceeding a 'pectoral band.
Key to the Species.
a. No white ring round the neck.
a'. Bill stout; shaft cf third primary partly
white.
a". Bill from gape more than an inch ;
wing- 5'5 JE. geoffroui, p. 237.
b". Bill from gape about 0'7o; wing 5 . . &. moityohca, p. '238.
b'. Bill slender ; shaft of third primary dark
throughout.
c" . Axillaries white ; whig 5'5 A£. asiatica, p. 239.
d". Axillaries light brown ; wing 6-5 .... ^E. veredu, p. 240.
b. A white ring round neck.
c. No black or brown band across breast . . jE. alexandrina, p. 240.
d'. A black or brown band across breast.
&'. Shaft of 1st primary white throughout,
of others dark ; wing 4 to 4'5 JE. dubia, p. 241.
/''. Shafts of all primaries white near end ;
wing 5 Ail. hiaticula, p. 243.
y". Shafts of all primaries dark, or that of
1st whitish near end ; wing 5'5 Ai.. placida, p. 244.
1442. JEjialitis geoffroyi. The Large Sand-Plover.
Charadrius geoffroyi, Wagl. Sy*t. Av., Charadrius, no. 19 (1827) ;
Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii, p. 180 ; id. Ibis, 1865, p. 34 ; Seebohm,
Charadr. p. 146.
Charadrius leschenaulti, Lesson, Man. d'Orn. ii, p. 322 (1828).
Hiaticula geoffroyi, Blyth, Cat. p. 262.
^Egialitis geoffroyi, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 638 ; Hartiny, Ibis, 1870,
p. 378, pi. xi ; Ball. J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 288 ; Walden, Ibis,
1873, p. 316; Legge, S. F. i, p. 489; Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 339 ;
Hume, ibid. p. 463 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi, p. 4-55 ; Ball, S. F. vii,
p. 226 ; Hume, Cat. no. 846 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 81 : Butler, ibid.
p. 426 ; Leffffe, Birds Ceyl. p. 939 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 366 : Barnes,
Birds Bom. p. 329.
^Egialitis lescheuaultii, Godiv.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix. pt. 2,
p. 273.
Cirrepidesmus peoflfroyi, Hume, S. F. i, p. 229; ii, p. 288; Adam,
S. F. ii, p. 338 ; Butler, S. F. iv. p. 12.
Ochthodromus geoffroyi, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 217.
Coloration. In winter plumage the forehead and supercilia are
white, a band from the lores under the eye to the ear-coverts
brown ; the whole upper plumage brown, the feathers slightly
paler towards the edges and with traces of dark shaft-stripes;
238
greater wing-coverts tipped with white ; primary-coverts, pri-
maries, and secondaries dark brown, shafts of first primary white
except at the tip, of other primaries for a short distance near the
end ; in the inner primaries part of the outer web is white ;
secondaries tipped white and with white along the shafts ; lateral
tail-coverts with white edges ; tail-feathers brown with white tips,
outermost pair almost entirely white ; lower parts, with axillaries
and under wing-coverts, white ; a brown band across the breast,
generally but not always interrupted in the middle.
In summer the upper plumage is paler brown, and tinged with
rufous ; no pale supercilia ; fore head* black, enclosing an elongate
white spot at each side, the two sometimes united across, but
varying much ; lores themselves and a large space below the eye,
from which a streak runs back to the upper ear- coverts, black ;
crown, hind neck, sides of neck, and a broad band across the
upper breast dull rufous.
Bill black ; irides brown ; tibiae and feet slate-bluish or
plumbeous, paling to yellowish olive or in some to fleshy-grey
(Legge) ; legs greyish green, toes darker (Jerdon).
Length 8*5 ; tail 2-2 ; wing 5'5 ; tarsus 1/5 ; bill from gape 1/1.
Distribution. A migratory bird, breeding in Japan, Formosa, and
Hainan, and perhaps on the Red Sea, and spending the winter on
the shores of the Indian Ocean from South Africa to Australia.
It is found in winter, though not very abundantly, on the sea-
coasts of India, Ceylon, and Burma.
Habits, fyc. The Large Sand-Plover haunts sandy coasts and the
mouths of large rivers in small parties, often mixed with other
Sarid-Piovers. It appears on the Indian coasts about September,
and leaves in April or May, by which time it has assumed the
breeding dress.
1443. JEgialitis mongolica. The Lesser Sand-Plover.
Charadrius mongolus, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reichs, iii, p. 700 (1776).
Charadrius mongolicus, Pall. Zooyr. Rosso-Asiat. ii, p. 136; See-
bohm, Charadr. p. 147.
Charadrius pyrrhothorax, Temm., Gould, B. Eur. iv, pi. 299 (1837).
Charadrius leschenaultii. upud Blyth, J.A. S. B. xii, p. 181 ; Adams,
P. Z. S. 1859, p. 188 ; nee Lesson.
Hiaticula leschenaultii, Blyth, Cat. p. 263.
yEgialitis pyrrhothorax, Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 639.
^Egialites mongolicus, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 164 ; Hartinfj, Ibis, 1870,
p. 384 ; Hume $ Henders. Lah. to Yark. p. 285 ; Hume, S. F. iv,
pp. 293, 463; Armstrong, ibid. p. 339; Sharpe, Yark. Miss.. Aves,
p. 137.
Cirrepidesmus mongolicus, Hume, S. F. \, p. 230 ; ii, p. 289 ; iv,p. 12.
yEgialitis mongolica, Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 153 ; Legye, Birds Ceyl.
p. 943 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 368 : Hume, S. F. xi, p. 314.
yEp-ialitis mougola, Walden, Ibis, 1873, p. 317 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F.
^i, p. 455; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 227; Cr'pps, ibid. p. 299; Hume,
tat. no. 847 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 81 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 330.
JF.GIALITI8. 239
Ochthodromus mongolus & 0. pyrrhothorax, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv,
pp. 223, 220.
Similar to JE. geojfroyi in both summer and winter plumage, but
smaller, with a much shorter bill. As a rule, in the present species
the upper surface in winter is darker ; in the breeding-plumage
the black band is broader over the ear-coverts, but there is some
variation ; the upper plumage appears to want the tinge of rufous
so conspicuous in ^E. geoffroyi. By several naturalists this Sand-
Plover is divided into two species or subspecies — an Eastern race
(sE. mongolica), with the pectoral gorget chestnut and bordered
anteriorly by black specks forming an imperfect baud, and with a
broad white frontal band only interrupted in the middle ; and
a Western race (^. pyrrhoihorax), which visits India, and has the
pectoral gorget duller red, and but little white, at times perhaps
none, in the broad black frontal band. The differences appear to
me not more than subspecific, and I am doubtful whether they are
constant; whilst the two forms are quite undistinguishable in
winter garb.
Soft parts as in JE. geoffroyi.
Length 7*5 ; tail 2 ; wing 5 ; tarsus 1-2 ; bill from gape '75.
Distribution. The Lesser Sand- Plover passes the summer in
Central and ]N"orthern Asia, Japan, and Alaska, and has been
found breeding in the Upper Indus valley ; in winter it visits the
shores of the Indian Ocean from Africa to Queensland. It is
common on the Indian coasts from September to May, often
consorting with geoffroyi* which is rarer. The present species
is more often found inland, especially at times of migration.
Before leaving in May, most of the birds assume the nuptial
livery. A few individuals, both of this and of the last species,
remain in India throughout the year, but do not breed so far as
is known. Hume, however, received skins, apparently of nestlings,
shot in the Andamans in May, July, and September.
Habits, $c. Similar to those of JE. geoffroyi. This bird has been
found breeding around the Tso-Morari and other Tibetan lakes.
The eggs resemble those of other Plovers in colour and shape.
1444. .ZEgialitis asiatica. The Caspian Sand-Plover.
Charadrius asiaticus, Fall. Reis. Russ. Reichs, ii, p. 715 (1773) ;
Seebohm, Charadr. p. 144.
Eudromias asiaticus, Harting, Ibis, 1870, p. 202, pi. v.
,/Egialitis asiatica, Hume, S. F. vii, p. 438 ; id. Cat. no. 845 quat. ;
id. S. F. ix, p. 79 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 329.
Ochthodromus asiaticus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 230.
Coloration. In winter plumage the upper parts are brown ;
forehead, supercilia, lores, checks, chin, and throat buffy white ;
area behind eye and ear-coverts light brown ; primary-coverts,
primaries, and secondaries blackish brown, a little white on the
outer webs of a few inner primaries near the base ; shafts of 1st
primary and of subterminal portion of 2nd white, of the 3rd dark
240
throughout ; tail-feathers brown, darker near the end and tipped
white (the dark subtermiual band is more distinct in summer
plumage) ; fore neck and breast brown ; lower breast and abdomen
white ; wing-lining brown and white mixed ; axillaries white.
In summer plumage the fore neck and upper breast are chestnut,
passing into blackish on the lower border.
Young birds have dull rufous edges to the upper plumage.
Bill black ; iris dusky hazel ; feet greenish olive (Emm Pacha).
Length 7*5 ; tail 2 ; wing 5'5 ; tarsus 1*6 ; bill from gape '9.
Distribution. This Sand-Plover breeds on the Caspian and Aral
Seas and in Central Asia, and pass^ the winter in Africa, as far
south as Cape Colony. It is also found in the Persian Gulf.
The only specimen yet recorded in India was shot by Viclal near
Eatnagiri. The present species is an inhabitant of sandy plains as
much as of sea-coasts, or may even prefer the former.
1445. JEgialitis vereda. The Eastern Dotterel.
Charadrius veredus, Gould, P. Z. S. 1848, p. 38 j Seebohm, Charadr.
p. 116.
Eudromias veredus, Hat-tint/, 7/>/.s. 1870, p. 209, pi. vi ; Ball,
J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 288 ; id. S. F. i, p. 83 ; Hume, S. F. ii,
p. 288 ; id. Cat. no. 845 ter.
Ochthodromus veredus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 232.
This Plover is much like JE. asiatica, but is larger, with less
distinct supercilia and with the hind neck always paler than the
crown or back ; the whole wing-lining and axillaries are light
brown.
In summer plumage the whole head and neck except the occiput
and nape, which remain brown, become white ; this passes into
rufons on the fore neck, and this again into chestnut on the
breast and sides of the breast, there being again a passage from,
the chestnut into the black band that terminates it posteriorly ;
lower breast and abdomen white.
In young birds there are rufous fringes to the upper plumage
and dark centres to the brown feathers of the breast.
Bill deep olive-brown ; legs light brownish flesh-colour ; feet
washed with grey, blackish on joints (Swinhoe).
Length 9*5; tail 2*4; wing6'5; tarsus 1*8 ; bill from gape 1-05.
Distribution. This species breeds in Northern China and Mon-
golia, and spends the winter in the Malay Peninsula and Australia.
A solitary specimen was obtained at the Andamans by Dr. G. E.
Dobson in 1872, and identified by Ball.
1446. jEgialitis alexandrina. The Kentish Plover.
Charadrius alexandrinus, Linn. Si/st. Nat. i, p. 253 (1766).
Charadrius cantianus, Lath. Ind. Om. Suppl. p. Ixvi (1801) ; Seebohm,
Charadr. p. 168.
Hiaticula cantiana, Blyth, Cat. p. 263.
jEgialitis cantianus, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 640 ; Armstrong, S. F. iv,
p. 340 ; Hume, ibid. p. 464 ; Butler. S. F. v, p. 290 ; Hume $ Dnr.
S. F. vi, p. 456 ; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 227 ; id. Cat. no. 848 ; Vidal,
^GIALITIS. 241
S. F. ix, p. 81 ; Butler, ibid p. 426 ; Let/ye, Birds Cei/L p. 947 ;
Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 94, 1882, p. 287; Reid, S. P. x, p. 65;
Gates, B. B. ii, p. 368 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 330 ; id. Jour.
Bom. N. H. Soc. ii, p. 167 ; vi, p, 21 ; Gate* in Hume's N. Sr E.
2nd ed. iii, p. 337 ; Bulkley, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. viii, p. 325.
yEgialophilus caiitianus, Hume, N. fy E. p. 571 ; id. S. F. i, p. 230 ;
Adam, S. F. i, p. 394; Hume, S. f. iv, p. 12.
JEgialitis alexandrina, Blyth 8f Wald. Birds Burin, p. 154 j Sharpe,
Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 275.
Coloration. In winter the forehead, supercilia, a ring round the
neck, and the lower parts, including wing-lining and axillaries,
are white : crown, a streak from the lores including the orbit
and ear-coverts, but widest beneath the eye, a partial collar widely
interrupted in front on the upper breast, and all the upper parts
from the neck brown ; primaries blackish, the first with the shaft
white throughout, the others with part of the shaft white some
distance from the tip ; a patch in the middle of the outer web in
the inner primaries, and all tips and borders of secondaries, white ;
the four middle rectrices blackish brown, next pair with tips and
outer webs white, the two outer pairs white throughout.
In breeding-plumage the crown is more or less changed to pale
rusty red, above the frontal white band is a broad black sinciput,
the band from the lores beneath the eye also black, and so is a
large patch on each side of the upper breast.
Bill black ; irides brown ; bill dusky grey or blackish (Jerdori).
Length 6-5 ; tail 1*9 ; wing 4*25 ; tarsus 1-1 ; bill from gape *8.
Distribution. Europe, Africa, the greater part of Asia and
Australia. Chiefly a winter visitor to India, occurring throughout
the Empire ; a few birds remaining to breed in particular localities.
Habits, $c. This Plover resembles the Sand-Plovers in habits,
and, like them, is chiefly found on the sea-coast, though a few
birds are occasionally seen inland. It has been found breeding
by Legge near Hambanthota, Trincomati, and other places in.
Ceylon in June aud July ; by Butler at Jashk, on the Makran
coast, in May ; by Mr. Gumming in April and May near Karachi ;
and by Mr. H. Bulkley at Kharaghora, in Guzerat, early in
August. The eggs are normally four in number, of the usual shape
and colour, but more scratchily blotched than usual. Ceylon eggs
measured about 1'16 by *87.
1447. JEgialitis dubia. The Little Ringed Plover.
Charadrius dubius, Scop. Del. Faun, et Flor. Insubr. ii, p. 93 (1786).
Charadrius curonicus, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 692 (1788).
Charadrius philippinus, Lath. Ind. Orn.ii, p. 745 (1790).
Charadrius minor, Wolf fy Meyer, Natury. Vdg. Deutschl. p. 182
(1805); Seebohm, Charadr. p. 130.
Charadrius fluviatilis, Bechst. Nature/. Deutschl. ed. 2, iv, p. 322
(1809).
Charadrius minutus, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii, p. 145 (1811).
Charadrius pusillus, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 187 (1821).
Hiaticula philippina & H. pusilla, Blyth, Cat. pp. 263, 264.
YOL. IV. B
242 CIIATlADRIID.f:.
^Egialitis philippengi?, Jerdon, B. /. iii, p. 640 ; Biddulph, H)is,
1881, p. 94.
./Egialitis niinutus, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 6-H ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867,
p. 164: Bear an, Ibis, 1868, p. 389 ; Z^/f, S. F. iii, p. 372 ; Hume
fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 45(3 ; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 227 ; Cripps, ibid.
p. 300 ; Hume, Cat no. 850 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 331 ; id.
Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. i, p. 57 j vi, p. 22; Littledale, Jour. Bom.
N. H. Soc, i, p. 200.
yEgialitis fluviatilis, Hume, N. $ E. p. 572 ; id. S. F. i, p. 230 ;
Adam, ibid. p. 394 ; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 289.
^gialitis curonica, Wald. Ibis, 1873, p. 316 ; Ball, S. F. ii, p. 429 ;
Butler, S. F. iv, p. 12; Armstrong, ibid. p. 340 ; Butler, S. F. v,
p. 232; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 456; Ley ye. Birds Ceyl.
p. 952 ; Scully Ibis, 1881, p. 587.
yEgialitis philippinus, Hume, S. F. iii, p. 179.
^gialitis dubia, Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burm. p. 153 ; Ball, S. F.
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 330 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 315 ; Dates in
Hume's N. # E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 338 ; Sharpc, Cat. B. M. xxiv,
p.2T
, p. 2»7 ;
E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 340.
The Indian Ringed Plover, Tie Lesser Ringed Plover, Jerdon ;
/irrea, II. : Bt/fu ulanka, Rewa, Tel.
Fig. 54.— Head of M. dubia. \.
Coloration. A white frontal band, surrounded by the black
base of tbe forehead, broad sincipital band, lores, and a band from
them chiefly beneath the eye, but including the orbit- and the ear-
coverts, all black; occiput and nape brown, separated from the
black sincipital area by a pale line, and by a broader white streak
from the orbital band ; chin, throat, and a broad collar all round
the neck white, followed by a black collar all round the base of
the neck, broader in front ; upper parts from the neck brown ;
quills dark brown ; first primiares blackish, secondaries and later
primaries tipped white ; shaft of first primary white almost
throughout, of all others dark; tail brown, darker towards the
end ; all feathers, except the middle pair, tipped white, the white
tips increasing in size and extending along the outer webs in the
JEGIA.LITIS. 243
outer rect rices ; lower parts from neck, including wing-lining,
pure white.
Young birds want the black marks on the head and nape.
The black is replaced by brown and the white by buff.
Bill black, yellowish at base ; irides deep brown ; orbits yellow ;
legs yellow (Jerdon). Legs dusky greenish brown in winter,
yellow in summer (Gates).
Length 6-5 ; tail 2'35 ; wing 4*5 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from gape '6.
Many Indian ornithologists are of opinion that there are two
species of Ringed Plover throughout India, the smaller (dE. minuta
v. jerdoni) distinguished by smaller size (wing 4, tarsus -8), by
having more yellow at the base of the bill, and a more pro-
minent and broader naked yellow ring round the eye. The
colours of the legs, too, are said to differ. The smaller form is
said to breed in India, while the larger bird is a cold weather
visitor. I have never been able to distinguish the two forms in
India, and I find Dr. Sharpe unites them. There is unquestionably
much variation ; and I think it probable that many of the birds
occurring in India in the cold season are migrants, and that, as
with so many birds, the southern residents run smaller than the
birds that breed farther north.
Distribution. All Europe and Asia, with North Africa.
Generally distributed throughout the Indian Empire.
Habits, fyc. The Little Ringed Plover is most common in the
beds of streams and rivers, where it keeps in small scattered
flocks, each bird running about independently in search of insects,
but all collecting to fly away when alarmed. Occasionally these
little Plovers are seen in sandy plains or fields. They have a
plaintive monosyllabic whistle. Many of those found in India are
probably migrants and breed in the north, but numbers breed in
India, from December to May in the Deccan, and probably else-
where, and lay four eggs of the usual type, thinly speckled, and
measuring 1*14 by *84.
1448. JEgialitis hiaticula. The Ringed Plover.
Charadrius hiaticula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 253 (1766) ; Seebohm,
Charadr. p. 125.
JEgialitis hiaticula, Hume, S. F. viii, p. 197 ; Scully, Ibis. 1881,
p. 587.
^Egialitis hiaticola, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 256.
Both young and adults of this Plover closely resemble &. clubia,
but they are larger, the shafts of all the primaries have the basal
half brown and the distal half white except near the tip; there
is a white streak outside the shaft in the middle of the quill in
all the inner primaries, the greater coverts are tipped white, and
there is much white on the inner secondaries and on tho outer
rec trices.
Bill orange-yellow, the tip black ; irides brown ; feet orange.
Length 7*5 ; tail 2-3 ; wing 5-2 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from gape -6.
Distribution. Throughout Europe and Western and Central
244 CHAEADRIID.i:.
Asia as far as Lake Baikal, wintering chiefly in Africa. A
migratory bird, and a rare and occasional visitor to N.W. India.
One specimen was obtained at Sultanpur, south of Delhi, by
Mr. Chill in November 1878, and a second at Gilgit by Dr. Scully
in October 1879.
1449. JEgialitis placida. The Long-billed Hinged Plover.
Cliaradrius placidus, Gray, Cat. Mam. 8fc. Coll. Hodgs. 2nd ed.
p. 70 (1863) ; Hurting, Ibis, 1873, p. 326 ; Seebohm, Charadr.
P-.1??' Jf.
./Egialitis hiaticula, apud Bh/tli, Ibis, 1867, p. 165, nee Linn.
Eudromias tenuirostris, Hume, S. F. i, pp. 17, 417. 495 ; Blanf.
Ibis, 1873, p. 217.
^Egialitis placida, Hume fy Dav. S. F. \\, p. 455; Hume, Cat.
no. 848 bis; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 351; Hume $ Inglis, S. F. ix,
p. 258 ; Hume, S. 'F. xi, p. 314 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 262.
This species resembles the last two, but is larger than either,
and has a much larger bill. The whole forehead is white, lores
(in winter) brown, and some brown is intermixed with the black
of the collar ; the shafts of all primaries are brown, even of the
first primary ; only a small portion near the end is lighter in
colour in some skins, not as a rule.
Bill black, extreme base of lower mandible yellow ; irides dark
brown, margin of eyelids yellow; feet yellow (Seullti).
Length 8' 75 ; tail 3 ; wing 5*5 ; tarsus 1*3 ; bill from gape '9.
Distribution. Eastern Asia : Manchuria, Corea, Japan, China,
and North-eastern India. Specimens have been obtained from
time to time in Nepal, Sikhim, Bhutan, Assam, and Cachar.
Habits, $\ This is probably a migratory bird, and visits India
in the winter only. It has been met with in river-beds.
In June, 1839 or 1840, Jerdon obtained at the edge of the
Pulicat Lake, near Madras, a Plover which he described as
Charadrius russatus (Madr. Jour. L. S. xii, p. 213). This was
subsequently identified by Blyth. with the Australian JE. nigri-
frons, Cuv. (^E. melanops, Vieill.), and the skin is probably still
in the Museum at Calcutta. No specimen has ever since been
found in India, and the species was omitted by Jerdon from the
4 Birds of India,' a circumstance not improbably clue to his
suspecting that some mistake had been made. Blyth (Ibis, 1867,
p. 165) called attention to the omission, and the name has been
restored by Hume (S. F. vii, p. 438 ; Cat. no. 850 bis). I cannot
but regard the occurrence of the specimen in India as fortuitous,
and I do not think the species should be included in the list of
Indian birds.
JE. melanops may be recognized by its deep claret-red scapulars,
by its having the forehead and middle of the sinciput, the lores,
and a broad band from them extending round the back of the neck
all black, and also a broad pectoral gorget with a pointed extension
backwards. Length 5-8 ; tail 2-1 ; wing 4'3 ; tarsus 1.
H^MATOPUS. 245
Subfamily H/EMATOPODD^E,
The four genera here brought together are not usually
associated, and it is doubtful whether they are really allied.
All are long-billed birds, aud all have the tarsus reticulated. All,
too, show a certain similarity of coloration, black and white or
grey. The eggs of Hctmatopug, Himantopus, aud Hecurvircstra
are very similar ; those of Ibidorhynclms are unknown. None has
a distinct summer plumage, thus differing from all the Totanina?
and most of the Charadriince. At the same time, it must be
remarked that the bill of the Oystercatcher differs considerably in
structure from that of the other three genera.
Key to the Genera.
a. Bill straight, no hind toe.
a'. Bill compressed, stout, longer than tarsus. H2EMATOPU8, p. 245.
b'. Bill slender, much shorter than tarsus . . HIMANTOPUS, p. 240.
b. Bill curved upwards ; a hind toe RECURVIROSTRA, p. 248.
c. Bill curved downwards ; no hind toe IBIDORHYNCHUS, p. 249.
Genus HJEMATOPUS, Linn., 1766.
Bill long, compressed, straight, often truncated at the end ;
nostril linear, near the base of the bill, in a groove that extends
more than halfway to the tip. Wings long, pointed, first quill
longest ; tail moderate. Tarsus short, thick, reticulated through-
out; no hind toe; anterior toes thick, edged with membrane,
slightly webbed at the base, especially between the 3rd and 4th
toes ; soles broad.
The Oystercatchers are a cosmopolitan genus of about a dozen
species, only one of which is Indian.
1450. Haematopus ostralegus. The Sea-pie or Oystercatcher.
Haematopus ostralegus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 257 (1766) ; Blyth,
Cat. p. 264; Jerdon, 11. I. ii'i, p. 659; Hume, S. F. i, p. 234;
Hayes Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 416; Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 154;
Butler, S. F. v, pp. 212, 232, 236 ; ix, p. 427 ; Hume, Cat. no. 862 ;
Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 83 ; Legge, Birds Ccijl. p. 987 ; Gates, B. j?,ii,
p. 377 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 339 ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 301 ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 107.
Haematopus osculans, Swinh. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 405 ; Sharpe, Cat.
B.M. xxiv, p. 111.
Darya gojpaon, H. ; Yerri kali ulanka, Tel.
Coloration. Head and neck all round, upper back, scapulars,
and tertiaries black ; lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and
lower parts from upper breast white ; edge of wing, terminal
portions of median coverts, the greater secondary coverts, and the
246 CHARADRTIDJE.
inner secondary quills white, forming a wing-band; primary-
coverts black ; primaries the same, except part of the inner web
and a lanceolate white spot on the shaft and outer web, com-
mencing as a streak on the first primary and increasing inwards ;
tail white at base, black at end.
Young birds are browner black, and have a broad band of white
on the throat.
Bill bright reddish orange, dingy and yellowish at the tip ;
iricles red ; eyelids orange-red ; legs and feet brownish purple
(Hume}.
Length 16 ; tail 4 ; wing 10 ; tarsus 2-1 ; bill from gape 3-25-3.
Fig. 55. — Head of H. ostralegus (immature). |.
Distribution. The greater part of Europe and Asia, chiefly on
sea-coasts. A winter visitor to India, common on the coast of
Sind, Catch, and Kattywar ; less common on the west coast of
Indie and rare on the east coast, in Ceylon and in Burma. I do
not regard the Chinese and Japanese H. osculans, to which an
Arrakanese skin is referred by Sharpe, as worth specific distinction.
It only differs in having a little less white on the earlier primaries,
the difference in length of bill not being constant. It is probably
to some extent intermediate between H. oslraleyus and H. lonyi-
rostris.
Habits, $c. The Oystercatcher is found singly or in parties,
and keeps much to rocks between tide-marks, feeding on molluscs
arid Crustacea ; it often visits fields or meadows near the sea,
but is rarely seen far from the coast. It is a wary bird, utters
a clear loud whistling note, and breeds in the North of Europe and
on the Caspian.
Genus HIMANTOPUS, Brisson, 1760.
Bill long, straight, hard, slender, pointed ; nostrils linear, near
the base of the bill, each situated in a groove that extends about
half the length of the mandible. "Wings long and pointed,
1st quill longest; tail short, even. Legs very long; tibia bare
for a long distance, three-quarters the length of the long tarsi,
which are reticulated throughout: no hind toe, outer joined to
•HIMANTOPTJS. 247
middle toe by a broad web, a narrower web between the middle
and inner toe.
The Stilts are found in all temperate and tropical countries.
One species occurs in India.
1451. Himantopus candidus. The Black-winged Stilt.
Charadrius himantopus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 255 (1766).
Himantopus Candidas, Bonn. Tail. Fncyd. Meth. i, p. 24 (1790);
Blyth, Cat. p. 264 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 704 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1807,
p. 169 ; Godtc.-Autt. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 274; Hume, Ibis,
1870, p. 145 ; Feilden, ibid. p. 295 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi, p. 464 ;
Ball, S. F. vii, p. 229 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 304 ; Hume, Cat. no. 898 ;
Doiy, S. F. viii, p. 371 ; Leyye, Birds Ceyl. p. 919 ; Vidal, S. F.
ix, p. 86 ; Butler, ibid. p. 430 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 97 ; Scully,
ibid. p. 590 ; Held, S. F.. x, p. 72 ; Taylor, ibid. p. 466 ; Gates,
B. B. ii, p. 379 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 361 ; Hume, S. F. xi,
p. 326; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 177; Gates in Hume's N. # E.
2nd ed. iii, p. 353 ; Barms, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 132,
fig. 888 (egg).
Hiinantopas melanopterus, Meyer, Ann. Wetter. Gesellsch. iii,
p. 177 (1814) ; Seebvhm, Charadr. p. 277.
Himantopus iutermedius, Blyth, Cat. p. 265 (1849, descr. nulla) ;
Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 253 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 589 ;
id. S. F. i, p. 248 ; Adam, 8. F. i, p. 397 ; ii, p. 339 ; Hume fy
Gates, S. F. iii, p. 183 ; Leyye, ibid. p. 373 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 18.
Himantopus autuinnalis, Hasselq., Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 475;
Blyth I Wald. Birds Burm. p. 154.
Himantopus himantopus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 310.
The Stilt or Long-leys, Jerdcn ; Gaj-paun, Tinyhur, H. ; Lal-gon,
Lal-thenyi, Lam-yora, Beng.
Fig. 56.— Head of H. candidus (adult). §.
Coloration. Adult male. Whole head, neck and lower parts,
lower bark and rump white; back, scapulars, and wings above
and below black, glossed with metallic green ; upper tail-coverts
brownish ; tail whity-brown.
Females have the back, scapulars, tertiaries, and inner wing-
coverts brown.
Young birds have the occiput and nape black or blackish, and
the hind neck grey. These dark marks are retained by many
birds that sho\v no other signs of immaturity ; the pure white
head is probably not attained for some years. Birds of the year
have brown back, scapulars, and tertiaries, and the crown and
248 CHAKADKIIDJ;.
hind neck are light greyish brown, with white edges to the
feathers.
Bill black ; irides red ; legs lake-red ; claws black.
Length 15 ; tail 3*25 ; wing 9'5; tarsus 5 ; bill from gape 2-8.
Distribution. Southern Europe, the whole of Africa, and
Central and Southern Asia. This Stilt is found throughout India,
Ceylon, and Burma in the cold season, in suitable localities, and
breeds in a few places.
Habits, <$fc. This is a common bird in India wherever there are
marshes or tanks with shallow margins and not too much over-
grown with vegetation. It occurs'in large flocks and feeds on
insects, small molluscs, and worms. It has been found breeding,
from April to July, in large numbers about salt swamps, as at
Sultan pur Salt-works, south of Delhi, at Sambhur Lake, and in
several places in Ceylon. The eggs, usually 4 in number, some-
times 3, are very like plovers' : light drab, much blotched with
black; they measure about 1-64 by 1*21, and are laid in a hollow,
often built of fragments of stone, and usually lined with a little
grass.
Genus RECURVIROSTRA, Linn., 1766.
Bill very long, flexible, curved upwards towards the end,
depressed ; both mandibles flattened ; nostrils linear, long, each in
an ill-marked groove not half the length of the bill. Wings
long, pointed, 1st quill slightly the longest in general ; tail short.
Tarsus and bare tibia long; tarsus reticulated; hind toe very
e-mail, but furnished with a claw; anterior toes deeply webbed,
but webs notched in the middle.
There are about four species of Avocet, widely distributed ; only
one is Indian.
1 152. Recurvirostra avocetta. The Avocet.
Recurvi rostra avocetta, Linn. Syst. Nat. \, p. 256 (1766) ; Blyth,
Cat. p. 265 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 706; Stoticzka, J. A. S. B. xli,
pt. 2, p. 253 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 2-J8 ; Adam, ibid. p. 397 ; ii,
p. 339; Hayes Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 417 ; Sutler, S. F. iv, p. 18 ;
Hume, S. F. vii, p. 489; id. Cat. no. 899; Legge, Sink Ceyl.
p. 925; Reid, S. F. x, p. 453; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 362;
Sfiarpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 326.
Kusya chaha, II. (Behar).
Coloration. The whole forehead and crown to below the eyes,
nape and hind neck, inner scapulars, and a patch running out-
wards from their base, median wing-coverts, some of the tertiaries,
and the tips and greater part of the first seven or eight primaries
black, or in winter dark brown ; ail other parts white, middle tail-
feathers in winter tinged with brownish grey.
Bill black ; irides red-brown ; legs pale bluish grey.
Length 18 j tail 3'3 ; wing 9; tarsus 3-5 ; bill from gape to
point 3-25.
JB1DORHYNCHUS. 249.
Distribution. Temperate Europe and Asia, the whole of Africa,
South-western Asia, India, and Ceylon. A winter visitor to
India, not uncommon in the north, rarer in the south, and in
Ceylon ; not found in Assam or Burma.
Habits, $c. The Avocet is generally found in small flocks,
haunting the borders of marshes, tanks, rivers, salt lagoons, ancj
similar places ; it feeds on small Crustacea, worms, and molluscs,
and obtains its food by searching for it in the mud and sand \vith
its bill, which it moves backwards and forwards with a semi-
circular sweeping action. It swims well.
;
Genus IBIDORHYNCHUS, Vigors, 1831.
A peculiar Central Asiatic species, of which the affinities are by
no means clearly ascertained, is the type of the present genus.
It has been referred by Jerdon and others to the neighbourhood of
the Curlews, and has been associated by Seebohm with the Oyster-
catchers. I do not think it is allied to the former, but it may have
some relationship to ffasmatopus.
The bill is hard, long, slender, and curved downwards; the
nostril is linear, near the base of the bill and situated in a groove
that extends more than half the length of the mandible. The first
three quills are subequal, the 1st generally a little the longest :
tail rather short. Tarsi short, stout, reticulated throughout ; there
is no hind toe, the middle and outer toes are connected by a web,
but there is scarcely any between the middle and inner toes.
1453. Ibidorhynchus struthersi. The Ibis-bill.
Ibidorhyncha struthersii, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 174 ; Hume, Cat.
no. 879.
Ibidorhynchus struthersi, Eli/th, Cat. p. 265 ; Adams, P. Z. S. 1859,
Ibis, 1882, p. 287 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 323 ; Seebohm, Charadr.
p. 314 ; 8karpc, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 335 ; W. W. Cordeam-, Ibis,
1897, p. 563.
The Red-billed Curlew, Jerdon.
Fig. 57. — Head of I. struthersi.
Coloration. Head to the eyes including cheeks, chin, throat, and
crown, terminating in a point on the nape, blackish brown,
250 CHARADR1IDJE.
browner and often mixed with grey on the forehead, and with a
narrow white border except on the occiput ; neck all round and
upper breast bluish ashy, separated from the broad black gorget
across the breast by another narrow white border ; upper back,
scapulars, and tertiaries light brownish grey, becoming more ashy
on the wing-coverts ; winglet blackish ; quills ashy brown, tips of
primaries darker, most of the primaries, and sometimes all, with a
white spot on the inner web near the end, greatly increasing in
size on the innermost primaries; all quills white at base, the outer
secondaries to a large extent : lower back and rump grey, upper
tail-coverts blackish ; tail-feathers *ashy brown, with dark wavy
cross-bars, all except the middle pair with a subterminal black
spot; outermost pair barred black and white on outer webs, and
with the barring on the inner webs almost obsolete ; lower surface
from middle of breast white.
Young birds want the blackish brown of the head and the black
gorget.
Bill and irides crimson ; legs pinkish grey (Godwin- Austen) • legs
blood -red (Jerdon).
Length 16 inches ; tail 4-5 ; wing 9-25 ; tarsus 1'9 ; bill from
gape 3 to 3a5.
Distribution. Throughout Central Asia from Western Turkestan
to North China. rlhis bird inhabits the Himalayas from Kashmir
to Upper Assam, keeping to stream-beds at high elevations in
summer, and descending almost to the plains in winter. It has
also been obtained by Godwin-Austen in the Naga hills at a low
level in February and March. Quite recently a specimen has been
shot by Capt. Barton in the Afridi country, Afghan frontier.
Halits, $c. This remarkable wader keeps chiefly to the beds of
n, ountain-st reams, and is found singly, in pairs, or in small flocks,
probably families, of about five or six individuals. I met with
scattered flocks of this kind in the interior of Sikhim, at 12,000
feet, in September. The food consists of insects and, it is said,
mollusca and Crustacea. Though .this species undoubtedly breeds
in the Himalayas about May, and is said to make its nest in a
hollow beside a stone or a stranded log, the eggs have never, so far
as I can ascertain, been described except from native information.
Subfamily TOTANIN^.
The Curlews, Godwits, Sandpipers, and Stints agree in having a
slender, generally rather lengthened bill, more or less richly
provided with nerves, and consequently endowed with a delicate
fcense of touch, an essential qualification when this organ is used
to search in mud and \\et sand for the annelids and other small
animals on which the bird feeds. This is far less the case with
Curlews and Sandpipers than with the Stints. All the genera of
EUMENIUS. 251
this subfamily (except Nunieniu^ in which the back of the tarsus
is reticulated) have the tarsus scutulate or transversely shielded
both in front and behind, and all undergo a considerable change of
plumage at the spring moult, and have a distinct summer and
winter garb. In only one genus is there any decided difference in
plumage between the sexes, and in that case it is confined to the
breeding dress.
All the birds of this subfamily are winter visitors to India, only
one species being known to breed even in the Himalayas.
Key to the Genera.
a. Toes not fringed by a lobed web like a Gout's.
a'. Toes partially webbed at the base.
a". Bill long, curved downwards NUMENIUS, p. 251.
b". Bill straight or slightly curving upwards.
«3. Bill longer than tail.
a1. Bill not broader at end LIMOSA, p. 254.
b1. Bill Snipe-like, broader at end and
pitted MACRORHAMPHUS,
Z>3. Bill not longer than tail. fp. 257.
cl. Bill nearly twice as long as tarsus . . TEREKIA, p. 2~58.
d\ Bill shorter than tarsus or not much
longer.
a\ Sexes alike TOTANUS, p. 259.
b5. Sexes in breeding-season different . PAVONCELLA, p. 268.
b'. Toes divided to base ; bill soft, flexible.
c". No hind toe CALIDRIS, p. 270.
d". A hind toe.
c:!. Bill spoon-shaped, greatly expanded [p. 271.
near tip EURYNORHYNCHUS,
d3. Bill slender, not spoon-shaped TRINGA, p. 272.
b. Anterior toes with a lobed web throughout . . PHALAROPUS, p. 280.
Genus NUMENIUS, Brisson, 1760.
Bill very long, slender, curved downwards, tip of the upper
mandible obtuse, projecting beyond the lower; nostril in a groove
that extends three-quarters the length of the bill or more.
AYings long, pointed, 1st quill longest, tertiaries long ; tail short,
rounded. Legs of moderate length ; tarsus reticulated except on
the lower portion in front, where it is covered with transverse
scutation ; hind toe well developed, anterior toes webbed at the
base, claws dilated.
About eight or nine species of Curlews and Whimbrels are
known, very widely distributed. Two are Indian.
Key to the Species.
a. Crown streaked ; bill 5 to 7 inches long N. arqitata, p. 252.
b. Crown brown with a pale median baud ; bill
under 4 in N. phteopus, p. 253.
252 CHABADRIIDJE.
1454. Numenius arquata. The Curlew.
Scolopax arquata, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 242 (1766).
Numeuius arquata, Blytli, Cat. p. 268; Jvrdon, B.I. iii, p. 683;
Le Messnrier, S. F. iii, p. 381 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 412 ; Sharpe,
Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 341.
Numenius lineatus, Cuv. Rec/ne An. ed. 2e, i, p. 521 (1829) ; Blytli,
Ibis, 1867, p. 167 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 237 ; Adam, ibid. p. 396 ;
Hume, S. F. ii, p. 296; Butler $ Hume, S. F. iv, p. 16; Arm-
strong, ibid. p. 341 ; Hume, ibid. p. 464 ; Butler, S. F. \, pp. 233,
Numeniua arcuatus, Irly, Ibis, 1861, p. 240.
Gear, Goungh. Barra Gulinda, H. ; Choppa, Sada Kastachura, Beng.
Fig. 58. — Head of N. arquata.
Coloration. Crown and sides of head, and neck all round light
brown with dark shaft-stripes, darkest on the crown; a whitish
superciHum,not very distinct ; back and scapulars blackish brown,
with light brown edges to the feathers, some of the longer
scapulars obliquely barred near the edges ; wiug-coverts similar to
back but the edges are paler ; bastard wing, primary-coverts, and
primaries blackish brown, primary-coverts and inner primaries
with white tips, all primaries notched or mottled on inner web and
inner primaries notched on both webs with white ; secondaries
brown barred with white, tertiaries dark brown barred with ashy
brown, the pale bars not extending across in either case ; lower
back and rump white, the feathers in the middle with blackish
shaft-stripes, each ending in a broader pointed spot; upper tail-
coverts white with larger spots ; tail-feathers ashy brown with
dark brown cross-bars ; chin and throat white ; fore neck brownish
white with dark shaft-lines ; rest of lower parts white, with dark
shaft-lines on the breast and flanks.
In breeding-plumage the whole bird is darker and the shaft-
lines broader, both above and below, and they extend to the
abdomen.
Bill dark brown or blackish, basal half of lower mandible light
brown to fleshy white; irides brown; legs and feet bluish grey.
Length about 23; tail 4'5 ; wing 11*5; tarsus 4'4; bill from
gape 5 to over 7, generally between 5 and 6. Females are larger
than males.
NUMENIUS. 253
Distribution. A winter visitor to India, Ceylon, and Burma, also
to the Andaman s, Nicobars, Laccadives, &c. Curlews pass the
summer and breed in temperate Europe and Asia, and spend the
winter in Africa and Southern Asia.
Habits, Sfc. In India Curlews are most abundant on the sea-coast
and on the banks of tidal rivers ; but some are found inland in
well-watered countries near rivers, large tanks, and marshes.
As a rule they are seen singly or in twos or threes, but flocks are
not uncommon. The Curlew has a peculiar, very plaintive cry,
not unlike that of the Golden Plover, but wilder. It is a very
wary bird.
The Indian Curlew, N. lineatus, was long regarded as distinct,
but the differences have been shown to be chiefly due to winter
plumage. The bill is somewhat longer on an average.
1455. Numenius phaeopus. The Whimbrel.
Scolopax phaeopus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 243 (1766).
Numenius phaeopus, Blyth, Cat. p. 268; Jerdon, B. 1. iii. p. 684:
Bi
ibid. p. 341 ; 'Hume, ibid. p. 464 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 460 ';
Butler, S. F. vii, p. 187 ; ix, p. 429 ; Hume, ibid. p. 487 ; id. Cat.
no. 878; Leffffe, Birds Ceyl. p. 910; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 85; Reid,
S. F. x, p. 70 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 411 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 352 ;
Sliarpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 355.
Chota Gounyh, Chota Gidinda, H.
Coloration. Crown including forehead dark brown, with a broken
median white band ; long supercilia from base of bill and sides of
head whitish with dark streaks ; lores and a band through eve to
ear-coverts dark brown ; upper parts generally brown, with whitish
spots on the edges of the t'eathers, becoming larger on the wing-
coverts ; bastard wing, primary-coverts and quills blackish brown,
primary-coverts and inner primaries tipped white, inner webs of
all quills and outer webs of the inner primaries and of the second-
aries with white indentations ; lower back and rump white, some
of the feathers as a rule with subterminal pointed brown spots ;
upper tail-coverts, barred dark brown and whitish ; tail ashy
brown, barred with dark brown ; chin, throat, and abdomen white ;
fore neck and breast sullied white with dark brown shafts, flanks
and axillaries barred.
To the eastward this passes into N. variegatus, with the lower
back and rump thickly mottled with bars and spots of brown.
Some Burmese skins are referred to N. varieyatus by Sharpe, but
it only ranks as a race or subspecies.
Bill blackish brown, basal half of lower mandible pale and
pinkish ; irides dark brown ; legs and feet bluish grey.
Length of male 17; tail 3-75; wing 9-5; tarsus 2'3; bill
from gape 3*2. Females on an average exceed males in size ;
wing 10.
254
Distribution. Europe and Northern Asia in summer ; Africa,
Southern Asia, the Malay Archipelago, and Australia in winter.
This is a winter visitor to the sea-coasts of India, Ceylon, and
Burma, and is occasionally found inland.
Habits, fyc. As a rule, though there are local exceptions, the
Whimbrel is a less common bird than the Curlew in India ; but
it has very similar habits. It is good to eat, better than the
Curlew.
Genus LIMOSA, Brisson, 1760.
The Godwits have a very long bill> straight or slightly recurved,
with the apex obtuse, both mandibles grooved at the side ; nostrils
linear, near the base of the bill. Wings long and pointed, 1st quill
longest ; tail of moderate length, even. Tarsus moderate, trans-
versely shielded in parts both before and behind ; hind toe well
developed, a web between the outer and middle toes, but
scarcely any between the middle and inner ; middle claw
dilated, curved outwards and often pectinate outside. Winter
plumage greyish brown ; breeding-plumage rufous in both sexes.
The genus is almost cosmopolitan ; two species are Indian.
Key to the Species.
a. Basal half of tail white, terminal half mostly
black, not barred * L. belgica, p. 254.
b. Tail more or less barred L. lapponica, p. 25G.
1456. Limosa belgica. The Black-tailed Godwit.
Scolopax limosa, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 245 (1766).
Scolopax belgica, Gm. Syst. Nat. i,'p. 063 (1788).
Limosa melanura, Leisler, Nachtr. Bechst. Na^urg. pt. 2, p. 153
(1813) ; Sefbohm, Charadr. p. 389.
Limosa aegocephala, apud Pallas, Zooqr. llosso-Asiat. ii, p. 178 ; Blyth,
Cat. p. 268: Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. '240; Jei'don, B. I. iii, p. 081 ;
Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 252; Hume, 8. F. i, p. 235 ;
Adam, ibid. p. 396 ; Oates, 8. F. iii, p. 346 ; Blyth, Birds Burm.
p. 155 ; Butler Sf Hume, S. F. iv, p. 16 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi,
p. 460 ; Wardl.-Rams. Ibis, 1877, p. 469 ; Cripps, S. F. vii, p. 302 ;
Hume, ibid. p. 486; id. Cat. no. 875; Scnlh/, S. F. viii, p. 356;
Swinh. $ Barnes, Ibis. 1885, p. 133 : Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 348;
Hume, S. F. xi, p. 322 ; nee Sc. segocephala, L.
Limosa melanuroides, Gould, P. Z. S. 1846, p. 84 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1865,
p. 35 ; Hume, 8. F. viii, p. 157 ; xi, p. 322.
Limosa limosa, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv. p. 381.
The Small Godwit, Jerdon ; Gudera, Gairiya, Jdngral, Khdy, II. ;
Malgujha, Nepal ; Jaurali, Beng. ; Tondu ulanka, Tel.
Coloration in winter. Upper parts brown, head and neck
rather paler, a tendency to dark centres on the back and wings ;
LTMOSA. 255
short supercilia and a spot under each eye white ; lesser wing-
coverts, bastard wing, primary-coverts, primaries, and ends of
secondaries blackish brown, tips of greater coverts and bases of
quills white, the white extending farther down the inner webs
of the first four primaries and the outer webs of the others ; whole
outer webs of later secondaries white ; lower back and rump
blackish brown ; upper tail-coverts and basal half of tail white ;
terminal half of tail black, ashy brown at tip, the black diminishing
on the outer feathers ; chin, throat, wing-lining, axillaries, and
abdomen white ; fore neck and breast light greyish brown.
In summer the head, neck, and lower parts are dull rufous, the
crown is streaked with black; back, scapulars, and tertiaries black,
the feathers with marginal rufous spots ; chin, throat, and lower
abdomen white ; lower back black, and terminal spots on upper tail-
coverts the same ; breast and flanks with brown cross-bars.
Fig. 59.- Head of L. helyica.
Bill dull orange reddish at the base, dusky at the tip ; irides
dark brown ; legs dusky greyish green (Jerdon).
Length 16 to 19-5 inches ; tail 2-6-3'l ; wing T'5-9'25 ; tarsus
2*25-b'6 ; bill from gape 2-9-4'8. Females average much larger
than males, but measurements of the two sexes overlap consider-
ably. Dimensions vary to a remarkable extent.
Distribution. A migratory bird, breeding in temperate Europe
and Asia up to the Arctic circle, and passing the winter in
Southern Europe, Northern Africa, Southern Asia, the Malay
Archipelago, and Australia. The race found in Eastern Asia and
Australia (L. melanuroides} runs smaller, but is not distinguished
by any constant character. This God wit is common throughout
the plains of Northern India from October to March, but rare
south of lat. 20°. It was, however, obtained by Jerdon in the
south, and by Layard in Ceylon. It is rare in Assam and Burma.
Habits, fyc. The Black-tailed Godwit is found on the edges of
tanks and swamps, and occasionally of rivers, sometimes singly,
but more often in flocks of from ten to over a hundred. It feeds
partly, on insects, mollusca, and worms, partly, in India at all
events, on rice and millet, and, especially when fed on grain, is a
delicious bird. It is commonly sold in the Calcutta bazaar as
Woodcock.
256 CHABADRIIDJE.
1457. Limosa lapponica. The Bar-tailed God wit.
Soolopax lapponica & segocephala, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 246 (1766).
Limosa rufa, Temm. Man. d'Orn. ed. 2, ii, p. 668 (1820); JBlytk,
Ibis, 1865, p. 36 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 235 j Seebohm, Charadr.
p. 384.
Limosa lapponica, Hume, Cat. no. 875 bis; Butler, Cat. B. Sind fyc.
p. 62; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 417, pi.; Murray, Vert.
Zool. Sind, p. 244 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 349 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M.
xxiv, p. 373.
Coloration in winter. Upper parts ashy brown, dark-shafted,
and the feathers pale-edged, the wing-coverts with whitish borders ;
broad indistinct whitish supercilia ; bastard wing, primary-coverts,
and primaries blackish brown, secondaries dark brown ; greater
secondary-coverts, secondaries, and inner primaries with white
margins, inner borders of primaries mottled with white ; lower
back and rump white, with a few arrowhead- or heart-shaped brown
spots ; upper tail-coverts white, with irregular brown bars ; middle
tail-feathers ashy browD towards the end, tipped whitish, barred
with white and brown towards the base, outer reetrices barred
throughout ; lower parts white except the fore neck and upper
breast, which are sullied and marked with brown streaks ; axillaries
white, with brown arrowhead spots or bars.
Young birds in autumn differ from adults in having the back
dark brown with buff spots, the tertiaries with marginal buff
indentations, the tail barred throughout, and the lower parts
isabelline, growing white on the abdomen. They appear to moult
i'uto the adult winter plumage about October or November.
In breeding-plumage the crown is black with rufous edges to
the feathers ; hind neck rufous, slightly streaked ; back, scapulars,
and tertiaries blackish brown, with rufous spots ; quills and wing-
lining as in winter; tail barred white and brown throughout ;
lower parts deep dull rufous (dull chestnut), streaked with brown
on the sides of the breast.
Bill black or dusky near the tip, basal half pinkish ; irides
brown ; legs and feet black or dusky plumbeous (Hume).
Length of males 14'5 ; tail 2-5 ; wing 8 ; tarsus 2 • bill from
gape 3. Females are larger : wing 8'5, bill 3-6 to 4-4.
Distribution. The Bar-tailed Godwit breeds in Northern Europe
and North-western Asia, and migrates in winter to Africa north of
the equator and South-western Asia. It is common at that
season in Kaniclii Harbour, the only locality in the Indian Empire
at which it has been found. In Eastern Asia an allied species or
subspecies, L. novce-zealandice, occurs, distinguished by its dusky
lower back and rump, of which the feathers are blackish with
white edges, and by its longer bill. This bird breeds in Alaska
and Eastern Siberia and ranges in winter through China, Japan,
and the Malay Archipelago, to Australia, Polynesia, and New
Zealand. One specimen was obtained at Singapore by Davison,
but none has hitherto been procured in Burma.
Habits, $c. Very similar to those of L. lelyica ; but the present
bird does not collect in as large nocks, and is generally found in
MACttORIIAMPHUS. 257
winter associating with other waders. It is almost exclusively a
coast bird, feeding on small Crustacea, annelida, and mollusca, and
its flesh is inferior to that of the Black-tailed Godwit.
Genus MACRORHAMPHITS, Leach, 1816.
Bill like that of a Snipe, long, straight, slender ; both mandibles
broader towards the end and pitted ; the upper mandible grooved
above near the end, and both mandibles grooved at the side ;
nostrils near the base. Wing long and pointed, 1st quill longest,
2nd subequal ; tail of moderate length. Tarsus shorter than bill,
lower part transversely shielded in front (and in one species, M.
r/mcw-5, behind) ; hind toe well developed, anterior toes webbed
near base, the web between the outer arid middle toes the larger.
Summer plumage rufous, winter plumage grey as in Godwits.
Two species are known, one American, the other an occasional
winter visitor to India and Burma.
1458. Macrorhamphus semipalmatus. The Sni-pe-billed Goduif.
Macrorhamphus semipalmatus, Jerdon, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvii, p. 252
(1848) ; id. Cat. p. 271 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 679 ; Hume, S. F. vii,
p. 484.
Pseudoscolopax semipalmatus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxviii, p. 280; id.
Ibis, 1867, p. 167 ; Hume, Cat. no. 874 ; id. $ Marsh. Game B.
iii, p. 395, pi. ; Oates, S. F. x, p. 239 ; id. B. B. ii, p. 408.
Micropalama tackzanowskia, Verreaux, Rev. et Mag. ZooL. I860,
p. 206, pi. xiv.
Macrorhamphus taczanowskii, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 4CO.
Coloration hi winter. Upper plumage brown, with whitish edges
to feathers ; broad whitish supercilia ; forehead and lores dark ;
quills dark brown, mottled with white on inner margin ; inner
primaries and all secondaries more or less bordered with white ;
rump and upper tail-coverts white, with irregular arrowhead-shaped
bars of brown ; tail-feathers more regularly barred brown and
white ; lower parts white ; sides of head, chin, throat, fore neck,
and upper breast streaked with brown, sometimes forming wavy
bands ; axillaries, flanks, and under tail-coverts irregularly spotted
and barred with brown.
In summer the upper parts are described as bright rufous with
brown streaks and spots and the lower parts uniforui rufous.
Bill black, plumbeous at the base; irides dark brown ; legs and
feet dark plumbeous (Oates).
Length 13*25 ; tail 2-5 ; wing 7 ; tarsus 2 ; bill from gape 2-9 to
3-25.
Distribution. This rare bird breeds somewhere in Siberia, its
breeding-haunts being, however, unknown, and a very few indi-
viduals have been obtained in Mongolia, China, and Japan. One
specimen was procured by Jerdon in Madras, one by Blyth arid
three by Hume in Calcutta, brought from the neighbourhood, two
were shot by Oates at Kyeikpadein in Pegu, and one by Colonel
McMaster at Rangoon, all in the cold season. Lately Captain 1\
VOL. IV. S
253
St. Leger Wood (Asian, 22nd Feb. 1895, p. 377) writes that he
has killed an individual at Raipur.
Habits, $c. !N"ot known, but the bird is doubtless a feeder on
worms or small Crustacea burrowing in mud. So far as is known
no Indian specimen, except perhaps Jerdon's, has been obtained
on the sea-coast.
Genus TEREKIA, Bonap., 1838.
This generic type is in some respects intermediate between
Limosa and Totanus, but differs from both in having the bill nearly
twice as long as the tarsus. In its habits and eggs it is a Sand-
piper, not a G-odwit, and its breeding-plumage differs but little
from its winter dress.
The bill is distinctly curved upwards, rather wide at the base ;
the upper mandible slightly bent downwards at the tip ; lower
mandible but slightly grooved. Wings long, 1st quill longest ;
tail moderate, nearly even. Tarsus scutulated, short, but longer
than the middle toe and claw ; anterior toes slightly webbed ; middle
claw dilated, not pectinated.
A single species.
1459. Terekia cinerea. The Terek Sandpiper or Avocet Sandpiper .
Scolopax cinerea. GiUdenstadt, Nov. Com. Petrop. xix, p. 473, pi. 19
(1774).
Scolopax terek, Lath. 2nd. Orn. ii, p. 724 (1790).
Xenus cinereus, Kaup, Natilrl. Syst. p. 115; Bh/th $ Wold. Birds
Burm. p. 156.
J)av. S. F. v'i, p. 460; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 486 ; id. Cat. no. 876 ;
Ler/ye, Birds Ceyl. p. 836 ; Simson, Ibis, 1882, p. 02 ; Gates, B. B.
ii, p. 407 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 351 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv,
p. 474.
Totanus terekius, Seebohm, Charadr. p. 3C9.
Coloration. Forehead and supercilia, not extending behind the
eyes, white; lores brown; whole upper plumage, including rump
and upper tail-coverts, greyish brown, with dark shaft-stripes ;
lesser coverts and all outer coverts, with the primaries, blackish ;
secoudaries brown, broadly tipped and bordered with white ; tail-
feathers coloured like the back, the outer rectrices more or less
mottled with white ; lower parts white, cheeks, sides of neck, fore
neck, and sides of breast more or less sullied and streaked with
brown ; axillaries white.
In summer broader black shaft-stripes are developed, especially
on the scapulars ; the sides of head aud neck and the breast are
distinctly striated with brown.
Bill blackish brown, orange-yellow at base ; irides brown ; legs
and feet orange-yellow (Legge).
Length 9-5; tail 2-2; wing 5; tarsus 1-1; bill from gape about 2.
TOTANUS. 259
Distribution. The breeding home of this species is in North-
eastern Europe and Northern Siberia; its winter quarters in
Eastern Africa, Southern Asia, and Australia. It is found on the
sea-coasts of the whole Indian Empire at that season, but is only
common locally.
Habits, fyc. In India the Avocet Sandpiper is almost confined to
the sea-coast and the shores of backwaters and tidal estuaries,
where it occurs in small parties. It swims well. Ball killed a
male in winter garb on the Orissa coast in May, but Hume
found that at Karachi in February a few birds had begun to assume
the summer plumage.
Genus TOTANUS, Bechstein, 1803.
Bill long, slender, straight or slightly curved upwards ; both
mandibles distinctly grooved at each side ; tip of upper mandible
hard and bent down. Wings long, pointed; 1st quill longest;
tertiaries long; tail moderate, slightly rounded. Legs and feet
variable; the tarsus always scutulated in front and behind, generally
of nearly the same length as the bill, but occasionally slightly-
longer and more frequently a little shorter. Hind toe present ;
anterior toes united by web, which is in some species rudimentary
between the middle and inner toes.
Owing to differences in the relative and absolute length of the
bill and tarsi, and in the development of the web between the 2nd
and 3rd toes, the species here brought together are often distributed
into several genera. Amongst the more important distinctions
are those of T. fuscus, which has a remarkable dark breeding-
plumage, the other species not showing any great change in their
summer garb ; T. stagnatilis, in which the tarsus is considerably
longer than the bill ; T. glottis and T. ochropus, with a single emar-
gination on each side of the sternum instead of two, the latter,
moreover, having a peculiar parasitic nidifi cation ; and T. calidris
and T. guttifer, in which the web between the 2nd and 3rd toes is
well developed. As here regarded, the genus Totanus is generally
distributed and contains eight Indian species.
Eey to the Species.
a. Bill straight, not curved upwards.
a'. Small forms ; wing1 not exceeding 5 ; legs
olive or green.
a". No white on rump T. liypoleucus, p. 260.
b". Rump white T. glareola, p. 261.
b'. Wing between 5 and 6 ; legs olive or green.
c". Lower back brown ; tarsus shorter than bill. T. ochropus, p. 262.
d'. Lower back white ; tarsus longer than bill. T. stagnatilis, p. 263.
c'. Wing over 6 ; lep-s red.
e". Secondary quills all white T. calidris, p. 264.
/". Secondary quills barred brown and white T. fuscus, p. 265.
b. Bill slightly curved upwards ; wing over 6.
y". Tarsus 2'5 ; legs yellowish green T. fflottis, p. 266.
/*". Tarsus 175 j legs" dull yellow T. 'guttifer, p. 267.
s2
260 CHAEADEIIDJE.
1460. Totanns hypoleucus. The Common Sandpiper.
Tring-a hypoleucos, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 250 (1766).
Actitis hypoleucus, Illiyer, Prod. p. 262 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 267 ; Jerdon,
B. 1, iii, p. 699 ; £lyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 169 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B.
xli, pt. 2, p. 253 ; Hume fy Benders. Lah. to York. p. 289 ; Walden,
Ibis, 1873, p. 317 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 18, v, p. 233 ; JBall, S. F.
vii, p. 228.
Totanus hypoleucus, Temm.Man. d'Orn. p. 424 ; Brooks, J. A. S. B.
xli, pt. 2, p. 86 ; JBinyham, S. F. ix, p. 197 : tSeebohm, Charadr.
p. 371. -
Tringoides hypoleucus, Bonap. Sayyio Distr. Meth. p. 58; Hume,
N. $ E. p. C88 ; id. S. F. i, p. 247 ; Adam, ibid. p. 397 ; Hume,
S. F. ii, p. 299 ; Armstrong, 8. F. iv, p. 344 • Hume, ibid. p. 4(55 ;
JTwwze Sf Dav. S. F. vi, pp. 463, 521 ; Hume, Cat. no. 893 ; Scully,
S. F. viii, p. 358 ; Ley ye, Birds Ceyl. p. 867 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 86 ;
Doiff, ibid. p. 282 ; Butler, ibid. p. 430 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 97,
1882, p. 289 ; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 589 ; Reirt, S. F. x, p. 71 ;
Davison, ibid. p. 414 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 399 ; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 359; Hume,S.F. xi, p. 324; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 177;
Oates in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 352 ; Sharpe, York. Miss.,
Arcs, p. 141 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 456.
Pottiulanka, Tel.; Kotan, Tarn. (Ceylon).
Coloration in winter. Whole upper parts, including rump, upper
tail-coverts and tail brown with a distinct olive tinge, slightly
glossy, the feathers dark-shafted, and those of the lower back and
rump, the scapulars, terliaries, wing-coverts, and middle tail-
feathers with a subterminal dark bar and pale or whitish tip ; edges
of tertiaries and middle rectrices in fresh plumage spotted with
black and buff alternately towards the end; bastard wing, primary -
coverts, and primaries dark brown, the two former and all greater
coverts tipped white ; part of inner webs of all primaries except
the first white ; secondaries white, with a broad subterminal brown
band, disappearing partly or wholly on some of the inner quills ;
outer tail-feathers banded dark brown and white; a broad but
indistinct pale supercilium ; sides of head, of neck, and of breast
ashy brown, streaked darker; lower parts including axillaries white;
some narrow dark shaft-stripes on fore neck.
In summer the upper parts are darker and less olive, with
broader dark shaft-stripes and cross-bars, and the fore neck and
breast are strongly striated with brown.
Bill greyish brown, darker at tip and with a greenish tinge at
base ; irides brown ; legs pale green (Oates).
Length 8 ; tail 2'2 ; wing 4'25 ; tarsus -95 ; bill from gape I'l.
Distribution. Throughout the greater part of the Eastern
Hemisphere, breeding in temperate regions and migrating in winter
to S. Africa, S. Asia, and Australia. This Sandpiper is common
throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma in the cold season, less
abundant in North India than T. ochropus, but much more so in
Southern India, Ceylon, and Burma. It is very common around
the Andaman Islands on the sea-shore.
HabitSy $c< Usually a solitary bird, found chiefly on the banks
TOT ANUS. 261
of rivers and small streams, or of open ponds, or on the sea-shore,
not generally in marshes. It breeds in Kashmir, and is said to
have been found breeding on the Eastern Nara in Sind, but this
requires confirmation. The eggs, four in number, are buff with
blackish specks and spots ; they measure about 1*41 by 1*06, and
have been taken in Kashmir in May and June.
1461. Totanus glareola. The Wood Sandpiper.
Tringa glareola, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 677 (1788).
Totanus glareola, Temm. Man. cEQrn. p. 421 ; James, S. F. i, p. 421 ;
Hume, S. F. ii, p. 298 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 678 ;
Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 857; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 589 ; Biddulph,
Ibis, 1882, p. 288 ; Swmhoe, Ibis, 1882, p. 121 ; Gates, B. B. ii,
p. 401 ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 365 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 177.
p. 86 ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 429 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 70; Davidson,
ibid. p. 321 ; Damson, ibid. p. 414; Hume, S. F.xi, p. 324; Sharpe,
Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 491.
Actitis glm-eola, Bh/th, Cat. p, 267; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 697 ; Blyth,
Ibis, 1867, p. 169; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, p. 273;
Stolicska, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 252 ; Walden, Ibis, 1873, p. 317 ;
Butler, S. F. iv, p. ] 7 ; v, p. 233 ; Armstrong, IS. F. iv, p. 344 ;
Ball, S. F. vii, p. 228 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 96 ; Barnes, Birds
Bom. p. 357.
The Spotted Sandpiper, Jerdon; Chupka, Chobaha, Tutwan, II.; Chinna
ulcuika, Tel.
Fig. 60.— Head of T. glareola. \.
Coloration in winter. Upper parts brown, feathers of the crown
and hind neck with pale greyish edges ; white supercilia from the
bill ; lores brown ; sides of head and neck paler, with dark streaks ;
back, rump, scapulars, tertiaries, and wing-coverts spotted with
dark brown and white, forming a border of alternating dark and pale
spots on the tertiaries ; smaller coverts, primary-coverts, primaries,
and secondaries dark brown, later primaries and secondaries with
narrow white borders terminally ; upper tail-coverts white ; median
rectrices ashy brown with dark brown cross-bands, other rectrices
barred brown and white, the brown bars disappearing on the outer
tail-feathers ; fore neck and upper breast brownish streaked with
dark brown, rest of lower parts white ; axillaries barred with
brown.
262 CHABADEITDJE.
In summer the markings above and below are better defined, the
crown and hind neck are broadly streaked, the tertiaries barred,
and the breast spotted.
Bill greenish at the base, dusky black at the tip ; irides deep
brown ; legs pale greenish (Jerdon).
Length 8-5; tail 2 ; wing 4*8; tarsus 1-5 ; bill from gape 1-3.
Distribution. This Sandpiper breeds in Europe and Northern
Asia, and passes the winter in Africa, Southern Asia, the Malay
Archipelago, and Australia. It is common at that season throughout
India, Ceylon, and Burma, arriving in August and leaving in May.
Habits, $c. On the whole this *s the commonest and most
abundant of the Sandpipers in India, and is found singly or in
small flocks on the edges of marshes, around reedy tanks, or in
paddy fields, as well as on the banks of rivers, but it is chiefly a
marsh bird. This and T. ochropus are commonly called " Snippets "
in India.
1462. Tetanus ochropus. The Green Sandpiper.
Tringa ochrophus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 250 (1766).
Tetanus ochropus, Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 420; Anders. Yunnan
Exped., Aves, p. 679 ; Hume, Cat. no. 892 ; Scully, S. F. viii,
p. 357 ; Legge, Birds Cet/l. p. 8(32 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 86 ; Sutler,
ibid. p. 480 ; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 589 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 71 ;
Damson, ibid. p. 414 ; Swinhoe, Ibis, 1882, p. 122 ; Barnes, Birds
Bom. p. 358 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 324 ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 368 ;
Sharps, Yark. Miss., Aves, p. 141.
Helodromas ochropus, Kaup, Natilrl. Syst. p. 144 j Oates, B. B.
ii, p. 400 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 437.
Actitis ochropus, Blyth, Cat. p. 267 : Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 698 ;
Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 70 ; xli. pt. 2, p. 253 ; flutter,
S. F. iv, p. 18 ; v, p. 233 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. L'28 ; Biddulph, Ibis,
1881, p. 96.
Totanus ochrophus, Hume, S. F. \, p. 247 ; Adam, ibid. p. 396 ; Hume
$ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 462 ; Cripps, S. F. vii, p. 303.
NeUa ulanka, Tel.
Coloration in winter. Crown and hind neck brown with an ashy
tinge, lores the same with a white band above them ; back, scapulars,
tertiaries, and inner wing-coverts brown with an olive tinge, each
feather edged with alternating whitish and dark spots ; outer wing-
coverts, primaries, and secondaries darker brown, without markings ;
rump brown ; upper tail-coverts and base of tail white ; remainder
of tail broadly barred with dark brown, the bars disappearing on
the outer rectrices ; lower parts white ; sides of neck, fore neck,
and upper breast with narrow brown streaks, the upper breast
sometimes brownish throughout; under wing-coverts and axiilaries
brown, with narrow white bars.
In summer the feathers of the crown and hind neck have white
edges ; the back, scapulars, and tertiaries are spotted with buff or
white ; and the brown streaks on the sides of the face, fore neck,
and upper breast are very broad and distinct.
Bill dusky green, blackish at the tip ; irides brown ; legs dingy
TOTANUS. 2C3
green (Jerdon). There is only one notch on each side in the
posterior margin of the sternum.
Length 9-5 ; tail 2-3 ; wing 5'75 ; tarsus 1*3 ; bill from gape 1-5.
Distribution. Throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia, breeding in
the North and migrating in winter to Africa, Southern Asia, and
the Malay Archipelago. Common in the cold season throughout
Northern India, but less abundant in the South, in Ceylon, and in
Burma.
Habits, $c. The Green Sandpiper is generally solitary in India,
and in the North may be found by almost every marsh, tank, or
river, even in rice-fields, and about pools in streams. It arrives
in Northern India sometimes as early as the latter half of July
and does not leave till the middle of May. It is a wary bird, and
utters a shrill piping note when flying off on being disturbed. The
nidification is peculiar, for this Sandpiper lays four eggs of the
usual character in the deserted nest of a Thrush, Blackbird, Jay,
or even of a Squirrel.
1463. Totanus stagnatilis. The Marsh Sandpiper or Little
Greenslianlc.
Totanus stagnatilis, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. pt. 2, p. 292, pi. (1803) ;
Blyth, Cat. p. 2GO ; Irby, Ibis, 18G1, p. 239; Jerdon, B. I. iii,
p. 701 ; Adam, S. F. ii, p. 338 ; Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burm. p. 155 ;
Butler, S. F. iv, p. 18 ; v, p. 233 ; Fairbank, ibid. p. 263 ; Armstrong,
ibid. p. 348 ; Hume # Dav. S. F. vi, p. 463 ; Davidson $ Wenden,
S. F. vii, p. 89 ; Hume, ibid. p. 488 ; id. Cat. no. 895 ; Legye,
Birds Ccyl. p. 844 ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 430; Reid, S. F. x, p. 71 ;
Davidson, ibid. p. 321 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 403 j Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 359; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 325; tSeebohm, Charadr. p. 357;
Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 422.
Chota ffotra, Beng.
Coloration in winter. Forehead, lores, cheeks, and whole lower
plumage, including axillaries, also lower back and rump, white ;
sides of head behind eye and of neck streaked with brown ; crown
and hind neck greyish brown, with darker centres to feathers ;
upper back, scapulars, and tertiaries brown, with dark shafts and
narrow whitish edges ; wing-coverts and primaries darker brown ;
secondaries less dark ; greater coverts, secondaries, and later
primaries with narrow white edges ; inner edges of quills mottled
with white ; upper tail-coverts white, with a few brown bars ;
tail-feathers white, middle pair and outer webs of others tinged
with ashy brown, and all more or less irregularly barred with
darker brown ; the bars disappearing in older birds.
In summer the feathers of the upper parts have marked dark
centres, which form conspicuous angulate spots on the back and
" herring-bone " markings on the tertiaries ; the general colour of
the upper parts is sandy grey ; the fore neck and upper breast are
spotted with brown, and the flanks irregularly barred.
Bill dark brown, greenish at the base beneath ; irides hazel-
brown ; legs and feet bluish green (Legye).
264 CHARADEIID.'E.
Length 10 ; tail 2-3 ; wing 5-5 ; tarsus 2 ; bill from gape 1-7.
Distribution. The breeding area of this species extends from
South-eastern France, through South Russia and Central Asia, to
Southern Siberia. In winter T. staynatilis ranges throughout
Africa, Southern Asia, the Malay Archipelago, and Australia.
It is locally distributed in India and Burma at that season, but is
abundant in Ceylon.
Habits, #c. The Marsh Sandpiper, as its name implies, is rather
a bird of inland marshes and freshwater pools than of the mud-
flats and sandbanks of estuaries and the sea-coast, though it is
found in all. It is generally met with in small flocks, sometimes
singly, and is an active, vivacious, noisy little bird.
1464. Totanus calidris. The Redshank.
Scolopax calidris, Linn. Syst. Nat. i,p. 245 (1766).
i. A. «, ±(. xli, pt. 2, p. 203 ; Jlume, 8. ±. i, p. iT4« ; Adam, ibid.
p. 397 ; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 299 ; Adam, ibid. p. 339 ; Blyth fy WaU.
Birds Burm. p. 155 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 18 ; v, p. 233 ; Armstrong,
ibid.-p. 348 ; Hume $ Dav, S. F. vi, p. 464; Cripps, S. F.\\\, p. 304 ;
Hume, ibid. p. 488 ; id. Cat. no. 897 ; Leqge* Birds Cei/l. p. 852 ;
Vidal, 8. F. ix, p. SQ ; Butler, ibid, p.' 430; Scully, Ibis, 1881,
p. 589 ; Reid. S. F. x, p. 71 ; Davids, ibid. p. 321 ; Taylor, ibid.
p. 466 ; Biddulph, His, 1882, p. 289 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 404 ;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 360; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 325; Seebohm,
Charadr. p. 353 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 177 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M.
xxiv, p. 414.
Cnota batdn, H. ; Mali kotan, Tarn. ; Maha watuwct, Cing".
Coloration in winter. Upper parts brown, more or less tinged
with ashy ; scapulars and tertiaries pale, edged with small blackish
spots at regular intervals ; wing-coverts with white edges broken
by blackish spots ; lores brown like the forehead ; supercilia from
the bill white ; sides of face white, streaked with brown ; bastard
wing, primary-coverts, and primaries dark brown ; inner margin
of primaries mottled with white ; inner primaries largely, and
secondaries entirely white ; lower back and rump white ; upper
tail-coverts and tail barred brown and white ; middle tail-feathers
barred dark and light brown ; lower parts white ; sides of neck,
fore neck, and upper breast streaked with brown ; a few streaks
on the flanks and lower tail-coverts.
Young birds have reddish -brown edges to the feathers of the
upper parts and fulvous markings on the wing-coverta and tertiaries ;
there are also brown spots on the fore neck and breast, and bars
on the flanks.
In summer the upper plumage becomes brown mixed with
rufous, and with dark brown streaks, that become shaft-stripes
with oblique bars on each side on the scapulars and tertiaries ;
the lower plumage is spotted with brown, especially on the breast.
Bill black ; base of upper mandible reddish ; irides brown ; legs
and feet orange-red.
TOT ANUS. 265
Length 11 ; tail 2*4; wing 6*25 ; tarsus 1'9 ; bill from gape 1/9.
Distribution. The Redshank breeds throughout the greater part
of Europe and in Central Asia from Asia Minor to S.E. Siberia,
and in winter migrates to Africa, Southern Asia, and the Malayan
Archipelago. It is found commonly in the cold season in suitable
parts of India, Ceylon, and Burma, especially near the sea-coast
and in marshy parts of the plains traversed by the great rivers.
Habits, Sfc. This species is found singly or in small or large
flocks ; it is very wary, and may be recognized by its loud call
and by the white on its wings.
1465. Totanus fuscus. The Spotted Rcdikarik.
S.:olopax fusca, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 243 (1766).
Totanus fuscus, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. pt. 2, p. 286; myth, Cat.
p. 266 ; Jet-don, B. I. iii, p. 702 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2,
p. 253; Hume, S. F. i, p. 248 ; Adam, ibid. p. 397 ; Butler, S. F.
iv, p. 18; v, p. 233; Cockburn, S. F. iv, p. 509; Hume fy Dav.
>S'. F. vi, p. 463 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 229 ; Hume, Cat. no. 896 ;
Le'jc/e, Birds Ceyl. p. 848; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 97; Reid,
S. F. x, p. 71 ; Macyreyor, ibid. p. 441 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 405 ;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 360; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 351; Sharpe,
Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 409.
Batdn, Gatni, Surma, H. ; Yerra kal ttlanka, Tel.
Coloration in winter. Narrow forehead, crown, hind neck, and
back ashy brown ; lores darker ; a small black spot in front of the
eye ; supercilia from base of bill white ; wing-coverts, scapulars,
and tertiaries like back, but bordered with black and white, the
latter outside ; on the greater coverts, scapulars, and tertiaries
the white border is broken and alternates with black spots at
regular intervals : bastard wing, primary-coverts, and primaries
dark brown ; inner borders of primaries mottled with white ; later
primaries and secondaries imperfectly barred white and brown ;
lower back and rump white ; upper tail-coverts barred black and
white; tail ashy brown, incompletely barred with white and dark
brown on both edges ; lower plumage white ; fore neck, sides of
neck, and upper breast indistinctly spotted and mottled with
brown, and flanks tinged with dusky and barred.
Young birds have more white edges and spots on the upper
parts, and the lower parts are broadly barred with dull brown.
In summer the whole plumage becomes partly by a moult, partly
by change of colour, dusky, and white spots appear on the edges of
the blackish back-feathers ; the head, neck, and lower parts are
dark sooty-grey.
Bill very dark brown ; basal half of lower mandible dusky red ;
irides brown; legs and feet orange-red (Oates). Legs dark red in
breeding-plumage.
Length 13 ; tail 2-5 ; wing 6'75 ; tarsus 2-3 ; bill from gape 2-5.
Distribution. The Spotted Redshank breeds north of the Arctic
circle in Europe and Asia, and in winter migrates to the countries
around the Mediterranean and to Southern Asia. It is common
266 CHARADEIIDjE.
from September till May in well-watered parts of Northern India ;
rare in Southern India, Ceylon, and Burma.
Habits, fyc. This bird occurs singly or in flocks, sometimes large,
about marshes, tanks, and rivers, wading in shallow open water.
It swims well. Before leaving India it assumes the breeding-
plumage.
1466. Totanus glottis. The Greenslianlc.
Scolopax glottis and S. totanus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 245 (1766).
Scolopax canescens, GineL Syst. NqJ,. i, p. 668 (1788).
Totanus glottis, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. pt. 2, p. 287 (1803) ; Blyth,
Cat. p. 265; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 700; Blyth, His, 1867, p. 169;
King, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 217 ; Godiv.-Aust. J. A. S. B.
xxxix, pt. 2, p. 274; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 253 j
Butler, S. F. iv, p. 18 ; v, p. 233 ; Hume, $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 463 ;
Ball, S. F. vii, p. 229 ; Crippsj ibid. p. 304 ; Hume, Cat. no. 894 ;
Scully, S. F. viii, p. 358 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 840 ; Vidal, S. F.
ix, p. 86; Butler, ibid. p. 430; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 97 ; Scully,
ibid. p. 589 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 71 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 321 ; Hume,
ibid. p. 414 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 359 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 325 ;
Seebohm, Charadr. p. 355.
Totanus canescens, Hume, S. F. i, p. 247 ; Adam, ibid. p. 397 ;
Hume, S. F. ii, p. 299 ; Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 344 ; Hume, ib.d.
p. 4(55 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 177 ; Anders. Yunnan JZxped., Aves,
p. 677 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p, 402.
Glottis nebularius (Gunner.}, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 481.
Tantanna, Timtimma, II.; Gotra, Beng. ; Pcria kotan, Tarn. ; Malia
oliya, Cing.
Coloration in winter. Forehead, supercilia, sides of head before
eye, cheeks, and whole lower plumage white ; the axillaries spar-
ingly barred with brown ; a few dark brown spots on the lores
in front ; crown, hind neck, and sides of neck, including the ear-
coverts and postorbital area, blackish brown, with broad white
edges, broadest on the sinciput ; back, scapulars and tertiaries,
median and greater coverts ashy brown, edged with black and
white and dark-shafted ; on the back and coverts there is a more
or less distinct inside blackish and outside whitish border; on the
scapulars, tertiaries, and under wing-coverts the border consists
of alternating dark and light spots ; smaller and outer coverts
darker and more uniform ; wiuglet, primary-coverts, and primaries
blackish, the later primaries narrowly edged with white ; secondaries
ashy brown, with dark brown inside and white outside border ;
lower back, rump, and tail white ; middle rectrices irregularly
banded with dark brown, outer rectrices with traces of cross-bands.
Many birds, in winter plumage, have the middle tail-feathers partly
or wholly ashy brown.
In summer the head throughout, sometimes even including the
chin, is streaked with brown ; the feathers of the back and the
scapulars have broad black centres ; the fore neck and sides of
the breast are spotted with dark brown, and there are a few spots
on the middle of the breast.
TOTAXUS. 267
Bill dark olive-brown, darker at the tip ; iricles brown ; legs
yellowish green (Oates).
Length 14; tail 3-25 ; wing7'5; tarsus 2'5 ; bill from gape 2'5.
Distribution. Throughout the Eastern Hemisphere, breeding in
Northern Europe and Northern Asia, and wintering in China,
S. Asia, and Australia. Common in well-watered parts of Northern
India in winter, and generally distributed throughout India, Ceylon,
and Burma at that season in suitable localities.
Habits, $c. The Greenshank frequents the edges of rivers and
tanks, of estuaries and the sea, and sometimes of marshes, in small
or large flocks. It has a shrill trisyllabic call, usually uttered
when it rises. Eor the table the Greenshank is the best of the
Sandpipers.
1467. Tetanus guttifer. Armstrong's Sandpiper.
Totauus guttifer, Nordman in Ermans Reise u. d. Erde, Natur/i.
Atlas, p. 17 (1835) ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 354.
Totanus haughtoni, Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 344 (1876) ; Hume, ibid.
p. 344 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 463 ; Harting, Ibis, 18S3, p. 133,
pi. iv ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 406.
Pseudototanus haughtoni, Hume, S. F. vii, p. 488 ; id. Cat. no. 894
bis ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 403, pi.
Pseudog'lottis guttifer, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 479.
Coloration in winter. Forehead, sides of head as far back as eyes,
supercilia, and lower parts, with axillaries and wing-lining, white ;
lores finely speckled brown ; sides of face behind eyes and of neck
streaked; upper parts almost uniform ashy brown, with faint
shaft-streaks ; wing-coverts darker ; bastard wing, primary-coverts,
and primaries blackish ; secondaries ashy grey on outer webs,
chiefly white on inner ; lower back and rump white ; upper tail-
coverts the same, but with a few scattered brown angulate bars ;
tail pale ashy, mixed with white on outer feathers, all bordered
with white.
The summer plumage is much darker above, chiefly blackish
brown, with a few white spots on the edges of the scapulars ;
scattered dark spots occur on the fore neck and breast.
Bill dusky, tipped black, yellow near the base ; irides dark
brown ; legs and feet dull ochreous yellow or greenish ochreous
(Armstrong).
Length 13 ; tail 2'6 ; wing 7 ; tarsus 1'75; bill from gape 2-4.
Distribution. This Sandpiper breeds in North-eastern Asia, and
has been obtained in winter at the mouth of the Kangoon river by
Armstrong, in the Calcutta bazaar by Hume, and in Hainan by
Styan.
Habits, tyc. Armstrong found this species in small parties of from
three to h've on sand and mud flats near the sea, associating with
other waders.
268 CHARADRITD.E.
Genus PAVONCELLA, Leach, 1816.
Bill moderately long, flexible, almost straight ; both mandibles
grooved, the upper almost to the tip ; nostrils linear, close to the
base. Wing long, pointed, 1st quill longest ; tertiaries elongate ;
tail moderate, rounded. Tarsus longer than the bill from gape,
transversely shielded in front and behind ; hind toe moderate,
outer and middle toes connected by a short web.
The above characters are insufficient for generic distinction, bat
the circumstances that the male is always larger than the female,
and that at the breeding- season he assumes an entirely distinct
plumage from that worn by the hen, varying in coloration to an
extent unequalled in any other species of bird, with a ruff of long
feathers extending from the nape down each side of the neck to
the breast, afford ample grounds for placing the Ruff in a peculiar
genus. He is polygamous, and some of his habits at the breeding-
season resemble those of polygamous Gallince.
1468. Pavoncella pngnax. The Huff and Reeve.
Tringa pugnax, Linn. Sy*t. Nat. i, p. 247 (1766).
Pavoncella pugnax, Leach, Syst. Cat. B. M. p. 29 (1816) ; SJiarpe,
Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 500.
Machetes pugnax, Cuv. Rcgne An. i, p. 490 (1817); Hume 8f Dav.
S. F. vi, p. 460 ; Davids. $ Wend. S. F. vii, p. 89 ; Hume, ibid.
pp. 97, 487 ; id. Cat. no. 880 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 357 ; Lef/t/t;
Birds Ceyl'v- 8<3; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 85; Butler, ibid. p. 429;
Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 96 ; Scully, ibid. p. 588 ; Reid, S. F. x,
p. 70 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 821 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1882, p. 287 ; Oates,
B. B. ii, p. 396 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 323 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889,
p. 177.
Philomachus pugnax, G. R. Gray, List Gen. Birds, 2nd ed. 1841,
BlytA # Wald. Birds Burm. p. 156 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 17 ; v,
pp. 224, 233 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 352.
Geh-ivala, II.
Fig. 6f.— Head of P. pugnax. }.
Coloration. Both sexes in winter generally have the forehead,
lores, and the cheeks white or whitish, often speckled ; sides of
head and neck indistinctly speckled with brown ; upper parts,
PAYONCELLA. 269
including the rump and upper tail-coverts, greyish brown; the
feathers with dark centres and pale edges ; greater wing-coverts
tipped white ; primary-coverts, primaries, and secondaries very
dark greyish brown, the secondaries with white borders and some
white on the inner webs ; sides of rump white ; tail brown like
the back ; lower parts, including axiilaries, white ; the fore neck
and upper breast tinged with brown, to a varying extent, from the
feathers having ashy-brown bases.
Very often birds in winter retain traces of the summer plumage,
and the feathers, especially the tertiaries, commence to change
colour and assume the variegated tints of the nuptial season at
times as early as January.
In breeding-dress, acquired partially by moult, the male has the
sides of the face and part of the crown covered with yellow
tubercles, and develops a ruff of long feathers and occipital tufts.
Scarcely any two birds are coloured alike : the head, throat, and
breast, with the ruff, are either white, black with a purple or green
gloss, chestnut or orange-buff, or any combination of these colours
in the form of patches, spots, or bars. The back, scapulars, and
inner wing-coverts are variegated with the same tints, and the
tertiaries are barred or mottled towards the ends.
Females in summer have the feathers of the upper parts blackish
with sandy-buff borders, the tertiaries usually with mottled buff
and black bars ; feathers of the fore neck and upper neck with
buff edges and blackish centres, giving a patchy appearance to the
region.
Young birds in autumn closely resemble females in summer
dress, except that the tertiaries are not barred and that the lower
parts are mostly isabelline-buff, only the abdomen and under tail-
coverts being white.
There appear to be two moults of the body- feathers in the year,
but it is not quite clear that the quills are renewed, except at the
autumn moult. Birds have been taken in North India at the end
of June that had already almost dropped their summer plumage
and partly assumed the winter dress.
Bill dark brown, paler at the gape ; irides brown ; legs and feet
fleshy yellow to yellowish brown in adults, olive-green to leaden
grey in the young.
Length of male about 12; tail 275; wing 7'3 ; tarsus 1-9;
bill from gape 1/5. Length of female 10 ; tail 2'25 ; wing 6 ;
tarsus 1-75; bill 1/4.
Distribution. This bird breeds in the northern temperate zone
throughout Europe and Asia, and migrates in winter to Africa and
Southern Asia, but is rare east of India. In the cold season it is
common in Northern India, but rare in the South, in Ceylon, and
generally in Assam and Burma, though Gates found it tolerably
abundant about the mouth of the Sittang River.
Habits, dfc. In India the Ruff is chiefly met with inland in
flocks on the borders of tanks and marshes, and in damp grass-
land, but it is also found about creeks and estuaries in places.
270 CHAKADRIIDyE.
These birds feed on insects, Crustacea, worms, &c., and also on rice
and other grain, and when in good condition are excellent eating.
They arrive in India as a rule about September, but some come
much earlier, and they leave in. April, having partially assumed
the summer garb. They breed in June, and at this time the males
assemble on small selected dry spots in a marsh, where they fight
and show off. The eggs, usually four in number, resemble those
of a Snipe, but are larger.
Genus CALIDRIS, CJuvier, 1800.
The Sanderling resembles Trinr/a in almost all respects, but is
generically distinguished by the absence of a hind toe. There is
a single species only.
1469. Calidris arenaria. The Sanderling.
renaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 251 (1766) ; Seebol
Calidris arenaria, Illiger, Prod. p. 249 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 270 ; Jr.rdon,
B. I. iii, p. 694 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 244 ; Le Messurier, S. F. iii,
Trinpra arenaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 251 (1766) ; Seebohm, Cliaradr.
p. 431.
Birds Bom. p. 356 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 526.
Coloration in winter. Forehead, lores, face, and whole under
plumage, including axillaries, white ; upper plumage light brownish
grey, the feathers with dark shafts and pale edges ; greater coverts
blackish brown, with broad white ends ; smaller coverts and all
onter coverts, primaries, and secondaries blackish brown ; inner
webs of all quills towards base and basal portion of outer web of
inner primaries white ; all shafts of quills pure white ; rump
coloured like back in the middle, white at the sides ; middle upper
tail-coverts dark brown ; tail-feathers greyish brown, middle pair
blackish near tips, all more or less edged with white, and the outer
rectrices with white inner webs except at the end.
In summer the upper parts become blackish with rufous edges
to the feathers and rufous spots ; fore neck and breast rufous buff,
with spots and imperfect bars of brown.
Young birds have the upper parts blackish, the feathers of the
crown and back with pale grey edges ; scapulars, tertiaries, and
wing-coverts with whitish broken borders, forming spots ; lower
parts pure white.
Bill black ; irides deep brown ; legs black (Jerdon) • legs dusky
grey ( Vidal).
Length 7*5 ; tail 2 ; wing 4'75 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from gape I'l.
Distribution. Nearly cosmopolitan, breeding in the Arctic regions,
and migrating to the South in winter : at which season this bird
is common on the coast of Sind and Baluchistan. It has also
been recorded from, several scattered localities in India and Burma,
EURTNOKnYNCIIUS. 271
always from the sea-shore, and once in each case from Ceylon and
the Laccadives.
Habits, fyc. The Sanderling has been found in India usually in
small flocks, associating with other waders, especially species of
^Egialitis and Trinya.
Genus EURYNORHYNCHUS, Nilsson, 1821.
This curious little genus is easily recognized by its remarkable
bill, which is depressed throughout, and for nearly two-thirds of
its length is not much broader than high, but the terminal third of
both mandibles is expanded into a flat quadrilateral disk, bluntly
angulate at each side and at the end. The nostrils small and
basal. In other respects this genus resembles Tringa.
A single migratory species, found in Eastern Asia and Alaska.
1470. Eurynorhynchus pygmaeus. The Spoon-billed Stint.
Platalea pygmaea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 231 (1766).
Eurynorhynchus griseus, NUBS. Orn. Suec. ii. p. 29 (1821) ; Pearson,
As. Res. xix, p. 69, pi. ix ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 693.
Eurynorhynchus pygmaeus, Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 979; Blyth, Cat.
p. 270; id. Ibis, 1867, p. 169; Harting, Ibis, 1869, p. 427,
pi. xii ; Armstrong, 8. F. iv, p. 343 ; Hume $ Dai). S. F. vi, p. 462 ;
Hume, S. F. vii, p. 487 ; id. Cat. no. 887 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 395 ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 535.
Tringa pygnisea, Seebohm, Charadr. p. 440.
Fig. 62.— Bill of E. pygmants. }.
Coloration in winter. Forehead, supercilia, lores, cheeks, and
whole lower plumage, including axillaries, white ; upper surface
light brown with dark shaft-stripes ; wing-coverts darker, the
greater coverts white-tipped ; bastard wing, primary-coverts,
primaries, and secondaries dark brown, inner webs of secondaries
chiefly white; rump and upper tail-coverts dark brown in the
middle, white at the sides ; middle rectrices dark brown, outer
paler, with edges and shaft-stripes white.
In summer the upper parts are blackish, and the feathers
fringed with rufous ; fore neck and upper breast deep ferruginous,
and the whole breast spotted with dark brown.
272 CHAKADI11ID.T!.
Bill black ; irides deep brown ; legs and feet black (Jerdoii).
Length 6'5 ; tail 1'5 ; wing 4 ; tarsus '8 ; bill from gape 1.
Distribution. A very rare bird, resorting to North-east Siberia in
summer and found in winter on the coasts of China, Bengal, and
Burma. The only recorded localities in the Bay of Bengal are
Saugor Island at the mouth of the Hoogly (a specimen has also
once been obtained in the Calcutta bazaar), Chittagong, Akyab,
mouth of Rangoon river, and Amherst.
Habits, $c. Scarcely anything is known except that the few
specimens obtained have been shot on mud and sand flats, in
company with Tringas and other small waders.
Genus TEJNGA, Linn., 1766.
Bill slender, flexible, varying in length, straight or slightly
curved downwards, both mandibles grooved ; nostril small, near
.the base of the mandible. Wing long, pointed, 1st quill longest,
tertiaries nearly as long as primaries; tail nearly square, the
median rectrices pointed and projecting slightly in some species.
Tarsus rather short, scutulated ; hind toe present ; anterior toes
divided to the base, not webbed.
This genus comprises the Stints, which are distinguished from
the Sandpipers (Totanus} by having a softer, more flexible bill,
and by the almost entire absence of any web between the anterior
toes. The species, about 20 in number, are often distributed
amongst a number of genera on account of slight differences in
the length or form of the bill ; but it is evident that all are closely
allied, more so than the species here referred to Totanus. No less
than 9 forms of Stint have been recorded from India, Ceylon, and
Burma ; all are migratory birds, breeding in Northern Asia, and
the majority are found in India in flocks, feeding on worms, small
Crustacea, and insects and their Iarva3, which are obtained either
from sand or mud banks on the coast or in estuaries, or from
marshy ground inland.
Key to the Species.
a. Bill straight.
a'. Bill from gape not exceeding O8, wing
under 4.
a*. All shafts of primaries white in part.
«3. Wing under 4 ; tarsus 0*8, leaden
grey T. minuta, p. 273.
Z»3. Wing not under 4 ; tarsus 0'75,
black T. rnjicollis, p. 274.
b2. Shaft of 1st primary white; of
others brown.
c3. All tail-feathers brown; mid-toe
and claw 0'9 T. subminuta, p. 275.
d3. Outer tail-feathers white ; mid-toe
and claw 0'75 T. temmincki, p. 275.
THIXGA. 273
b'. Bill about 1, wing 5 to 5'5 ; tail-feathers
acuminate T. acuminata, p. 276.
c'. Bill about 1-9, wing over 7 T. crassirostris, p. 277.
b. Bill curved downwards near the tip.
d'. Upper tail-coverts chiefly white T. subarquata, p. 278,
e. Upper tail-coverts blackish brown.
c2. Bill slender, higher than broad ;
middle tail-feathers projecting .... T. alpina, p. 279.
d2. Bill stout, as broad as high ; middle
tail-feathers scarcely longer than
others T. platyrkyncJia, p. 279.
1471. Tringa minuta. The Little Stint.
Trinjra minuta, Leisler, in Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., Nachtr. i, p. 74
(1812) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 270 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 690 ; Hume, S. F.
i, p. 242 ; Adam, ibid. p. 396 ; Legge, ibid. p. 491 ; Hume, S. F. iv,
p. 17 ; Hume $ Da». S. F. vi, p. 46 1 ; Hume, S. F. vii, pp. 228, 487,
497 ; id. Cat. no. 884 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl p. 884 ; Vidal, S. F. ix,
p. 85 ; Butler, ibid. p. 429 ; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 088 ; Reid, S. F.
x, p. 70 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 321 ; Hume. ibid. p. 414 ; Oates, B. B.
ii, p. 389 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 365 ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 435.
Limonites minuta, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 538.
Chota pau-loka, II.
Fig. 63.— Head of T. minuta. \.
Coloration in winter. Forehead, supercilia, lower cheeks, and.
underparts generally, with axillaries, white, sides of breast as a
rule brownish and striated ; a brown streak across the lores ; sides
of head below and behind eye and sides of neck brownish, with
dark streaks ; upper plumage brown, more or less tinged with
grey, the feathers with broad blackish shaft-stripes ; tertiaries and
whig-coverts darker brown with pale edges, the greater coverts
tipped broadly with white ; quills blackish brown with white
shafts, secondaries white at base, the white extending over the
greater part of the inner secondaries ; middle of lower back, rump,
and upper tail-coverts blackish brown, the sides white : middle
tail-feathers also dark brown, outer rectrices light smoky brown.
In summer the feathers of the upper parts are black with broad
rufous edges : the fore neck and upper breast are indistinctly
spotted with dark brown and tinged with dull rufous.
Young birds are blackish above, with rufous borders and some
whitish edges to the feathers ; lower surface without spots, but
tinged with isabelline buff.
VOL. iv. x
274 CIIAIIADRIID.*:.
Bill black ; irides brown ; legs and feet deep leaden, in some with
the middle of the tarsus pale and greenish (Legye).
Length 6 ; tail 1-5 ; wing 3'75 ; tarsus -8 ; middle toe and claw
•75 ; bill to gape -7.
Distribution. The Little Stint breeds in Northern Europe and
Siberia, and migrates in winter to Africa and Southern Asia. At
that season it abounds in all well-watered parts of India, and it is
equally abundant in Ceylon ; but it appears to be replaced by the
next species east of the Bay of Bengal.
Habits, fyc. This little wader is usually found in India in flocks
and feeds in marshy ground, in rice-fields, and on the edges of tanks,
rivers, estuaries, &c., or on the sea-shore. It arrives in India in
August or September, and leaves usually in May.
1472. Tringa ruficollis. The Eastern Little Stint.
Trynga ruficollis, Pall, Reis. Russ. Reichs, iii, p. 700 (1776).
Trynga salina, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso- Asiat. ii, p. 199 (1811).
Totanus damacensis, pt., Horsf. Tr. Linn. &ov. xiii, p. 192 (1821).
Tringa albescens, Temm. Pt. Col. pi. 41, fig. 2 (182.°,) ; R. Swinhoe,
Ibis, 1864, p. 420; Walden, Ibis, 1878, p. 317 ; Lerjge, S. F. iii,
p. 265 ; Hume, Cat. no. 884 ter.
Tringa minuta, apud Hume, S. F. ii. p. 298 ; Armstrong, S. F. iv,
p. 342 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 461 : nee Linn.
Tringa ruficollis, Gates, B. S. ii, p. 390.
Tringa minuta ruficollis, Seebohm, Charadr. p. 437, pi. xv.
Limonites ruficollis, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 545.
In winter this Stint cannot be distinguished from the preceding
by its plumage. It is, however, a larger bird, with a shorter,
stouter, and blacker tarsus. The \\ing is generally more than
3'9 long, and the tarsus rarely exceeds *75. Some Burmese birds
appear to be of intermediate si/e.
In summer the sides of the face, the throat, sides, and front of
the neck and upper breast are rich ferruginous red, the chin alone
remaining whita. The plumage elsewhere resembles that of
T. minuia.
Bill, legs, and feet black ; irides dark bro\vn (Armstrong).
Length 6-25 ; tail 1'7 ; wing 4 ; tarsus '75 ; bill from gape '8.
Distribution. Eastern Siberia in summer, Japan, China, and S.E.
Asia, the Malayan Archipelago, and Australia in winter. This is
the species common in suitable localities throughout Burma and in
the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, but only occasional specimens
appear to be found in India, west of the Bay of Bengal.
Dr. Sharpe has examined the two type-specimens of Horsfield's
Totanus damaqensis, and finds that one belongs to the present
species and one to T. subminuta ; but the words in Horsfield's
brief description, " rachidibus primorum albis " (shafts of the
primaries white), are applicable to T. riificollis only.
TRINGA. 275
1473. Tringa subminuta. The Long -toed Stint.
Tringa subminuta, Middendorff, Reis. Sibir., Zool., Sauqth. Voq. $c.
p. 222, pi. xix, fig. G (foot) (1851) ; Jet-don, B. I. iii, p. 875 ; Legge,
Birds Ceyl p. 889 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 391 ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 438.
Tringa damacensis, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 168 ; Hume, 8. F. i, p. 242.
Tringa salina, apud Holdsworth, P. Z. 8. 1872, p. 474; Leqge, S. F.
i, p. 491 ; Blylh $ Wald. Birds Burm. p. 156.
Tringa ruficollis, apud Hume fy Dav. 8. F. vi, p. 461 ; Ball, 8. F. vii,
p. 228 ; Hume, ibid. p. 487 ; id. Cat. no. 884 bis ; id. 6'. F. xi, p. 323.
Limonites damacensis, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 553.
Coloration in winter. Upper parts dark brown, the feathers
with light brown edges, a dark streak through the lores to the
eye, and a pale greyish superciliary band ; sides of head arid neck
light greyish brown, streaked darker ; quills dark brown, scarcely
any white on the secondaries and narrow tips on the greater
coverts; shafts of 1st primary whitish in parts, those of other
primaries brown ; lower back, middle of rump and of upper tail-
coverts, and middle tail-feathers blackish ; sides of rump and lateral
tail-coverts white, outer tail-feathers greyish brown ; chin, throat,
abdomen, and lower tail-coverts white ; fore neck and breast pale
greyish brown with dark shaft-stripes.
In summer the feathers of the upper parts are broadly edged
with rufous, and there is a slight rufous tinge on the fore neck and
breast, as in T. minuta.
Bill olive-brown ; iris brown ; legs and toes pale brown (Oates} ;
legs and feet yellowish olivaceous (Lfgge).
Length 6 ; tail 1-5 ; wing 3'7 ; tarsus -8 ; mid-toe and claw -9
to 1 ; bill from gape '75.
Distribution. Eastern Siberia in summer, S.E. Asia to Australia
in winter. Common at that season in Burma, Bengal, and Ceylon,
and prrobably occurring throughout ths Eastern halt of the Indian
Peninsula.
.Habits, $c. The Long-toed Stint occurs, like T. minuta, in flocks
during the winter, but is, according to both Legge and Gates, even
more of a marsh-loving bird than that species, its long toes
evidently enabling it to run over soft mud. Hume found these
two Stints to be brought in about equal numbers to the bazaar in
Calcutta.
1474. Tringa temmincki. Temminclc's Stint.
p. 233 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 461 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 228 ;
Hume, ibid. p. 487 ; Anders. Yunnan E^ped., Aves, p. 680 ; Hume,
Cat. no. 885 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 357 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 892 ;
Hume fy Inylis, S. F. ix, p. 258 ; Butler, ibid. p. 429 ; Bidaulph
Ibis, 1881, p. 96; 1882, p. 288; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 589; Ibid
S. F. x, p. 70 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 321 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 392 ;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 355 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 323 ; Seebohm,
Charadr. p. 434; Sharj^e, Yark. Miss., Aves, p. 143.
T 2
276
Actodromas temminckii, Cripps, S. F. vii, p. 303.
Limonites temmincki, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv; p. 555.
The White-tailed Stint, Jerdon.
Coloration in winter. Lores brown, with a white streak above
them, not continued above the eye : whole upper plumage almost
uniform greyish brown, with slightly darker shaft-stripes ; greater
coverts and quills dark brown, greater coverts and secondaries
tipped white, shaft of 1st primary white, those of other primaries
brown; lower back, rutnp, and middle tail-coverts dark brown,
sides of rump white ; middle taif- feathers dark brown, outer
feathers paler, outer two pairs white ; chin, throat, abdomen, and
lower tail-coverts white, breast light brownish grey.
In summer the upper plumage is darker, and the edges of the
feathers slightly rufous ; the breast is light sandy brown, with
small dark spots.
Bill black ; irides brown ; legs and feet olivaceous greenish
(Legge).
Length 6 ; tail l'7o ; wing 3'75 ; tarsus '(55 ; middle toe and
claw *75 : bill from gape *65.
Distribution. Throughout Europe and Asia and North Africa,
breeding in the extreme North of Europe and Asia, and migrating
to the South in winter. This Stint is very common at that season
throughout suitable parts of Northern India, but is less frequently
seen to the southward and in Burma, and is rare in Ceylon.
Habits, &fc. Temminck's Stint arrives in India early, having been
recorded about Deesa in Guzerat by Butler as early as August 5th,
and it remains till the middle of May, assuming breeding-plumage
before leaving. Its habits resemble those of its allies.
1475. Tringa acuminata. Tlie Asiatic Pectoral Sandpiper.
Totanus acuminatus, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 192 (1821).
Tringa acuminata, Biddulph, Ibis, 1382, p. 287 ; id. S. F. x, p. 270 ;
Seebohm, Charadr. p. 441.
Heteropygia acuminata, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv? p. 566.
Tail-feathers lanceolate and pointed, the outer pairs less
distinctly so.
Coloration in winter. Supercilia and sides of head and of neck
white, with brown streaks ; lores and ear-coverts brown ; hind
neck, back, and scapulars light greyish brown, with broad dark shaft-
stripes ; crown similar, but more rufous ; wing-coverts and tertiaries
dark brown with whitish edges ; greater coverts white-tipped;
primaries and secondaries dark brown, later secondaries edged
with white near their tips ; lower back, rump, middle and upper
tail-coverts, and median rectrices blackish brown, outer rectrices
lighter brown ; all tail-feathers with whitish edges ; chin, throat,
and abdomen white ; fore neck and breast pale brownish grey, with
small dark streaks : lower and lateral upper tail-coverts and lower
flanks white, with blackish shaft-stripes.
TRI-XGA, : 277
In summer the feathers of the .crown, hind neck, and back, with
the scapulars and some tertiaries, are black with dull rufous
edges, and the upper breast is slightly tinged with rufous ; the
dark spots ori the breast are broader and often take the form of
angulate bars, extending to the flanks.
Young birds resemble adults in summer plumage above, but
have the breast almost uniform sandy buff.
Bill black : irides chocolate ; legs and toes yellowish ochre
(Whiteley).
Length 8*5 ; tail 2-25 ; wing 5'4 ; tarsus 1*2 ; culmen I'l.
Distribution. This bird, a near ally of the American Pectoral
Sandpiper, T. maculata, breeds in North-eastern vSiberia and Alaska,
and migrates by China and Japan to the Malayan Archipelago,
Australia, and New Zealand. A single specimen was shot by
Biddulph at Gilgit, flying about with a number of Pavoncella
]_>«<jnax, on August 1st.
1476. Tringa crassirostris. The Eastern Knot.
Tringa crassirostris, Temm. fy Schl. Faun. Jap., Aves, p. 107, pi. 64
(3847) ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 240 ; Walden, Ibis, 1874, p. H7; Arm-
strong, S. F. iv, p. 341; Hume, ibid. pp. 433, 464; Hume, Cat.
no. 881 bis ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 393 ; Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind,
p. 249 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 353 ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 421 ;
Sharpe, Cat B. M. xxiv, p. 600.
? Tringa canutus, apud Btyth, Cat. p. 268, partim ; Jerdon, B. I. iii,
p. 688 ; nee Linn.
Coloration in winter. Upper parts light brownish grey, with black
shaft-stripes which are broadest on the crown ; sides of head and
neck whitish, with dark streaks, supercilia and cheeks paler;
wing-coverts with pale edges, greater coverts with white tips ;
bastard wing, primary-coverts, and primaries blackish brown;
secondaries brownish grey like back, but with white borders out-
side and at the end ; lower back and rump dark brown, with white
edges to the feathers ; upper tail-coverts the same, but the white
borders are much wider, the white sometimes occupying the greater
part or the whole of the feathers ; tail ashy brown ; lower plumage
white, fore neck and upper breast streaked or spotted with dark
brown.
In summer the plumage is blackish above, with whitish edges to
the feathers, the scapulars with large chestnut spots ; upper and
lower tail-coverts white, with dark brown spots and bars; chin,
throat, breast, and flanks so thickly spotted as to be almost
covered in the middle of the breast with blackish brown. There
is no rufous on the lower plumage.
Bill dusky black ; irides dark brown ; legs and feet greenish
dusky (Armstrong).
Length 11*5 ; tail 2'5 ; wing 7*25 ; tarsus 1'4 ; bill from
gape 1-9.
Distribution. This large Knot , passes the summer in Siberia and
the winter in South-eastern Asia, the Malay Archipelago, and
278 CHA.RAD11HD /E.
Australia. In India and Burma it has only been observed in
winter on or near the sea-coast at Gwadar in Baluchistan, Karachi,
and the Laccadive Islands by Hume, at Akyab by Gates, at the
mouth of the Hangoon river by Armstrong, and on South Andaman
by Wardlaw Ramsay ; but if. as is almost certain, this was the
bird identified by Jerdon and Blyth with T. canutus, it has also
been obtained at Madras and in Calcutta.
1477. Tringa subarquata. The Curlew Stint or Pigmy Curlew.
Scolopax subarquata, G'tildenst. Nov. Com. Petroj). xix, p. 471 (1775).
Tringa subarquata, Blyth, Cat. p. 209; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 689;
Hume $ Headers. Lah to Yark. p. 288 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 242 ;
ii, p. 297 ; Adam, S. F. i, p. 396 ; ii, p. 339 ; Blyth, Birds Burm.
p. 156 ; Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 342 ; Cockburn, ibid. p. 510 : Hume
$ Dar. S. F. vi, p. 460 ; Davids. # Wend. S. F. vii,p. 89 ;' Hume,
ibid. p. 487 ; id. Cat. no. 882 ; Leaye, Birch Guy 1. p. 879 ; Vidal,
8. F. ix, p. 85 ; Butler, ibid. p. 429 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 96 ;
1882, p. 288 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 70 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 354 ;
Seebohm, Charadr. p. 419.
Pelidna subarquata, Gates, B. B. ii, p. 394.
Aucylochilus subavquatus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 586.
Fig. 64.— Head of T. subarquata. ].
Coloration in winter. Broad supercilia, generally meeting across
forehead, white ; lores, sides of head and neck brownish, streaked
darker ; upper plumage ashy brown, with more or less distinct
dark shaft-stripes ; wing-coverts with light edges, greater coverts
tipped with white ; bastard wing, primary-coverts, primaries, and
secondaries dark brown ; outer webs of later primaries and of all
secondaries with a white border; secondaries white at the base, the
amount of white increasing on the inner secondaries ; lower back
and middle of rump dark brown, the feathers \vith a pale or white
edge ; sides of rump and upper tail-coverts white ; tail ashy brown ;
lower parts and axillaries white; fore neck and upper breast
brownish, streaked with dark brown.
In summer the crown, neck, back, and scapulars are rich rufous,
with black centres to the feathers ; both upper and lower tail-
coverts with large black spots ; the lower parts chestnut with hoary
edges to the feathers, especially on the abdomen.
Younrr birds have the feathers of the upper plumage fringed
with butt or whitish, the lower surface nearly uniform buff.
Bill black ; irides brown : legs dusky grey (Jerdon).
Length 8*5 : tail 1-75 ; wing 5 ; tarsus 1*2 ; bill from gape 1'5.
TRINGA. 279
Distribution. This Stint breeds in the far North, but the nest and
eggs were almost unknown before the present year ; it migrates in
winter to Africa, Southern Asia, and A ustralia. It is common in
the cold season on many parts of the Indian and Burmese coasts ;
but, except at the period of migration, is rare inland. It arrives
in India as early as August, and leaves in Mav, most of the birds
being in rufous breeding-plumage before leaving.
Habits, 6fc. In India the Curlew Stint generally occurs in flocks,
large or small, often associated with other small waders, and fre-
quents for the most part sand-banks or muddy flats on the
sea-shore or on the estuaries of large rivers. It is, like most of
the genus, excellent eating.
1478. Tringa alpina. The Dunlin.
Triuga alpina, Linn, tiyst. Nat. i, p. 249 (1766) ; Hume, S. F. vii,
pp.' 228, 487 ; id. Cat. no. 883 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 70 ; Barnes, Birds
Bom. p. 354 ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 425.
Tringa cinclus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 251 (1766) ; Bhjth, Cat. p. 269 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 690 ; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 240; Hume, S. F. i,
p. 242 ; Adam, ibid. p. 396 ; Hayes Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 417 ;
Butler, S. F. v, pp. 233, 236.
Pelidna alpina, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 602.
Coloration. In winter plumage this closely resembles the last
species, T. subarquata : it is smaller, with a shorter bill, and differs
in having the rump and upper tail-coverts very dark brown, and
the middle rectrices, which project considerably beyond the others
at the end, much darker than the rest. There is also more white
on the secondaries, and the shaft- lines on the upper surface are
less defined.
The summer plumage is very different. The crown, back, and
scapulars are bright rufous with black centres ; hind neck and sides
of neck hoary white with black streaks ; and all the lower breast
and upper abdomen occupied by a large sooty-black patch.
Bill and legs black ; iris dark brown.
Length 7*5 ; tail 2 ; wing 4*5 ; tarsus '95 ; bill from gape 1*3.
Distribution. The Dunlin breeds in Northern Europe and Asia,
and migrates in winter to Southern Europe, Northern Africa, and
South-western Asia. It is found commonly in the cold season
throughout Northern India as far east as Calcutta, and stragglers
have been obtained as far south as Raipur ; but it has not been
observed in Southern India, in Ceylon, nor east of the Bay of
Bengal.
Habits, $c. The Dunlin in India is as common inland as on the
coast, and is found along the larger rivers, on the edges of marshes,
arid in similar places, in flocks. According to Hume it is far more
abundant inland than T. subarqiiata.
1479. Tringa platyrhyncha. The Broad-billed Stint.
Tringa platyrincha, Temm. Man. tfOrn. p. 398 (1815).
Limicola pygmaea, Koch, Baier. Zool. i, p. 316 (1816).
Tringa platyrhyncha, Blyth, Cat. p. 269 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 69J ;
280 CHAHADIUIDJE.
Hume, S. F. \, p. 244 ; ii, p. 298 ; Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 156 ;
Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 343 ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 433.
Tringa pygmaea, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 168.
Limicola sibirica, Dresser, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 674 ; Hume, S. F. v,
p. 344 ; id. Cat. no. 886 bis.
Limicola platyrhyncha, Hnme $ Dav. S, F. vi, p. 461 ; Hume, S. F.
vii, p. 487 ; id" Cat. no. 886 ; Legge, Birds Ceijl. p. 89d ; Oatei,
B. B. ii, p. 387; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 356; toharpe, Cat. B. M.
xxiv, p. 612.
Coloration in winter very similar to that of T. subaryuata and
T. alpina; as in the latter, the r«mp, upper tail-coverts, and
middle tail-feathers are blackish brown ; the dark shaft-stripes
on the upper plumage are broad and ill-defined, and there is not
much white on the secondaries. The white stipercilia do not meet
across the forehead. The lower parts are white throughout, and
only a few narrow dark streaks occur on the fore neck and upper
breast.
In summer the upper parts are black, Avith narrow dull rufous
or \vhitish fringes to the feathers ; crown nearly all black or with
a few buff spots towards each side ; tertiaries with narrow rufous
borders ; middle pair of rectrices each with a rufous margin to
1he outer web; throat, fore neck, sides of neck, and upper breast
tinged with rufescent and thickly spotted with dark brown.
Bill browrn, tinged with olive ; irides dark brown ; legs olive-
brown (Oates).
Length 7 ; tail 1'5 ; wing 4*1 ; tarsus '9 ; bill from gape 1*3.
Distribution. The breeding quarters of this Stint are in the north
of Europe and Asia ; but in winter it migrates to the shores of
the Mediterranean and of Southern Asia. It is found on many
parts of the Indian, Ceylonese, and Burmese coasts, but is locally
distributed, the only places where it has been found to be common
being Smd and Pegu, near the mouths of the Indus and the
Irrawaddy. An Eastern race has been separated by Dresser as
Limicola sibirica (P. Z. S. 1876, p. 674), on account of the feathers
of the crown and upper parts having broad rufous edges in summer ;
but there is no difference in winter, and it appears doubtful
whether the distinction is sufficient.
Habits, fyc. The Broad-billed Stint appears to be even more
restricted to the sea-coast and salt-water inlets and estuaries than
other members of the genus. It is found in small parties, usually
associating with other Stints, &c.
Genus PHALAROPUS, Brisson, 1760.
Anterior toes bordered throughout by a web cut into lobes, as
in Coots and Grebes. In other respects the present genus does
not differ materially from Tringa and its allies. By many natu-
ralists the Phalaropes are made into a separate subfamily, and
they have some claim to the distinction ; but they are after all
only modified Sandpipers, although, unlike those shore-birds, they
are found swimming in the open sea, sometimes even out of sight
PHALAROPUS. 281
of land. They breed in high northern latitudes, on the shores of
the sea or of lakes, and lay four ochreous eggs, spotted and
blotched as usual in the family. The males incubate, aud, as so
frequently happens in such cases, are inferior in size and in the
completeness of the nuptial plumage to the females.
Three species are known, differing considerably in structure, so
that each has been made the type of a separate genus. Two have
occurred in India.
Key to the Species.
a. Bill slender, subcylindrical, anteriorly narrower
than the tarsus ; wing about 4'25 P. hyperboreus, p. 281.
b. Bill flat, broader than high, or than the tarsus ;
wing 5 to 5-5 P. fulicarius, p. 282.
1480. Phalaropus hyperboreus. The Red-necked Phalarope.
Tringa hyperborea & T. lobata, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 249 (1766).
Lobipes hyperboreus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxiii, p. 214 ; xxviii, p. 417 ;
id. Ibis, 1859, p. 464 ; Hume, 8. F. i, p. 246 ; Adam, S. F. ii,
p. 388 ; Sutler, S. F. v, p. 290 ; Hume, S. F. vii, pp. 150, 487 ;
id. Cat. no. 890: Barnes, S. F. ix, p. 4-59; id. Birds Bom. p. 357.
Phalaropus hyperboreus, Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 696 ; Blanford, Eastern
Persia, ii, p. 284 ; tieebohm, Charadr. p. 340 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889,
p. 177; Sclater, Ibis, 1896, p. 156; Blanf. ibid. p. 288; Sharps,
Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 698.
Phalaropus fulicarius, apud Hume, Ibis, 1872, p. 469; id.S.F.i,
p. 245 : nee Tringa fulicaria, L.
Phalaropus asiaticus & Lobipes tropicus, Hume, S. F. i, pp. 246, 247.
Fig. 65. — Head of P. hyperboreus. \ .
Coloration in winter. Broad forehead, more or less of the crown,
lores, supercilia, cheeks, sides of neck, and all lower parts white ;
a black band surrounds the eye, except above, and extends for
some distance behind it ; nape and hind neck dusky brown ; mantle
blackish brown, with white or buffy-white streaks formed by the
edges of the feathers ; a broad white bar on the wing composed
of the white tips of the greater secondary-coverts ; inner second-
aries mostly white ; middle of rump, upper tail-coverts, and the
tail-feathers black, with white edges.
In summer the crown, sides of head, hind neck and sides of
the breast, back, scapulars, and tertiaries are blackish grey ; down
each side of the back are buff streaks formed by the edges of the
scapulars ; wings and tail browner ; sides of neck ferruginous-
red, united across the fore neck in females, but not in males, which
282 CHAEADIUID^E.
have the ferruginous patches divided in front by a dark slaty-grey
area.
Bill blackish ; irides brownish black ; legs and feet lavender-
blue (Butler).
Length 7'5 ; tail 1'85 ; wing 4-25 ; tarsus -8 ; bill from gape '94.
Distribution. This Phalarope breeds in the North of Europe,
Asia, and America, amongst other places in the Orkneys and
Hebrides, and in autumn migrates to the southward. Its principal
winter abode in the Eastern Hemisphere is on the coasts of Arabia,
Baluchistan, and Sind, where it abounds. It also occurs on the
west coast of India and on the east coast as far north as Madras,
where, at times, it is not uncommon ; but it has not been observed
farther east within Indian or Burmese limits, though it is known
to visit Japan, China, and the Malay Archipelago. Inland in India
it only occurs when migrating, but it has been several times shot
in the Punjab and Eajputana, as far east as the neighbourhood
of Delhi, about September and May.
Jlabits, fyc. On the coasts of Baluchistan and Sind this Phalarope
is found in flocks sitting on the sea, often several miles from land.
I have seen what is doubtless the same species off Aden, where
specimens were obtained by Barnes. When swimming thus
Ked-necked Phalaropes are very wary, and do not allow a boat to
come near ; whereas on the pools of fresh water occasionally
haunted by them on laud they are remarkably tame.
1481. Phalaropus fulicarius. The Grey Plialarope.
Tringa fulicaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 249 (1766).
Phalaropus lobatus, Tunst. Orn. Brit. p. 3 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1859, p. 464 ;
nee Tringa lobata, Linn.
Phalaropus fulicarius, Blyth, Cat. p. 271 ; id. J. A. S. B. xxiii, p. 214 ;
xxviii, p. 417 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 695 ; Hunte, 8. F. vii, p, 487 ;
id. Cat. no. 889 ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 338.
Crymophilua fulicarius, Sharps, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 693.
Coloration in winter. Forehead, supercilia, lores, cheeks, sides of
neck, and lower parts white ; crown chiefly white, but mixed with
blackish ; a blackish streak, including the eye, continued back
over the ear-coverts ; nape and hind neck blackish : back, scapulars,
and tertiaries ashy grey ; wing-coverts and quills blackish grey,
more or less white-edged; greater secondary-coverts broadly tipped
with white; bases of later primaries and of secondaries and greater
part of inner secondaries white ; middle of rump and upper tail-
coverts and all tail-feathers black, with white or buff edges.
Females in summer have the crown, lores, and nape black ; a
large patch on each side of the head, including the orbit and ear-
coverts, white ; feathers of back, scapulars, and tertiaries black,
with broad buff edges ; lower parts and sides of body dark vinous
chestnut; chin dusky grey. In males the crown is like the back,
and there is much white on the throat and breast.
Bill in summer yellowish, black at the tip, in winter dark olive
throughout; irides dark brown; legs and ftet dull olive (Dresser) .
SCOLOPAX. 283
Length of male 7'5 ; tail 2-6 ; wing 5 ; tarsus '85 ; culmen *8f>.
Females are larger ; wing 5*4. Bill flat and rather wide, much
broader than tarsus.
Distribution. The Grey Phalarope breeds in high northern
latitudes all round the Pole, and ranges south in winter even to
Chili and New Zealand. It has once been obtained by Blyth, on
May llth, 1846, in the Calcutta Bazaar; no other occurrence in
India is known. Hume thought he obtained this species between
Gwadar and Muscat, and as the specimen was mislaid, he was
unable to re-examine it (S. F. vii, p. 487) : but his dimensions
show that the bird obtained by him could not be P.fulicarius, and
the skin has now been found in his collection, and proves to be
that of P. hyperboreus.
Subfamily SCOLOPACIN^E.
The Woodcocks and Snipes have the toes free like Tringa, but
they are distinguished by a very different style of plumage, which
does not change with the seasons, and by their large eyes placed
far backward in the head, the ear-orifice being just beneath the
hinder edge of the orbit. The bill is long, slender, and largely
provided with nerves ; whilst the tarsus is short, not exceeding the
middle toe and claw in length.
All the members of this subfamily have crepuscular or nocturnal
habits. Rostratula (Rhynclicea) is an aberrant form.
Key to the Genera.
a. Sexes similar in plumage ; bill straight.
a'. Tibia feathered throughout : no longitudinal
pale stripes ; occiput and nape transversely
striped , SCOLOPAX, p. 283.
V. Tibia partly naked; longitudinal pale stripes
on crown and scapulars GALLINAGO, p. 285.
b. Sexes different ; bill curved downwards at tip HOSTRATULA, p. 293.
Genus SCOLOPAX, Linn., 1766.
Bill long, straight, slender, rather soft and swollen at the tip :
both mandibles grooved at the side ; nostrils linear, basal, the
gape in front of the base of the culmen. Wings long, 1st quill
longest. Tail short, of 12 feathers. Legs short, feathered to the
joint at the base of the tarsus.
Two or, including the North American form, sometimes separated
generically, three species are known. Only the typical one is
Indian.
1482. Scolopax rusticula. The Woodcock.
Scolopax rusticola, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 243 (1766) ; Blyth, Cat.
p. 271; Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 670; Stoliczka, J. A, S. B. xxxvii,
284:
pt. 2, p. 70 ; Beavan, Ibis, 18C8,p. 391 ; Brooks, J. A. S. B. xliii,
pt. 2, p. 253 ; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 482 ; A. Anderson, S. F. iii, p. 356 ;
Godw.-Aust. J.A.S. B. xlv, pt. 2, p. 200 ; Fairbank, S. F. v, p. 409 ;
Butler, ibid. p. 504 ; Hume $ Dai\ S. F. vi, p. 458 ; Ball, S. F. vii,
p. 228 ; Laird, ibid. p. 470 ; Hume, ibid. p. 483 ; id. Cat. no. 867 ;
Bingham, S. F. viii, p. 196 ; Scully, ibid. p. 353 ; Hume $ Marsh.
Game B. iii, p. 309, pi. ; Williamson, S. F. x, p. 517 ; Barnes,
Birds Bom. p. 343 ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 502 ; Hume, S. F. xi,
p. 318.
Scolopax rusticula, Wharton, Ibis, 1879, p. 453 ; id. S. F. viii,
p. 500 ; Legye, Birds Ceyl. p. 806 ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 428 ;
Biddulpb, Ibis, 1881, p. 95; Scully, ibid. p. 588; C. H. T. Mar-
shall, Ibis, 1884, p. 424; Dtrmson, S. F. x, p. 413 ; Gates, B. B. ii,
p. 380; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 176; Oates in Hume's N.fyE.
2nd ed. iii, p. 349; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 671.
Chinjarole (Chamba), Sim Kukra (Kiimaun), Simtitar, Tutitar, II.
Coloration. Upper plumage a mixture of brownish grey with
imperfect bars of rufous and black blotches ; forehead and sinciput
greyish, occiput and nape black with narrow cross-bands ; dark
loral and cheek bands ; rest of sides of head and of neck buff, with
black spots ; some large black blotches on the scapulars ; on the
wing-coverts and tertiaries the colour passes into dark brown with
rufous cross-bands ; the primary-coverts, primaries, and secondaries
are blackish brown, indented with rufous on both edges; rump
and upper tail-coverts barred rufous arid black ; tail-feathers
black, with their tips dark grey above, silvery white below, and
with rufous spots on their edges; lower parts brownish white,
with dark-brown cross-bars, which become black and coalesce to
some extent on the throat ; chin whitish or white.
Bill dusky brown, livid at base of lower mandible ; iris blackish
brown; feet greyish, plumbeous, or drab.
Length 14; tail 3-25; wing 7'75 ; tarsus 1-5 ; bill from gape 3.
There is no constant difference in size between the sexes. Indian
birds are smaller than those of Western Europe.
Distribution. Throughout Europe and Asia, breeding in the
North, and wintering in the South. The Woodcock breeds through-
out the Himalayas above 10,000 feet, and in winter migrates lo
the lower valleys, and also to the hills of Southern India and
Burma, being occasionally met with on migration throughout the
Empire, thus at intervals of years specimens are brought to the
Calcutta bazaar. Woodcocks are of rare occurrence in Ceylon.
On the Nilgiris Woodcock shooting is one of the principal sports.
Habits, tyc. The Woodcock, as its name implies, is usually found
in cover, often in forest, and as a rule in the Himalayas near
running water; it is a solitary bird, resting in the day and feeding
chiefly at night, on worms, grubs, and insects. The presence of
the bird may often be inferred from the holes made by its bill in
soft ground when it is searching for worms. It breeds in the
Himalayas about June, and lays four eggs in a hollow in moss or
dead leaves. The eggs vary from pale buff to reddish drab, speckled
and spotted with rufous brown and purplish grey, and measure
GALLIXAGO. 285
about 1*65 by 1*4. Woodcocks sometimes carry their young
between their feet; Mr. Littledale recently saw this done in
Chamba, and Mr. Davidson in Kashmir.
Genus GALLINAGO, Leach, 1816.
The Snipes are distinguished from the Woodcocks by a different
kind of plumage, and especially by having longitudinal pale bands
on the head and scapulars, instead of the transverse head-markings
and blotched scapulars of Scolopax. The lower part of the tibia
is bare; but in this respect there is a gradual passage into the
feathered tibia of the Woodcock. The number of tail-feathers
varies from 12 to 28.
The Jack-Snipe, G. gdllinula, with only 12 tail-feathers and
4 ernarginations instead of 2 in the sternum, is by many regarded
as forming a distinct genus, Limnocryptes.
About 20 species of Snipes are known, of these 5 are Indian.
Key to the Species.
a. A pale median band on crown ; bill exceeding-
2-5.
a'. Distance between tip of shortest second-
ary and that of longest primary not ex-
ceeding 2 in. ; abdomen barred throughout. G. nemoricola, p. 285.
b'. Tip of shortest secondary short of longest
primary by more than 2 in.: abdomen,
with rare exceptions, not barred.
a". Wing 5 to 5-5 ; borders of scapulars buff.
a3. Tail-feathers 14-16 ; broad white tips
to secondaries G. c&lestis, p. 286.
b*. Tail-feathers about 26 ; narrow white
tips to secondaries or none G. stenura, p. 289.
b". Wing 6'25 to 675 ; borders of scapulars
white G. solitaria, p. 290.
b. No pale median band on crown ; bill about
1-75 G. gallinula, p. 292.
1483. Gallinago nemoricola. The Wood-Snipe.
Scolopax gallinago, Hodys. Gleanings in Science, iii, p. 240 (1831) ;
nee Linn.
Gallina{ro nemoricola, Hodgs. P. Z. S. 1836, p. 8 ; id. J. A. S. B. vi,
p. 490 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 272 ; Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 506 ; Irbi/,
Ibis, 1861, p. 241; Jerdim, B. I. iii, p. 672 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867,
p. 166 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi, p. 459 ; Hume, Cat. no. 868 ;
Scully, S. F. viii, p. 353 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 814 ; Hume $
Marshall, Game B. iii, p. 325, pi. ; Butler, & F. ix, p. 428 ; Reid,
S. F. x, p. 68 ; Ditmas, ibid. p. 173 ; Davison, ibid, p. 413 ; Gates,
B. B. ii, p. 385 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 344 ; C. H. T. Marshall,
Ibis, 1884, p. 424; Hume, 8. F. xi, p. 318; Oates in Humes
N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 350 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 657.
Scolopax nemoricola, Jerdon, III. Ind. Orn. pi. ix ; Nevill, J. A. S. B.
Ceylon, 1867-70, p. 138; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 474.
Coloration generally much duller than that of G. ccelestis.
Upper parts black; a narrow median coror.al stripe and superciliary
286 CHABADRIID.E.
bands, broad edges of scapulars, and bars and spots on wing-
coverts dull tawny buff ; a dark loral band to the eye and a
second band on the cheek below the eye ; sides of head, and the
neck all round dull brownish buff, with broad blackish shaft-
stripes ; primary-coverts, primaries, and secondaries dark brown ;
lower back and rump irregularly barred, whitish in front, then
brownish buff, the bars becoming rufous on the tipper tail-coverts ;
tail black, with a broad subterminal rufous bar and buff tips to the
broader median feathers ; outer rectrices brown with whitish tips ;
breast and abdomen white with dark brown cross-bars, less distinct
in the middle ; lower wing-covertf and axillaries banded dark
brown and white, the dark bars on the axillaries oblique, broader
than the white.
Length 12; tail 2*2 ; wing 5*5; tarsus 1*4; bill from gape 2-5.
Bill reddish brown, paler at the base beneath ; irides dusky
brown ; legs plumbeous green (Jerdon). Tail-feathers 18 normally,
4 on each side very narrow, the next two intermediate, the six in
the middle broad; quills broad and soft, the longest primary
exceeding the shortest secondary by less than 2 inches.
Distribution. In the Himalayas as far as Dalhousie to the west-
ward and Sikhim to the east, probnbly farther in the latter
direction ; also in the hills south of Assam and in Manipur,
occasionally in Burma, even as far south as Tenasserim, and, as a
winter visitor only, in the hills of Southern India — Coorg, Wynaad,
Nilgiris, Anaimalais, Shevroys, and probably others. In one case
this species is said to have been recognized in Ceylon. A very-
few specimens have been obtained whilst migrating, one at Calcutta
by Blyth, two at Eussellkonda by McMaster, one in Sirguja by
Ball, and probable occurrences have been recorded at Nasik and
Dharwar.
Habits, tyc. In the Himalayas the Wood-Snipe is found through-
out the year, breeding at 7000 to 12,000 feet, and descending to
the lower hills and the Tarai in winter. It is a shy, solitary bird,
seldom seen, lying very close, usually in small isolated swampy
spots on the outskirts of forests, and flying slowly and heavily,
like a woodcock, when flushed. Grubs and insects have been
found in its stomach. The eggs have been taken by Mr. Mandelli's
men in Sikhim at about 11,000 feet ; they resemble those of
other Snipes in colour, and measure about 1*7 by 1*25.
1484. Gallinago coelestis. The Common Snipe, Full or
Fantail Snipe.
Scolopax gallinaoro, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 244 (1766); Anderson,
Yunnan Expf-d., Aves, p. 681 ; Keebohm, Charadr. p. 484.
? Scolopax pallinaria, O. F. Miiller, Zool. Dan. Prodr. p. 23 (3776).
Scolopax coelestis, Frenzel, Beschr. Voy. u. JEier Geg. Wittenb. p. 58
(1801).
Gatlinago media, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mam. $c. B. M. p. 30 (1816).
Gallinago scolopaciims, Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. fy N. Amer.
p. 52 (1838) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 272 ; Irly, Ibis, 1861, p. 241 ; Jerdw,
GALLINAGO. 287
p. 395 ; Jiume, IS. *. 11, p. ^Uo ; Utttler, «, ^. iv, p.
v, pp. 214, 232 ; Hume $ Dew. S. F. vi, p. 459 ; Ball, S. F. vii,
p. 228 ; Leffffe, Birds Ceyl. pp. 821, 1218 ; Biddidph, Ibis, 1881,
p. 95 ; Scully, ibid. p. 588 ; Snarpe, Yark. Miss., Aves, p. 144.
Gallinago gallinaria, Cripps, S. F. vii, p. 302 ; Hume, ibid. p. 483 ;
id. Cat. no. 871 ; Bine/ham, S. F. viii, p. 196 ; Scully, ibid. p. 355 ;
Vidal, S. F. ix; p. 84 j Reid, S. F. x, p. 68 ; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 345.
Gallinago cceleatis, Dresser, B. Ettr. vii, p. 641 ; Hume 8f Marsh.
Game B. Hi, pp. 359, 437, pi. (also pi. opp. p. 438) ; Butler, S. F. ix,
p. 428 ; Davidson, S. F. x, p. 320 ; Hume, ibid. p. 413 : Taylor,
ibid. p. 405 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 381 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 321.
Gallinago gallinago, Sharps, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 633.
Chdha (N.W.P. &c.), Bharak, (Nepal) H.; Chegga, Khada-Kuchi,
Beng. ; Cheryga, Assam ; Chck lonbi, Manipur ; Myuy-woot, Burm. ;
Clidha-charai, Uriva ; Tibud, Pan-ldwa, Mahr. ; Mor-ulan, Tarn. ; Muhu-
puredi, Tel. ; Kceswatmca, Cingalese.
Coloration. Crown black, with a broad median buff or whitish
longitudinal band, and a whitish superciliary stripe on each side ;
a dark brown band on lores from bill to eye ; sides of head whitish,
streaked with brown ; chin white ; neck all round and upper breast
buff with dark brown streaks, broadest above; upper back and
scapulars velvety black, the broad rufous-buff edges of the scapulars
forming two longitudinal bands on each side; tertiaries irregularly
barred black and rufous buff; secondary-coverts dark brown with
whitish spots ; all primary-coverts, most of the larger secondary-
coverts, primaries, and secondaries blackish brown; all, except the
outer primaries, white-tipped ; secondaries mottled with white on
inner webs ; lower back black, with white fringes and bars to the
feathers; rump and upper tail-coverts rufous buff, broken up by
black bars and shaft-lines ; tail-feathers black, with near the ends
rufous cross-bands more or less mottled with black, tips buff;
lower breast and abdomen white, barred with browTn on the flanks ;
lower tail-coverts banded buff and blackish ; under wing-coverts
and axillaries white, more or less barred with brown, but never
evenly. The median secondary lower coverts are never barred, and
the white on the axillaries in Indian birds always exceeds the
brown in amount. It is probable, as Sharpe suggests, that the
amount of white on the axillnries increases with the age of the
bird, but certainly the dark bars are broader and more prevalent
in European than in Indian skins.
Bill rufous brown, paler at the base ; irides deep brown; legs
olive-green. Tail-feathers 14 or 16 in number.
Length 10*5: tail 2'25 ; wing 5 ; tarsus 1'25 ; bill from gape
2'6. Females average a little larger than males and have longer
bills (2-4 to 2-7 in males, 2'5 to 2-9 in females ). Average weight
of males 4'15 oz., of females 4-27.
Distribution. The Common Snipe breeds throughout the greater
part of Europe, Central and Northern Asia, but chiefly between
288 CHAK.YDIUIDJE.
latitudes 50° and 70° N., and passes the winter in Southern Europe,
N. Africa, and Southern Asia. Though found in winter in all
parts of India, Ceylon, and Burma, at times it is by no means evenly
distributed. It is the Snipe of the Upper Indo-Gaugetic Plain,
of Sind, the Punjab, Kajputana, Guzerat, the N.W. Provinces,
Oudh, and Northern Bengal, and it predominates in the Peninsula
north of the Godavari, and in some places farther south, at all
events from October till February, but it is rare in Southern
India and Ceylon, and to the eastward in Assam, Burma, &c.
Habits, fyc. The Common Snipe arrives in Northern India as a
rule in September or the beginning of October, and leaves in
March. A few stragglers may be met with before the end of
August and after the 1st of April, and in certain favourite localities
some birds may remain till May. There can be no doubt that a
few Snipe breed in Kashmir and perhaps in other parts of the
Himalayas, though it is extraordinary that no instances appear
to have been recorded, for it is asserted on apparently good
authority that birds of this species do occasionally breed in the
plains of India. In the 'Asian' for 1891 (Nov. 13th and 27th,
and Dec. l&th) Lieut. G. de H. Smith states that he found a nest
with three young in Gvvalior territory on Oct. 31st, whilst
Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker records the breeding of Snipe near Dumka,
Sonthal Pergunnahs, in July and August, and both Mr. Baker and
Mr. Hole state that Snipe (whether G. coelestis or G. stenura is not
mentioned) breed regularly in Cachar.
Snipe keep to marshy ground, and feed chiefly on worms, which
they obtain by thrusting their bills into soft mud and feeling for
their food with the sensitive dilated tip. They also eat larva? of
aquatic insects, small Crustacea, and mollusca. They move about a
good deal in the early morning and late evening, and are to some
extent nocturnal feeders, and they rest during the day amongst
grass and reeds, or sometimes amongst weeds, where these form a
thick floating mass, even on comparatively deep water, but Snipe
never actually sit in water ; as Eeid points out, they are careful to
keep their breasts dry. "When flushed they generally rise with
a peculiar sibilant cry, not badly represented by ' psip/ They
are gregarious, but, except when migrating, seldom fly in flocks.
Their flight is swift from the beginning, and very often eccentric at
first, though far less so in calm air under a hot sun than on a cold
day when a stiff breeze is blowing. As Snipe afford by far the
best bird-shooting to be had in India, much has been written on
their habits, and an excellent account is given by Hurne in the
' Game Birds/
In its breeding haunts, the Snipe makes whilst flying a peculiar
drumming or bleating sound, the cause of which is still somewhat
obscure, although Legge's explanation that it is due to the puffs of
air from the rapidly vibrating wing on the expanded tail-feathers
(Birds Ceyl. p. 1218) seems most probable. The sound is only pro-
duced whilst the bird is descending obliquely in the air. The nest is
a cup-shaped hollow in moss, turf, or rushes, sparingly lined with
grass ; in this four eggs are deposited, round at one end, conoidal
GA.LLINAGO. 289
at the other, dull graen to olive in colour, and double-spotted as
usual. The eggs are very large for the size of the bird, measuring
about 1-6 by M.
1485. Gallinago stenura. The Pintail Snipe.
Scolopax stenura, Kuhl, Bonap. Ann. Stor. Nat. Bologna, iv,
p. 335 (1830) ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 477.
Scolopax horsfieldii, J. E. Gray in Hardw. III. Ind. Zool. ii, pi. 54
(1833-34).
Gallinago horsfieldii, G. R. Gray, List Sp. B. Brit. Mas. pt. iii,
p. 110 (1844) ; Hume # Gates, S. F. iii, p. 182.
Gallinago stenura *, Gray, Gen. B. iii, p. 583 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 272 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 674 ; Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 392 ; Blanfurd,
J.A.S.B. xxxviii, pt. 2, p. 191 ; Godw. -Austen, J. A. S. B. xxxix,
pt. 2, p. 273; xlv, pt. 2, p. 84; Walden, Ibis, 1873, p. 318;
G. F. L. Marshall, S. l.i,y. 423; Cripps, ibid. p. 496 ; Hume,
S. F. ii, p. 294; Parker, ibid. p. 335; Le Messurier, S. F. iii,
p. 380 ; Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burnt, p. 156 ; Armstrong, S. F. iv,
p. 340 ; Butler, S. F. v, pp. 212, 232 ; Hume. ibid. pp. 214, 329;
Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 459 ; Hume 8f Bourd. S. F. vii, p. 39 ;
Davids. $• Wenden, ibid. p. 88; Ball, ibid. p. 228; Cripps, ibid.
p. 301 ; Hume, ibid. p. 483 ; id. Cat. no. 870 ; Bingham, S. F. viii,
p. 196 ; Scully, ibid. p. 354 ; Butler, ibid. p. 501 ; Leqge, Birds
Ceylon, p. 816; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 339, pi. ; Vidal,
S. F. ix, p. 83 ; Butler, ibid. p. 428 ; Reid, S. F. x, p, 68 ;
Rayment, ibid. p. 172 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 320 ; Davison, ibid.
p. 413; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 383; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 344;
Hume Sf Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 319; 8harpe> Yark. Miss., Aves,
p. 144 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 619.
This species is distinguished from the preceding (1) by having
normally 26 tail-feathers (10 soft broad feathers in the middle, and 8
narrow stiff feathers, shorter than the others, on each side) instead of
the 14 in G. codestis. (Occasionally there are, in G. stenura, according
to Hume and other good authorities, as many as 9 lateral feathers
on one side or on both, and on the other hand some of the feathers
are often wanting. These feathers as a rule can only be seen by
turning back the tail-coverts.) (2) By the wing-lining and axillaries
in G. stenura being regularly arid evenly barred throughout with
blackish-brown and white, the bars of the two colours about equally
broad : (3) by the bill in G. stenura being scarcely broader towards
the point and furnished with few pores ; that of G. coelestis being
considerably dilated and broader for the terminal inch and pitted
with numerous pores, which are best seen in the dried skin : (4)
by the outer web of the 1st primary being brown in G. stenura,
white or whitish in G. coelestis : (5) by G. coelestis having broad
white tips to the secondaries, whilst G. sttnura has narrow white
edges or none.
* Often printed sthenura,, which however is incorrect. As Oates has
shown, the name was originally printed stenura by Bonaparte. Hume, it is
true, in ' Game Birds,' p. 33'J note, writes under the belief that sthenura was
the original spelling, but he is mistaken. The .-pelling sthenura appears to have
originated in a misprint or mistake (Boie, Isis, 1833, p. 1077).
VOL. IV. U
290 CIIARADRIID^E.
As a rule the colour of G. stenura is slightly duller than that of
G. coelestis throughout the upper parts, and the two may often be
distinguished by this alone.
Length 10*5 ; tail 1*8 ; wing 2-25 ; tarsus 1/3 ; bill from gape
2-4 (males 2-12 to 2-5; females 2-38 to 2-62). The weight
according to Hume, from whom most of these details are taken,
averages 3*91 oz. in males, 4-2 in females.
Distribution. The Pintail Snipe breeds, so far as is known, in
Eastern Siberia as far west as the Teuesei Valley, and migrates
in summer to South-eastern Asia an 4 the Malay Archipelago. It is
very rare in the Punjab, Sind, and N.W. Provinces, Sajputana, and
Guzerat; but increases in number to the southward and eastward,
and is found throughout the Peninsula in winter, predominating
in Mysore and Southern India, whilst on the highlands of the
Deccan, in Bombay, and the Central Provinces, and even somewhat
farther south, the Common Snipe is more abundant. In Ceylon
the Pintail is very common, and whilst in Orissa and Bengal the
two species are on the whole equally distributed, everywhere
farther east, in Assam, Sylhet, Cachar, and throughout Burma,
G. stenura is the Snipe of the country, and only stragglers of
G. coelestis are found. As the Pintail arrives earlier in the year and
leaves later than the Faiitail, it is the more common species before
tiiG middle of October and after the end of February in some
places, for instance the neighbourhood of Calcutta, where the two
species are on the whole equally abundant.
Habits, $c. The habits of the Pintail Snipe are so similar to those
of the Fantail, that only a few differences need be noted. The
present species arrives in India fully a fortnight or three weeks
earlier and leaves later, but up to the present time no information
has been obtained of its breeding within our limits. Both species
are usually found in similar localities, but the Pintail feeds to a
much greater extent on grubs, caterpillars, insects, Crustacea, arid
mollusca, and much less on worms, its bill being far less sensitive
and consequently not so well adapted for searching for food in
mud. Doubtless because of the difference in foods, the present
species is much more frequently found in dry grass or stubble, or
low jungle, than its ally is. The cry is slightly different, but I have
never been able to clearly recognize the distinction; Hume says
the note of the Pintail is sharper and more screechy ; Legge that
it is less harsh. The flight of this Snipe is certainly heavier and
less swift.
1486. Gallinago solitaria. The Himalayan Solitary Snipe.
Galliuago solitaria, Hodgs. Gleaning* in Science, iii, p. 238 (1831) ;
Bhjtli, Cat. p. 272; Adams, P. Z.'S. 1859, p. 189; Jerdon, B, I.
iii, p. 673; Stdiczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 70; £eavan,
Ibis, 1868, p. 892 ; Hume $ Henders. Lah. to Yark. p. 286 ;
Hume, Cat. 110. 8b9 ; ScMlly, S. F. viii, p. 353 ; Hume Sf Marsh.
Game B. iii, p. 333, pi. ; Hume, S. F. ix, p. 283 ; JBiddulph,
Ibis, 1881, p. 95 ; Scully, ibid. p. 588; -Swinhoe, Ibis, 1882, p. 121 ;
GAELIN-AGX). 291
Marshall, -Ibis, 188J, p. 424 ; Hume, $. F. xi, p. 319; Sharpe, York.
Miss., Aces, p. 144 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 654.
Scolopax hyemalis, Eoersmann, Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou, 1845,
pt. i, p. 255, pi. vi.
Scolopax solitaria, Seebohm, Charadr. p. 475.
Coloration. The colours of the upper parts much broken up and
mixed, and with white not buff streaks ; crown black spotted with
rufous, median band narrow, white ; supercilia and sides of head
white, speckled with black ; loral band and cheek-band below the
eye mixed black and rufous ; back and scapulars black, spotted with
rufous, scapulars with white or whitish borders ; wing-coverts
much barred with rufous and tipped white ; primary-coverts,
larger secondary-coverts, primaries and secondaries dark brown,
with narrow white tips ; lower back with white bars, becoming
buff spots on the rump; upper tail-coverts nearly uniform olive-
brown with white tips ; median tail-feathers black, with a broad
rufous subtermhial band, then a black bar and whitish tip ; outer
tail-feathers black at the base, white towards the end, with
irregular dark cross-bars ; chin and throat white, often speckled
dusky ; breast brown, more or less speckled and spotted with
white ; abdomen generally white in the middle, barred dark brown
on the flanks, sometimes barred throughout ; under wing-coverts
and axillaries banded dark brown and white, the white bands
slightly the broader.
Bill plumbeous, black at tip, base of lower mandible yellowish
b'rO\vn ; irides dark brown ; feet dull olive or pale yellowish green,
soles yellowish (Scully).
The tail-feathers vary in number from 1 6 to 24, 8 broader in
the middle and normally 5 (but the number varies from 4 to 8)
narrower lateral rectrices on each side.
Length 12-25 ; tail 2'75 ; wing 6-5 ; tarsus 1*3 ; bill from gape
2-75. , :
Distribution. Throughout the Himalayas from Afghanistan to
Assam, also in JNorth-eastern and Eastern Central Asia as far as
Japan and Eastern Siberia. In the winter individuals have been
shot at Kelat in Baluchistan, at several places along the base of
the Himalayas, on the Garo and Khasi hills, and near Dibrugarh
in Assam, and one straggler was once obtained at Benares, but this
Snipe has not been seen farther south.
Habits, tyc. This large Solitary Snipe is a widely different bird,
both in structure and habits, from G. nemoricola ; it is found as
often in marshes in open country as; near forest. It is even met
with not infrequently in the treeless Upper Indus valley and Tibet.
It feeds chiefly on insects and grubs, and has very much the flight
and habits of G. stenurai. It is undoubtedly found in the Hima-
layas at from 9000 to 15,000 feet or higher in the breeding season,
but the nest and eggs have not been described.
u2
292 CHARA.DRIIDJE.
1487. Gallinago gallinula. The Jack Snipe.
Scolopax gallinula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 244 (1706) ; SeeloJim,
Charadr. p. 480.
Gallinago gallinula, Blyth, Cat. p. 272 : Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 67G ;
Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix. pt. 2, p. 273 ; Hume, 8. F. i,
p. 235 ; Adam, ibid. p. 395 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 15 ; Fail-bank, ibid.
p. 263 ; v, p. 410 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 459 ; Davids. $ Wend.
S. F. Tii, p. 88 ; Ball, ibid. p. 228 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 302 ; Hume,
ibid. p. 484 ; id. Cat. no. 872 ; Scully. S. F. viii, p. 356 ; Leyt/c,
Birds Ceyl. p. 828 ; Hume 6r Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 373, pi. ;
Vital, S. F. ix, p. 84 ; Butler, find. p. 428 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 69 ;
Eden, ibid. p. 165 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 320; Dainson, ibid. p. 414 ;
Taylor, ibid. p. 465; Oatcs, B. B. ii, p. 384 ; Barnes, Birds Jioni.
p. 346 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 321.
Limnocryptes gallinula, Kuup, Naturl. Syst. p. 118: St. John,
Ibis, 1889, p. 176; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 665.
Fig. 66.— Head of G. gallinula. \.
Coloration. Crown and nape black, with rufous specks, very
narrow on forehead between the broad buff superciliary stripes
which rnn from the bill to the nape; no median pale band on crown ;
sides of head whitish speckled ; a broad dark loral band from the bill
to the eye, and a distinct dark cheek-stripe from just behind the gape
to beneath the eye and ear-coverts ; hind neck and sides of neck
fulvous-brown, with fine black bars and traces of white fringes ;
back and scapulars black, glossed with metallic green and purple,
spotted with rufous ; outer webs of scapulars chiefly rich buff,
forming a broad band down each side of the back ; outer webs of
tertiaries rufous and black, with buff outer edges ; lesser and
median wing-coverts black with buff edges ; larger secondary-
coverts and primary-coverts, primaries and secondaries brownish
black, tips of the coverts and secondaries white ; rump black, with
purple and green gloss; upper tail coverts and tail-feathers dark
brown with butt borders ; chin whitish ; fore neck and upper
breast brown mixed with white and with dark streaks ; lower
breast and abdomen white ; under tail-coverts white, with brownish
shaft-stripes.
Bill blackish brown at tip, darkish brown on nostrils and along
commissure, the rest paler ; irides deep brown ; legs pale greenish
(Hume). Tail of 12 soft, pointed feathers.
Length 8-5 ; tail 2 ; wing 4-25 ; tarsus -95 ; bill from gape
I'd.
Distribution. This bird breeds in the North of Europe and Asia,
ROSTRATULA. 293
chiefly north of the Arctic circle, and passes the winter in the
southern countries of Europe and Asia and in N. Africa. It
occurs throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma at that season, but is
rare in the two latter, and most common in .Northern India.
Habits, fyc. The Jack Snipe generally arrives in India in Sep-
tember and leaves in April. It is found in similar haunts to those
of other Snipes, but generally in thicker cover, amongst thick
grass or weeds or rushes, in damp rather than wet places ; it lies
very close and rises silently with a peculiar fluttering flight, and it
never flies far. As a rule it is a solitary bird and has an especial
predilection for particular spots. Its food resembles that of other
Snipes, and it is, according to many good authorities, the most
delicately flavoured in a particularly delicious genus. Of course it
never breeds in India : its eggs are remarkable for their large size ;
the four eggs that it usually lays are said to weigh more than an
ounce and a half, whilst the bird itself weighs but two.
Genus ROSTRATULA, Vieill., 1816.
Bill slender and long, but shorter than in Gallinago generally;
the tip slightly swollen and bent downward, not pitted; both
mandibles grooved at the side ; nostrils basal. Legs of moderate
length ; toes long, tibia naked for a considerable distance. Wings
ample, rather short and broad, first and second quills subequal and
longest. Tail of 14 feathers. Sexes different in plumage.
A non-migratory genus of weak flight, with the sexes differing
in plumage when adult. Three species are known, one peculiar to
Australia, a second found in South America, whilst the third
inhabits India and Africa.
1488. Rostratula capensis. The Painted Snipe.
Scolopax capensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 246 (1766).
Kail us benghalensis, Linn. t. c. p. 263 (1766).
Kostratula capensis, Vieill. Noui\ Lict. d'Hist. Nat. vii, p. 1 (1817) ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 683.
Ehynchaea capensis, Cttv. Reyne An. i. p. 488 (1817) ; Walden,
Tr. Z. S. ix, p. 235 ; Wood- M ason, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 74o ; Wardl
Rams. Ibis, 1880, p. 71 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 800; Hume #
p. 322 ; Seebohm, Ckaradr. p. 456 ; Oates in Hume's N. Sf E> 2nd ed.
iii, p. 3.50.
pt. 2, p. 21 ; Butler, S. F. vii, p. 187 ; Ball fy Hume, ibid. p. 228 ;
Cripps, ibid. p. 302 : Hume, ibid. p. 484 ; id. Cat. no. 873 ; Doig, S. F.
viii, p. 371 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 84 ; Bingham, ibid. p. 197 ; David-
son, ibid. p. 236; Davison, &. F x p. 414; Barnes Birds Bom.
294
p. 347; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. i; p. 59 ; vi, p. 130, fig. 873
Ohari, Nepal. ; Kone, Konchatta, Kol. (Singlibhoom) ; Tihud, Patt-
laiva, Mahr. (Ratnagiri) ; Mail ulan, Tam. ; Baggarji, Berig. ; Itfiju-
kfeswatuwa, Cing.
Fig. 67.— Head of E. capensls, $ . \ .
Coloration. Male. Crown blackish olivaceous, with a broad
median buff band, narrow ring round the eye and a short stripe
running back from it also buff: lores brown, sides of head white
with brown streaks ; hind neck ashy brown, more or less tinged
with olive and indistinctly barred with blackish ; mantle similar
but more olive, with rather distant narrow white bars and broad
patches of dark green fringing them ; outer borders of scapulars
buff, forming a band down each side of the back ; on the tertiaries
and wing-coverts broad buff black-edged bands come in and pass
externally into spots ; quills bluish grey, with fine wavy black lines
and with oval buff spots on the outer webs, which are black
towards the base ; rump, upper tail -coverts, and tail-feathers
bluish grey with black bars ; some buff spots on the coverts and
tail ; chin whitish ; sides of neck, fore neck and upper breast
brown, streaked with white on the neck, and ending posteriorly in
a blackish gorget ; lower breast and abdomen, flanks and lower
tail-coverts white, a white band passing up on each shoulder
behind the gorget to join the buff scapular baud ; sides of breast
behind the white band olive-brown and black.
In the adult female the lores and cheeks are rufous, passing, on
the throat, into dull chestnut that extends around the neck and is
bounded posteriorly by the broad blackish pec.toral gorget ; mantle
grey washed with olive, with narrow blackish bars, but without
any buff or white bars or spots (buff spots on the quills, as in
males) ; a tuft of pure white lanceolate feathers beneath the
scapulars : otherwise the plumage resembles that of the male.
Young of both sexes resemble adult males. It is supposed by
some observers that the female after breeding resumes the male
plumage, but this has never been clearly ascertained.
Bill and legs olive-brown ; irides olive-brown (Oates). The
trachea is convoluted in the female only (see Wood-Mason, I. c.),
but much less so than in the Australian species R. australis.
BO8TRATULA.. 295
Length of males 10 ; tail 1-6 ; wing 5 ; tarsus 1-75 ; bill at front
1*75. Females are larger : wing about 5*4, bill nearly 2.
Distribution. Throughout the greater part of Africa, Madagascar,
and Southern Asia. This bird is common in the Nile valley in
Egvpt, and has been reported from Asia Minor, but has not been
observed in Arabia, Persia, or Baluchistan. It is, however, said by
Hutton to occur at Kandahar, and it was obtained by Captain
Cook in the Kuram valley, and by Stoliczka on the Wular Lake,
Kashmir. As a rule it seldom occurs in the Himalayas, but is
found all over India, Ceylon, and Burma, and, though it is rare in
Tenasserim and the Malay Peninsula, it ranges east to Sumatra,
Java, Borneo and the Philippines, the southern and eastern parts
of China, and Southern Japan.
Habits, fyc. The Painted Snipe is resident, though it moves
about the country as its haunts dry or are inundated, and iri some
parts of India it is only found in the monsoon. It keeps to moist,
not flooded, ground and thick rushes or grass, often mixed with
bushes. It has much the skulking running habits and somewhat
the flight of Kails, and is usually difficult to flush. It swims well.
The female has a guttural croaking note, that of the male is
shriller, the difference being due to the construction of the trachea.
Painted Snipes feed mainly on insect grubs and mollusca, but also
eat grain, seeds of grass, &c. They afford no sport in shooting
and are very inferior eating, coarse and muddy in taste. They
breed probably twice in the year or even oftener, and nests have
been found at all seasons. The nest is the usual hollow, often
with a pad of grass or rushes, and the eggs are four in number,
yellowish stone-colour as a rule, with very large irregular blackish-
brown blotches, and measure about 1-39 bv 1.
Fig. 68. — Khynchops ulbicollis.
Order XVIII.
It is now generally recognized that the Gulls and Terns with
their allies, constituting the Order Gavice, are nearly related to
the Limicoke. The resemblance between the two groups is shown
in almost every detail of their anatomy, and it is even a question
whether they should not, as has been proposed by some writers, be
united into one order. Some, points of similarity are well known ;
for instance, the fact that the eggs of Gulls and Terns so closely
resemble those of Plovers that a not inconsiderable proportion of
the eggs sold in Europe as " Plovers' eggs " have been laid by Terns.
Even as regards the webbed feet, to which the Gavim owe their
inclusion in the Cm ierian Rotator es, it may be observed that some
Liuiicoline types, like the Avocet, have webs developed between
the toes to very nearly the same extent as Hydroclielidon amongst
the Terns.
297
In the present order the bill is generally of moderate length, the
feet webbed, the hind toe small (occasionally wanting), raised above
the plane of the anterior toes and riot united with them by web.
The wings are long, and there are 11 primaries, but the terminal
one is very short and inconspicuous ; fifth secondary wanting.
Tail-feathers 12. Oil-gland tufted. Spinal feather-tract well
defined on the neck by lateral bare tracts, and forked on the upper
back ; th? dorsal apterium well developed. An aftershaft present.
The skull is schizognathous and schizorhinal ; vomer well
developed ; no basipterygoid processes ; nostrils pervious. Cervical
vertebrae 15. Furcula U-shaped. Two carotids ; caeca present,
but small and functionless in Gulls. The ambiens is found
in all except Rhynchops • the f em oro- caudal, semitendinosus, and
accessory semitendinosus are always present; the accessory
femoro-caudal is present in Sterna and Ithynchojps, wanting in
Larus and Stercorarim.
Eggs double-spotted. Nest none or a scantv structure of grass.
The young are covered with down when hatched, and able to run,
but they are fed by the parents for some days.
Scarcely any two writers agree as to the classification of the
members composing the present order. Apart from the question
as to whether the Auks and their allies (Alcidcp} should be placed
here or should form a separate group, a question that does not
affect the present work, for no species of the Auk family is Indian,
it is doubtful whether the Skimmers (llhynchopt) and the Skuas
(Stercprarius) should be regarded as subfamilies of Laridce or
distinct families, and the separation of the Terns as a subfamily
from the Gulls has more weight of authority than evidence of
structural distinction in its favour*.
The two families of Gaviae are thus distinguished : —
Bill without a cere ; claws moderately curved, not
sharp ; caeca rudimentary Laridae, p. 297.
Bill with a cere ; claws strong, much curved and [p. 328.
sharp ; cseca long Stercorariidae,
Family LARID.E.
No cere to the bill. Caeca smail and functionless. Sternum
with two notches on each side of the posterior margin.
* In adopting the arrangement of Mr. Howard Saunders, whose valuable
work of many years on this order has recently been crowned by his British
Museum Catalogue, I accept his decision without feeling quite satisfied that a
different classification may not ultimately have to be adopted, as indeed he
himself suggests. There is much to be said in favour of making the Skuas a
subfamily of Laridce, uniting Larince and Sternince ae a single subfamily, and
raising the Skimmers to the rank of a separate family, Rhynchopidce ; or else, as
recently proposed by Mr. Beddard (P. Z. S. 1896, p. 303), classing all four
groups, Gulls, Terns, Skimmers and Skuas, as subfamilies of Laridce.
298 LA.RID.E.
The Laridce may be divided into three subfamilies, thus dis-
tinguished : —
a. The upper mandible longer than the
lower LarincE, p. 293.
b. The mandibles of equal length Sternince, p. 306.
c. Bill excessively compressed, the lower
mandible much longer than the
upper Khynckopinat, p. 327.
Subfamily TARING.
Bill stout, compressed, of moderate length, the upper mandible
the longer, much curved at the end and usually bent down over
the tip of the lower, angle of the lower mandible prominent and
near the end of the bill ; nostrils oblong, some distance from the
base of the mandible. Tarsus of moderate length, scutulated in
front; feet large, toes fully webbed, hind toe small and in one
genus (not Indian) wanting. Wings long, exceeding the tail.
The Gulls are sea-birds as a rule, though many of them are
found about rivers and marshes, and even inland far from water.
They are active and noisy, of powerful flight, and many of them
are migratory, only two of the species that visit the Indian coasts
having been found breeding there. They feed but little on living
fish, chiefly on dead fish, Crustacea, and garbage of all kinds floating
or on the shore ; and inland they eat insects, worms, eggs, weakly
or young birds. They habitually rest on the water of sea, lake, or
river, though they may often be seen sitting on land, and they
walk and swim well.
There is but a single Indian genus.
Genus LARUS, Linn., 1766.
Characters of the subfamily. Tail of moderate length, square
at the end. Wing long, 1st primary longest.
This genus is cosmopolitan or nearly so, but a majority of the
44 species (several of which are geographical races or subspecies)
enumerated in Mr. Howard Saunders's British Museum Catalogue
inhabit the temperate regions of the Northern or Southern Hemi-
sphere. Seven species have been recorded on Indian coasts and
rivers, but whilst all of these occur to the westward in Sind, only four
have been observed in the Bay of Bengal and but two in Ceylon.
Key to the Species.
a. A black or dark brown head in summer, traces
of which usually remain in winter.
a'. Mantle pale grey in adults.
a" Size large ; wing- 19 L. ichthyaetus, p. 29.).
b". Size moderate.
a3. Wing 11-75 ; first quill white in adults,
with black edges and tip L. ridibundus, p. '300.
LARUS. 299
P. Wing 13; first quill in adults black, [p. 301,
with a white subtermiual band .... L. brunneicephalus,
b'. Mantle dark brown at all ages L. hemprichii, p. 302.
b. No black or brown head ; mantle grey.
c'. Wing 12 ; bill and legs red " L. nelastes, p. 303.
d'. Wing 18 ; bill yellow in adults, legs
yellowish.
c'\ Mantle dark slaty grey L. affinis, p. 304.
d". Mantle light bluish grey L. cachinnans, p. 305.
This key applies to adults, young birds are difficult to diagnose
except by dimensions.
1489. Lams ichthyaetus. The Great Blade -headed Gull.
Larus ichthyaetus, Pall. Rsis. Russ. Reichs, ii, p. 713 (1773) ; Blyth,
Cat. p. 288 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 276 ; Le Messurier, 8. F. iii,
p. 382 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 233 ; Hume, ibid. p. 497 ; id. Cat. no. 979 ;
Leqge, Birds Cei/l. p. 1046 ; Tidal, S. F. ix, p. 94: Butler, Hid.
p. 489 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1882, p. 289 ; Reid, 8. F. x, p. 453 ; Gates,
B. B. ii, p. 414; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 424; Hume, S. F. xi,
p. 348 ; Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 176.
Kroikocephalus ichthyaetus, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 831.
Larus innominatus, Hume, S. F. viii, p. 394 (1879) ; Gates, B. B. ii,
p. 416.
Coloration. In summer the \vhole head and upper neck are
black except two small patches of white feathers on the eyelids,
one above, one below; neck all round, lower parts, tail, and tail-
coverts white; mantle (back, rump, scapulars, tertiaries, and wing-
coverts) pale grey with a slaty tinge ; first five primaries and
their coverts white ; outer web of 1st primary except near the end
and a patch of varying extent on the inner web black, and a broad
black subterminal bar of varying form on the next 4 or 5 quills ; the
remaining primaries grey on the inner web, the grey extending on
the secondaries to both webs, only a border of white remaining.
In winter the head is white, more or Jess mixed arid streaked
with brownish black. The black hood is assumed about February .
Young birds are brown above, the feathers with pale edges ;
head mostly white ; lower parts white, spotted and mottled with
pale brown on the sides of the neck and upper breast; quills
dark brown, the secondaries edged white; upper tail-coverts and
basal two-thirds of tail white, terminal third of tail blackish brown,
tipped white. There is a gradual change to grey in the mantle,
and the amount of black on the earlier primaries decreases with
age.
Bill wax-yellow, with a transverse subterminal black band, gape
and tip dull crimson; bill in young birds dark brown; irides deep
brown ; legs arid feet dull Indian yellow (Anderson).
Length 26; tail 7'5 : wing 19; tarsus 3; bill from gape 3
to 3-8.
Distribution. This large Gull breeds in Central Asia from the
Caspian Sea to Eastern Turkestan, and migrates in winter to
Southern Asia and North-eastern Africa. It has not been obtained
300
farther east than Burma, and in Tenasserim has only been observed
at Amhersfc, but it is not rare in Northern India and in Pegu in
well-watered tracts, and it is occasionally found, though it is by no
means common, throughout the Peninsula and in Ceylon. A
remarkably small female (wing 16-5) from Gopalpur near Ganjam,
with much black on the primaries, was separated by Hume as
L. innominatus, but is not regarded as distinct by Saunders, nor
does the difference appear to me to be of specific importance.
Habits, $*c. The Great Black-headed Gull is found inland
about large rivers and large pieces of water, as well as on the
coast. It is a bird of graceful and powerful flight.
1490. Larus ridibundus. The Laughing Gall.
Larus ridibundus, Linn. St/st. Nat. i, p. 225 (1766) ; Blyth, Cat.
p. 94 ; Butler, ibid. p. 439 ; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 594; Oates, B. B.
ii, p. 418; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 425; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 349;
St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 180; Sharpe, Yark. Miss., Aves, p. 134;
Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 207.
Xeraa ridibunda, Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 832 ; Hume fy Henders. Lah. to
Yark. p. 301.
Coloration. In summer the whole head and upper neck are deep
brown, varying from sepia to chocolate-brown; neck all round,
lower parts, rump, and tail white ; mantle pearl-grey ; the first
live primaries and their coverts white except that the tip, greater
part of outer web and inner border of the 1st primary are black ;
the 2nd is similar except that there is less black on the outer
border ; the 3rd has the tip, broad inner border, and a fringe
running some distance up the outer border black ; the black at the
end increases on the 4th and 5th quills, but grey begins to replace
the white; in the inner primaries the black disappears and the
feathers become grey ; the secondaries are pale grey like the mantle.
In winter the head is white, generally slightly mixed with
brown on the nape, and with brown patches in front of each eye
and behind the ear-coverts. The brown hood is assumed about
February.
Young birds are at first brown above, but soon become white on
the head and grey on the mantle, some of the wing-coverts and
the tertiaries remaining brown longest ; the end of the tail is
black, the black bar diminishing on the outer rectrices ; the
primaries have the borders and the ends black and a white band
running down the middle.
Bill and legs deep red, irides dark brown (Jerdon) ; edge of
orbit deep carmine (Dresser). In young birds the bill is dull
yellow, legs and feet dull reddish yellow.
Length 16; tail 4'75; wing 12; tarsus T75 ; bill from
gape 1'8.
Distribution. This Gull breeds in temperate Europe and Asia
LARUS. 301
and passes the winter in Africa and Southern Asia, ranging to the
Philippines. It is common at that season in Kashmir and
Northern India and is found on the west coast as far south as
Travancore, but to the eastward it has only been observed about
the head of the Bay of Bengal. Godwin-Austen obtained it in
Assam, and Hume in Manipur, but it does not appear to have
been observed in Burma.
Habits, fyc. The Laughing Gull in India is found alike on the
sea-coast and about large rivers, marshes, and the larger tanks. It
breeds inland, but has not been recorded as nesting within our
area. Dr. Leith Adams, it is true (P. Z. S. 1858, p. 509), states
that- it breeds on the fresh and salt-water lakes of Laclak, but he
omits all reference to the species in his subsequent account
(P. Z. S. 1859) of the birds of that area.
1491. Larus bnmneicephalus. The Brown-headed Gull.
Larus brunnicephalus*, Jerdon, Madr. Jour. L. S. xii, p. 25 (1840);
Blyth, Cat. p. 289; Layard, A. M. N. H. (2) xiv, p. 270; Leith
Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 509; 1859, p. 190; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B.
xli, pt. 2, p. 256 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 278 ,-- Adam, ibid. p. 402 ;
Gates, S. F. iii, p. 347; Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 350; Hume,
ibid. pp. 413, 456, 459 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 31 ; v. p. 235 ; Hume
8f Dav. S. F. vi, p. 491 ; Hume, S. F. vii. p. 98 ; Oripps, ibid. p. 313 ;
• Hume, Cat. no. 980 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1049 ; Vidal, S. F. ix,
p. 94: Butler, ibid. p. 439 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 86; Gates, B. B. ii,
p. 417; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 425; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 349;
Gates in Hume's N.fy E. 2nd. ed. iii, p. 293; Sharpe, Yark. Miss.,
Aves, p. 134; Sounders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 215.
Xema brunm'cephala, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 832; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B.
xxxix, pt. 2, p. 275 ; Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 420 ; Hume $ Hendars.
Lah. to Yark. p. 300, pi. xxxii; WardL Ramsay, Ibis, 1877,
p. 472.
Dhomra, H. (Reid], probably a name used for all Gulls.
Coloration. Very like that of L. ridibundus, both in summer and
winter ; but the present species is larger, the brown of the head is
paler in front and becomes darker where it meets the white of the
neck, and the first five primaries are differently marked, all being
white at the base with long black ends which rapidly dimmish in
length from the 1st ; the first two have a large rounded white spot
near the end, and occasionally there is a much smaller white spot
on the 3rd.
Young birds differ from young L. ridibundus in having the
greater part of the primaries uniform brownish black, white
commencing to appear beyond the coverts on the 4th and increasing
on the inner primaries, which have white tips ; there is also a
more distinct white tip beyond the black band on the tail.
Bill, inside of mouth, edges of eyelids, and legs deep red ; irides
* The name brumriceps, proposed by Cabanis (J. f. O. 1853, p. 105), is
preferable, but has not been adopted by ornithologists.
302 LAHID.E.
white, often yellow or brownish in adults : in the young the iris is
brown, bill yellowish orange, dusky at the tip, legs and feet
orange, the web duller.
Length about 17 ; tail 5'25 ; wing 13'5 ; tarsus 2 ; bill from
gape 2-4.
Distribution. In winter this Gull is found commonly about the
coasts of India, Ceylon, and Burma, also on the larger rivers and
large marshes, tanks, &c. Though common in Assam, Mauipur,
and Burma, it has not been met with farther east ; and it has not
been often recorded west of Sind, though Barnes found it plenti-
fully at Aden. It breeds in Central Asia.
Fig. 69. — Head of L. brunndcephalus in breeding-plumage, f .
Habits, $c. Like other Gulls this species occurs more or less
gregariously, and may be seen resting on the water, or ilying about
and feeding on fish or offal. It has been observed breeding by
Dr. Leith Adams about lakes in Ladak, and Dr. Henderson found
it abundant in the breeding-season (July) on a stream running
into the Paugong Lake at 15,000 feet, but the nest and eggs have
not been described.
Larus minutus is said by Irby (Ibis, 1861, p. 246) to have been
once shot by him in January 1859 near Jehaugerabad, Oudh, but
as neither Jerdon nor Hume has admitted the bird as Indian, the
latter suspecting some mistake*, and as no other instance of this
Gull's occurrence in India is known, I do not enumerate it amongst
Indian species. It is one of the Gulls with head black in summer
and white in winter, and if found it may be recognized by its small
size (wing 8*75 only) and by all the quills in adults being grey
\i ith white tips.
1492. Larus hemprichi. The Scoty Gull.
Adelarus hemprichii, Bruch, Jour. f. Orn. 1853, p. 106.
Larus hemprichii, Hume, 8. F. i, pp. 45, 279; iv, p. 414; Blanf.
Eastern Persia, ii, p. 292 ; Butler 8f Hume, S. F. v, p. 296 ; Hume,
Cat. no. 981 ter ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 4£6 ; Gates in Hume's
N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 293 j Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 221.
Coloration. In the breeding-season the head all round is dark
* I am assured by Col. Irby that he knew the species well and identified
it without doubt.
LA BUS. 303
brown, darker behind and blackish at the nape, where the hood
terminates abruptly against a narrow white collar running round
the back and sides of the neck, but the blackish-brown area is
carried far down the fore neck till it meets the paler greyish-brown
of the lower neck, upper breast, and sides of breast, the white
collar also fading into the same; mantle, including rump, dark
brown ; quills blackish, all except the first 3 or 4 primaries white-
tipped; some white on the edge of the wing, but wing-lining brown
like the mantle ; middle of breast, abdomen, tail-coverts above and
below, and tail white.
In winter the white collar is wanting, the head paler and
mottled whitish, chin white, throat and fore neck mottled white
and brown. Generally some traces of a dark subterminal bar are
seen on the tail.
Young birds have the upper plumage lighter brown, with broad
\vhity-bro\vn fringes to the scapulars, tertiaries, and wing-coverts,
and the tail is dark brown. The brown on the tail diminishes
gradually and becomes a subterminal band in birds with adult
plumage otherwise.
Bill pale greenish drab, the tip red, divided from the green by a
black bar ; irides brown ; legs and feet pale yellowish drab (Butler).
In younger birds the bill is dusky, tipped with orange, and the legs
brownish plumbeous.
Length of males 19 ; tail 5 ; wing 14 ; tarsus 2 ; bill from gape
2-6. Females are rather smaller.
Distribution. Common on the coasts of the Lower Red Sea, of
East Africa as far south as Zanzibar, and of Southern Arabia,
Baluchistan, and Sind. A single individual was seen by Hume at
Bombay, but this Gull, though very abundant on the Makran coast,
becomes scarce east of the mouths of the Indus.
Habits, #c. This is a marine species and has not been noticed
inland. It is in many places very tame and collects around fishing-
boats to feed on fish offal, even coming when the fishermen call
and make a sign of throwing something out. Large flocks are
often seen resting on the sea. It breeds on small rocky islands,
and Butler obtained many eggs in August from Astola near Pasni,
Makrau. The eggs are whitish stone to brownish buff in colour,
freely but not very thickly spotted with dark brown and pale lilac,
and measure about 2-27 by 1*58.
1493. Lams gelastes. The Slender-billed Gull.
Larus gelastes, Licht., Thienem. Fortpjlanz. Vog. Eur. pt. v, p. 22
(1838) ; Blanf. Eastern Persia, ii, p. 291 ; Hume, Cat. no. 981
quat. ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 426 ; Gates in Hume's N. fy E.
2nd ed. iii, p. 294 ; Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 230.
Xema lambruschini, Bonap. Icon. Faun. Ital., Ucc. pp. 135, 136 *,
pi. 45 (1840).
Larus lambruschini, Hume, 8. F. i, p. 274 ; Butler, S. F. v, p. 286.
Coloration. Head, neck, under surface, upper tail-coverts, and
tail white; all, .except the head, suffused with a roseate tinge that
304
disappears generally in dried skins ; mantle pearl-grey, coverts
and quills a little darker; outer primary -co verts and greater part
of first four primaries white ; on 1st primary the outer web, tip and
edge of inner web, on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th the tip, a broad inner
border and a small portion, varying in amount, of the outer border
are black ; the 4th is grey on the inner web near the shaft, the
5th and 6th on both webs, they also having black ends ; 7th and
later primaries grey like secondaries.
There is apparently no change in winter. Young birds have
some brown on the mantle, retained longest on the wing-coverts
and tertiaries ; the black portions of the primaries occupy more of
the feathers than in adults, and there is a dark brown terminal
band to the tail.
Bill deep red ; eyelids bright red, irides pale yellow ; lesjs and
feet deep red (Hume). Immature birds have bill, legs, and feet
pale orange.
Length of males 18; tail 4-6; wing 12 ; tarsus 2 ; bill from
gape 2-5. Females are rather smaller, wing 11.
Distribution. Mediterranean, Black Sea, Caspian, Red Sea, and
Persian Gulf; west coast of Africa as far south as Senegambia,
and in winter the coasts of Baluchistan and Sind, where this Gull
is very common at that season.
Habits, <Sfc. A sea-bird, not usually found on fresh waters. At
Karachi and along the Makran coast, in winter, it occurs in vast
flocks, that generally rest on shore in the middle of the day, but
Butler found that it had almost disappeared in May. He, how-
ever, found this species breeding in a salt swamp nearHormara, on
the Makran coast, and he obtained eggs at the end of July. They
were laid, usually three in each nest, on pads of seaweed, were as a
rule dull whitish, with numerous spots and blotches of dark brown
and greyish lilac, and measured about 2-18 by 1'52..
1494. Lams affinis. The Dark-backed Herring-Gull.
Lams fuscus. apud Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi, p. 792 ; id. Cat., p. 288,
pt. ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 830 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, pp. 176, 314 ;
Blanf. Eastern Persia, ii, p. 290 ; nee Linn, (cotif. Hume, S. F. iv,
p. 603).
Larus affinis, Reinhardt, Vidensk. Meddel. 1853, p. 78 ; Saundera,
P.Z.S. 1878, p. 171 : Hume, S. F. vii, p. 403; id. Cat. no. 978
ter ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 94 ; Butler, ibid. p. 439 ; Barnes, Birds
Bom. p. 424 ; Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 254.
Larus fuscescens, Hayes Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 420.
Larus occidentalis, apud Hume, 8. F. i, p. 273 ; ii, p. 50 ; iv; pp. 414,
418.
Coloration. Head and neck all round, rump, tail, and whole
under surface, with wing-lining, white; mantle slate-grey; all
quills and longer scapulars with wrhite tips, and the first 6 to 8
primaries partly black ; on the first primary the black extends
from the coverts, with the exception of a grey wedge on the inner
\veb, to within about 2-5 in. of the tip, then comes a broad white
LARtJS. 305
band, and then a subterminal black bar and white tip ; on the
second the grey wedge comes farther down the inner web, the rest
is black, except the white tip about half an inch long, and in some
birds a white spot near the tip ; in the third and subsequent
primaries the grey base comes farther and farther down both webs,
the black is reduced to a subterminal band and finally disappears.
The only difference in winter is that there are almost always a
few brown spots on the crown and hind neck.
Young birds are brown above with broad whitish edges to the
feathers ; quills blackish brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts
white, with large brown spots : rectriees dark brown, mottled with
white towards the base and tipped white ; lower surface brownish
at first, then white, blotched with brown at the sides. In the
next phase the back-feathers and scapulars are irregularly banded
with light brown, which afterwards becomes grey, and there is a
gradual passage to the adult- plumage, which is said only to be
attained after the fourth autumnal moult.
Bill in adults yellow, with a bright red patch on lower mandible
near the tip ; gape and eyelids orange-red ; irides pale yellow to
white ; legs and feet pale yellow : young birds have the bill black
at the end, fleshy white at the base ; irides brown ; legs greyish
fleshy (Hume).
Length of males 24 ; tail 7 ; wing 17 ; tarsus 2'75 ; middle toe
and claw 2-4 ; bill from gape 3. Females are slightly smaller.
Distribution. This Gull breeds in N.E. Europe and Siberia, and
visits the coast of Somaliland, Southern Arabia, Baluchistan, and
Western India in winter, extending south on the Malabar coast as
far as Ratnagiri or farther, but not occurring, so far as is known,
on the east coast of the Peninsula. It is particularly abundant at
Karachi.
Habits, fyc. A comparatively familiar bird, often haunting towns
and villages near the sea-shore. Hume found it abundant about
the fishermen's houses at Karachi. The mantle does not appear
to become darker in the breeding-season as that of L. fuscus
does.
1495. Larus cachinnans. The Yellow-legged Herring-Gull.
Lama cachinnans, Pallas, Zooqr. Rosso-Asiat. ii, p. 318 (1811) ;
Sounders, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 169 ; Hume, Cat. no. 978 bis ; Sanies,
Birds Bom. p. 423 : Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 206.
Larus argentatus, apnd Hume 8f Hcnders. Lah. to Yark. p. 299 ;
Hume, S. F. i, p. 270 ; ii, p. 50 ; vii, p. 463 j Blanf. Eastern
Persia, p. 290.
This species only differs from L. ciffmis in having the mantle in
adults much paler, light bluish grey instead of slate-grey. Young
birds are absolutely undistinguishable. The soft parts and the
dimensions are similar. The present species is merely a climatic
or geographical race of the Common Herring-Gull, L. argentatus^
distinguished by slight differences in the colours of the i'eet and
VOL. IV. X
806 LABILE.
bill, and, it is said, by the mantle being a shade darker. The
eastern Asiatic bird L. vegce is another closely allied race.
Distribution. L. cachinnans inhabits Southern Europe, Northern
Africa, and South-western Asia, ranging in winter as far east as
the head of the Bay of Bengal. It is common at that season
about some of the large jheels of Northern India, and is found in
Kashmir, whilst it abounds on the coast of Baluchistan and Sind.
The habits are precisely the same as those of L. affinis, except that
the present species occurs inland in winter.
Subfamily STERNIN.E.
The Terns, which constitute this subfamily, are more lightly
built birds than the Gulls and have a different flight ; moreover
they are to a far less degree swimming birds, for they rarely
settle on the water; when they alight, it is generally on land
(Anous is an exception). They subsist chiefly on living prey,
especially fishes, which they capture by darting upon them ; many
Terns also feed on Crustacea or various floating animals that
they scoop up from the sea, and others live to a great extent on
insects.
The bill is straight, generally slender, the mandibles of about
equal length, with acute tips ; nostrils linear ; tail as a rule distinctly
forked, often exceeding the closed wings, which are long ; legs and
feet, with but few exceptions, small.
Key to the Genera.
a. Outermost tail-feathers longest.
a'. Tail scarcely forked, short, less than
half as long as wing ; webs between
toes deeply emarginate HYDRO CHE LID ON, p. 307.
b'. Tail distinctly forked but short, scarcely
more than ^ wing ; bill and legs stout
and strong ; bill half as long as tail or
more; webs between toes fully de-
veloped " HYDROPROGNE, p. 309.
c. Tail distinctly forked, with the outer
rectrices more or less prolonged, and
generally more than half as long as
wing ; bill moderate ; webs well de-
veloped STERNA, p. 310.
b. Outer tail-feathers short, 3rd or 4th from
outside longest ; plumage dark ANGUS, p. 325.
Terns are known as Tthari, Ganga-cldl, and Mach-loulca in
Hindi ; liamadasu and Samdrapukaha in Telugu ; Kivi by the
Gonds; Liniya and MutJieru Kerella by the Cingalese; Kadal
Kuruvi by Ceylon Tauiuls ; and as Zin-yan and Myit-htway in
Burmese.
HTDROCHELIDOtf. 307
Genus HYDRQCHELIDON, Bole, 1822.
Bill short and slight, moderately compressed ; legs and feet
small ; webs between the tor s deeply emarginate, so that the feet
appear only half-webbed ; claws long and curved. Wings long,
exceeding the tail when closed ; tail short, scarcely forked. All
are black or dark grey below in breeding-plumage.
This genus is widely distributed and comprises four species, of
which two are Indian.
Key to the Species.
a. Bill from gape about 1 '6 ; only crown and nape
are black in summer H. hybrida, p. 807.
b. Bill from pape 1'3 ; head, neck, and lower
parts black in summer H. leucoptera, p. 308.
1496. Hydrochelidon hybrida. The Whiskered Tern.
Sterna hybrida, Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso- Asiat. ii, p. 338 (1811); Hu me
S. F. i, p. 281 ; Adam, ibid. p. 403 ; Oates, S. F. iii, p. 348 ; id
in Hum's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 305.
Sterna leucopareia, Natt. in Temm. Man. d'Orn. ed. 2e, ii, p. 746
(1820) ; A. Anderson, Ibis, J872, p. 81.
Viral va indica, Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii, pt. 1, p. 169 (1825).
Hydrochelidon indica, Blyth, Cat. p. 290 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 837 ;
King, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 218 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B.
xxxix, pt. 2, p. 275 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 256 ; Hume
$ Senders. Lah. to Yark. p. 301 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 648 ; Butler,
S. F. iv, p. 32 ; v, p. 235 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 233.
Hydrochelidon hybrida, Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 491 ; Davids, fy
Wend. S. F. vii, p. 93 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 313 ; Hume, Cat. no. 984 ;
Lefff/e, Birds Ceyl. p. 996 ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 440 ; Biddulph,
Ibis, 1881, p. 102 ; Scully, ibid. p. 594 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 86 ; Oates,
B. B. ii, p. 419 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 427 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 350 ;
Sharpe, Yark. Miss., Aves, p. 135 ; Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 10.
Sterna innotata, Beacon, Ibis, 1868, p. 404 ; Hume, S. F. iv, p. 224.
The Small Marsh-Tern, Jerdon.
Fig. 70.— Head of H. hybrida.
Coloration in winter. Forehead, sides of head below eyes, sides
of neck, and all lower parts including wing-lining white; crown
greyish white, with black centres to the feathers, the black increasing
on the nape and sometimes almost covering it, and forming a
band behind the eye ; a black spot in front of the eye and some
black specks on the lores ; behind the nape is more or less of a
\vhite collar ; all the upper parts from the neck, including the
308
rump and tail, light ashy grey ; primaries darker and brown,
except on the outer webs in fresh plumage.
In summer the forehead, crown, and nape, with the sides of the
head down to the lower edge of each orbit, are black ; gape and a
streak from it to the nape white ; upper parts ashy, darker than
in winter ; chin, throat, vent, and under tail-coverts white ; fore-
neck and breast dark grey, passing into sooty black on the
abdomen.
Young birds have the crown and mantle partly or wholly
blackish brown, with rufous edges 4o the feathers.
Bill red ; irides brown ; legs and toes dull red (Oates). The
bill and legs are a darker red in winter than in summer.
Length 10; tail 3vl. ; wing 9 ; tarsus -9 ; bill from gape 1-6.
Distribution. Temperate parts of Europe, the whole of Africa,
Southern Asia, the Malay Archipelago, and Australia. In India,
Ceylon, and Burma this is one of the commonest Terns, especially
in Northern India, where it is resident and breeds, but many of
the birds seen in India in the cold season probably breed farther
north. Great numbers make their n sts on the lakes of Kashmir.
Habits, $°c. The Whiskered Tern in India abounds about
marshes, tanks, rivers, and paddy fields, it is also found about
estuaries in Burma. It breeds not on churs, as Jerdon thought,
but amongst rushes or on floating water-plants in large marsh}'-
lakes. The nest is large, roughly made of reeds or si raw, and the
eggs, usually three in number, measure about 1-51 by 1-09, and are
pale olive or greenish, doubly spotted with purplish grey and
brown. The eggs have been taken in Kashmir and the N.W.
Provinces in the months of June, July, and August.
1497. Hydrochelidon leucoptera. The White-winged Black Tern.
Sterna leucoptera, Meisner fy Schinz, Voy. Schweiz, p. 204 (1815).
Hydrochelidon leucoptera, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 503 ; Hume, Ibis,
1870, p. 436 ; id. S. F. vii, p. 445 ; id. Cat. no. 984 bis ; id. S. F.
viii, p. 495; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1000 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 420 ;
Saimders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 6.
Hydrochelidon nigra, apud Jerdon, B. I. in, App. p. 875 ; nee Sterna
nigra, L.
Sterna nigra, apud Holds worth, P. Z. 8. 1872, p. 481.
Coloration. In winter plumage this Tern is scarcely dis-
tinguishable from H. hyltrida, except by size. Young individuals
of the present species may generally be recognized by th^ir white
upper tail-coverts, and adults by their smaller and darker bills.
In breeding-plumage the whole head and neck, the back and
lower parts to the vent, including the wing-lining, are black ;
scapulars blackish grey ; tertiaries dark grey ; coverts and quills
paler grey (the first two or three primaries generally brownish
black), and the smaller coverts on the edge of the wing white ;
rump, upper and lower tail-coverts, and tail white. In many
birds, probably immature, the tail-feathers are ashy or pearly grey,
especially towards the tips.
HYDROPROtKN'E. 309
Bill livid red in summer, reddish black in winter and in young
birds ; irides dark brown ; legs vermilion.
Length 9*5 ; tail 2*8 ; wing 8 25 ; tarsus '75 ; bill from gape 1*3.
Distribution. Temperate Europe and Asia, south of lat. 55° N.,
in summer, Africa to Australia in winter. This Tern has not
been clearly identified from any part of India west of Tipperah,
whence a specimen was sent to Mr. Hume, but it has been several
times shot in Ceylon ; Gates found it common at the mouth of
the Sittang, in Burma, and a skin was sent from South Andaman
by Mr. de Koepstorff.
Genus HYDROPROGNE, Kaup, 1829.
This is a genus of Terns distinguished by its stout and long
beak and legs, and by its very short tail, only about one-third the
length of the wing.
There is only a single species, which is the largest Tern known.
1498. Hydroprcgne caspia. The Caspian Tern.
Sterna caspia. Pall. Nov. Comm. Petrop. xiv, i, p. 582, tab. xxii,
B. B. p. 427 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 428 ; Oates in Humes N. $ E.
2nd ed. iii, p. 295.
Hydroprogne caspia, Kaup, Nat'drl. Syst. pp. 91, 196; Saunders,
Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 32.
Sylochelidon caspius, Brehm, Vb'g. Deutschl. p. 770 ; Blytli, Cat.
p. 290 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 835 ; King, J. A. 8. B. xxxvii, pt. 2,
p. 218 ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 480 ; Hume, S. F. iv,
p. 414.
The Largest Tern, Jerdon ; Kekra, Sind.
Fig. 71.— Head of H. caspia. \.
Coloration. In summer plumage the forehead, crown, nape, and
sides of head to below the eye black glossed with dark green ;
remainder of upper plumage, with wings, pearl-grey ; the inner
webs of the primaries (and the outer webs, when the frosted
surface has worn off) darker ; rump and tail still paler ; lower
plumage with sides, and sometimes back, of neck, cheeks, and
lower iores pure white.
310 LAKID^E. ;
In winter the upper part of the head is white broadly streaked
with black, and there is a white collar behind the head all round.
Young birds resemble adults in winter plumage, but have more
black round the orbit : at an early stage the scapulars, tertiaries,
wing-coverts, and tail-feathers are dark brown or barred with
brown and have whitish edges ; the primaries are blackish.
Bill coral-red in summer, duller in winter, with the terminal
portion dusky ; irides dark brown ; legs and feet black.
Length 20 ; tail 5*75, depth of fork 1'25 ; wing 15'5 ; tarsus
1-75 ; bill from gape 3-8.
Distribution. JNorth America soufh of the Arctic circle, Europe
as far north as 60° N. lat., all Africa, temperate and tropical
Asia, the Malay Archipelago, Australia, and New Zealand. This
Tern occurs in many parts of India, Ceylon, and Burma, but is by
no means generally distributed. It is particularly common in
Sind.
Habits, $'c. The Caspian Tern occurs singly or in pairs about
rivers and large pieces of water, fresh or salt, and also on the sea-
coast, and it may be recognized at a considerable distance by its
habit, when looking for food, of flying over the water with its bill
directed downwards. It has a harsh cry, which it always utters,
according to Hume, when hit by a shot, and it lives on fish and
prawns. The majority of the Caspian Terns visiting India
probably breed elsewhere — one great breeding-place is on an island
at the head of the Persian Gulf — but this species is not truly
migratory ; and a small colony was found by Mr. H. Parker, in
June, breeding on one of the sand-banks at Adam's Bridge, North
Ceylon. One or two eargs, greyish white or buff, and double-
spotted, each measuring about 2'43 by 1*70, were found in each
case in a small hollow in the sand.
Genus STERNA, Linn., 1766.
Bill varying, but as a rule long, slender, and straight, or very
slightly curved, more or less compressed ; feet as a rule small, but
the toes completely webbed ; the tarsus a Jittle shorter than the
middle toe and claw, except in S. anglica, in which it is slightly
lengthened. "Wings long, first primary longest. Tail varying in
length, always distinctly forked, the outer pair of rectrices con-
siderably longer than the others.
In the British Museum Catalogue S. anglica and S. seena are
regarded as generically distinct, each being placed in a genus by
itself, whilst S. ancestheta and S. fuliginosa, which form a link
with Anous, and appear to have better claims to separation than
S. seena., are left in the genus. On the whole it is most convenient
to group all under Sterna.
Terns are of world-wide distribution, and the genus Sterna
includes about 35 species, of which sixteen are Indian. All the
species have a peculiar flight, and capture their food by pouncing
on it or by scooping it up from the water, and they very rarely
are seen swimming.
STERNA. 311
Key to the Species.
a. Mantle grey.
«'. Crown black in the breeding-season.
a". Large Terns, wing above 11 ; tarsi black
or blackish.
a3. Bill black throughout ; tarsus longer
than mid-toe and claw S. anglica, p. 311.
b3. Bill black, the tip yellow ; tarsus not
longer than mid-toe and claw .... S. cantiaca, p. 312.
c3. Bill yellow ; a distinct nuchal crest.
#4. No white forehead in breeding-
plumage ; wing 12 S. media, p. 313.
#4. A white forehead always; wing 14. S. bergii, p. 314.
b". Middle-sized Terns ; wing 8 to ll'o.
d3. Tarsi yellow or red.
t'4. Bill orange-yellow.
a5. Bill stout; wing 11; abdomen
white S. seena, p. 31 5.
b5. Bill slender ; wing 9 ; abdomen
black in breeding-season S. meZawypster, p. 310.
d4. Bill red or dusky.
c5. Lower parts dark vinaceous grey. S. albigena, p. 317.
d*. Lower parts pale grey or white,
outermost rectrices with dark
grey outer webs S. flumatilis, p. 318.
e5. Lower parts white or roseate,
outermost rectrices almost white
throughout , S. dougalli, p. 319.
e3. Tarsi blackish ; wing 1O5 S. lonyipennis, p. 319.
c". Small Terns ; wing less than 8.
y3. Shafts of primaries white in adults. . S. sinensis, p. 320.
ff3. Shafts of first two primaries brown
or brownish S. minuta, p. 321.
h3. Shafts of first three primaries
blackish S. saundersi, p. 321.
b'. Crown always white, nape and band
through eyes black ; bill black ; tarsi dark
brown ; wing 8'5 S. melanauchen, p. 322.
b. Mantle dark brown.
c'. Wing 9-5 S. ancestheta, p. 323.
d'. Wing 11-5 S.fuliyinosa, p. 324.
1499. Sterna anglica. The Gull-billed Tern.
Sterna anglica, Mont. Orn. Diet. Suppl. (1813) ; Hume, Cat. no. 983 ;
Leffffe, Birds Ceyl. p. 1011; Tidal, S. F. ix, p. 94; Butler, ibid.
p. 440 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 86 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 422 ; Barnes,
Birds Bom. p. 428 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 349 ; Oates in Hume's
N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 304.
Gelochelidon anglica, Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. 8f N. Amer. p. 61 ;
Blyth, Cat. p. 290 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 836 ; Hayes Lloyd, Ibis,
3878, p. 421 ; Ball, S. F. iv, p. 237 ; Hume, ibid. pp. 294, 414 ;
Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 491 ; Davids. $ Wend. S. F. vii, p. 93;
Cripps, ibid. p. 313 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 102, 1882, p. 290 ;
Sounders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 25.
Gelichelidon nilotica, Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 2-56.
312 LARIDE.
Sterna nilotica, apud Hume, S. F. i, p. 281 ; Adam, ibid. p. 403 ;
, S. F. iv, p. 31 ; v, p. 235 ; Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 351.
Coloration. In summer plumage the forehead, crown, and nape,
with the upper lores and the sides of the head as far down as the
lower edge of the orbit, are jet-black ; upper parts from nape
pale pearl-grey, inner webs of primaries darker; lower lores,
cheeks, and the lower parts throughout, including the wing-lining,
white.
In winter the upper part of the head is white streaked with
black, the remainder as in summer.. Young birds have the crown
grey or white mixed with grey, primaries dark ; and in very young
birds the feathers of the upper plumage, especially the scapulars
and tertiaries, are brown in part with buff edges.
Bill, legs, and feet black ; iricles brown. In summer the bill
and legs are tinged with red.
Length 15 ; tail 5 to 5'5, depth of fork 1-5 ; wing 12'5 ;
tarsus 1*4 ; bill from gape 2. Females are rather smaller.
Distribution. Europe as far north as lat. 55° in summer, Northern
Africa, Atlantic coast of America, temperate and tropical Asia,
Malay Archipelago, and Australia. Chiefly a winter visitor to
India and Ceylon, where it is common in suitable localities ; it is
apparently restricted to estuaries and the coast in Burma.
Habits, 6fc. In India and Ceylon this Tern is found about all large
rivers and extensive marshes or tanks ; it also occurs on the sea-
coast. It feeds both on aquatic food and on insects. The great
majority of birds of this species leave India to breed, but Hume
took an egg on the Chenab, in the N.W. Punjab, on April 28th.
Numbers were found breeding at the head of the Persian Gulf
early in April. The eggs, three in number, are of the usual type,
and measure about 2 by 1*46.
1500. Sterna cantiaca. The Sandwich Te.rn.
Sterna cantiaca, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 606 (1788) ; Hume, S. F. i,
p. 285 ; id. Cat. no. 990 bis : Blcmford, Eastern Persia, ii, p. 294 ;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 432 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 300 ;
Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 75.
Coloration. In breeding plumage the forehead, upper lores,
crown, nape, and sides of head as far down as the lower edge of
the orbits are black ; back and wings pearl-grey ; lower lores,
cheeks, a collar round neck, all the lower parts, upper and lower
tail-coverts, and tail white ; inner webs of primaries dark grey
near the shafts, white inside, the inner white border extending to
the tip of each feather, outer web of 1st primary blackish near
base. In fresh plumage there is a slight and evanescent pink
tinge to the underparts. The black head is only assumed from
April till about June.
In non-breeding plumage the forehead and crown are white
with black streaks, which are confluent on the nape and before
and behind the eye. Immature birds resemble adults in winter
STERNA. 31 3
plumage, but have a dark band on the smaller wing-coverts,
and brown submarginal concentric bars on the tertiaries and tail ;
the primaries are dark grey, with sharply contrasting white inner
borders. Still younger birds have most of the upper parts marked
with concentric brown bands, and the crown-feathers blackish
with white edges.
Bill black, with the tips of both mandibles pale horny yellow ;
irides brown ; legs and feet black (Hume).
Length 17 ; tail 6, depth of fork 3 ; wing 12 ; tarsus 1-1 ; bill
from gape 2-8. Females are a little smaller than males.
Distribution. Coasts of North Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean,
Black Sea, and Caspian in summer ; in winter, African coasts as
far as the Cape and Natal, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Baluchistan.
This bird is a winter visitor to the coast of Makran and Sind.
Habits, fyc. This is a Sea-Tern often seen at sea several miles
from the shore, and but rarely straying inland, though it has been
found in Europe breeding on lakes near the coast.
1501. Sterna media. The Smaller Crested Tern.
Sterna media, Horsf. Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 199 (1821) ; Hume, S. F.
v, p. 301 ; Hume # Dav. S. F. vi, p. 493 ; Hume, Cat. no. 990 ;
Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1030; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 95; Butler, ibid.
p. 441 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 426 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 432 ; id.
Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 299, fig. 990; Oates in Hume's
N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 299 note ; Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 86.
Sterna amnis, Cretzschm. in Hiipp. Atlas, p. 23, t. 14 (1826).
Sterna bengalensis, Lesson, Traite, p. 621 (1831) ; Hume, S. F. i,
p. 284 ; ii, p. 318 ; iv, p. 474.
Thalasseus bengalensis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 373 ; id. Cat. p. 291 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 843.
The Smaller Sea- Tern, Jerdon.
Coloration. Crown with forehead, sides of head to below the
orbit (but not including a spot immediately beneath the eye), nape,
and distinct nuchal crest black ; lores, cheeks, neck all round, and
lower parts white ; upper parts from neck pale ashy grey, with a
slight pinkish tinge on the mantle ; outer rectrices sometimes
whitish or white ; primaries blackish, frosted on the outer web
near the tip in fresh plumage, inner border whitish, a very narrow-
extension of this border to the tip of the feather soon disappears
with wear, most of the inner web and terminal edge of outer web
in secondaries -white.
In winter the nape and a band from the nape to the front of
the eye are black, the forehead and lores white; crown black, with
white edges to feathers. Young birds resemble adults in winter,
but have much brown on the smaller coverts, tertiaries, and tail-
feathers.
Bill orange-yellow ; irides brown ; legs and feet black ; soles
yellowish (Legge).
Length 16'5 ; tail 5 to 6-75, depth of fork 2 to 3 ; wing 12 ;
tarsus 1 ; bill from gape 2'8.
314 LA.BIDYE.
Distribution. Coasts o? the Indian Ocean, with the Persian Gulf,
Bed Sea, and Mediterranean. A common bird locally on the
coasts of India and Ceylon, less often seen in Burma.
Habits, #c. This is another Sea-Tern found often in large flocks,
about bays, harbours, shallow banks, and even several miles out
at sea, and never met with far inland. Like the other Sea-Terns
and unlike the Gulls, it always captures living fish by dashing
down on them from some height, and it appears very rarely, it'
ever, to settle on the sea. Its eggs have not been found within
Indian limits, but it breeds in colonies on sandbanks and low
coral islands in the Persian Gulf 'and Bed Sea. The eggs are
generally white sparingly spotted.
1502. Sterna bergii. The Large Crested Tern.
Sterna bergii, Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 80 (1823) ; Hume, S. F. i,
p. 283 ; ii, p. 50 ; iv, p. 470 ; Sutler, S. F. v, p. 298 ; Hume $ Dtiv.
S. F. vi, p. 493 ; Hume, Cat. no. 989 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1026 ;
Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 95 ; Butler, ibid. p. 441 ; Parker, ibid. p. 490 ;
Gates, B. B. ii, p. 428 ; id. in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 297 ;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 431 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 298,
fig. 989 : Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 89.
Sterna cristata, Steph. in Skate's Gen. Zool xiii, pt. 1, p. 146 (1825) ;
nee Swainson.
Sterna velox, Cretzsc.hm. in Rilpp. Atlas, p. 21, t. 13 (1826).
Thalasseus cristatus, Blyth, Cat. p. 291 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 842 ;
Hume, Ibis, 1870, p. 437.
The Large Sea-Tern, Jerdon.
The coloration resembles that of S. media, except that the
present species has a white frontal band and broader white lores,
that the black only descends to the level of the lower edge of the
orbit, that the crest is rather more distinct, and above all that the
mantle is much darker at all seasons, being grey with a lilac tinge.
In the young the quills are greyish brown with white inner
borders, and the upper parts much mixed with brown.
Bill pale yellow ; irides deep brown ; legs and feet black ; soles
yellowish.
Length 21 ; tail 6'5 to 7'5, depth of fork 3 to 3'5 ; wing 15 ;
tarsus 1'25 ; bill from gape 3-6.
Distribution. The coasts of the Indian Ocean and Polynesia,
also the west coast of S. Africa, the Bed Sea, and the China
Sea. Abundant on the Makra'n coast and at the Laccadives. and
generally distributed, often in considerable numbers, throughout
the coasts of India and Ceylon, less common on the Burmese coast.
Habits, fyc. This large Tern has very similar habits to those of
S. media, and is thoroughly marine, often fishing far from the
shore. It has been found breeding in Ceylon and, in large
numbers, in May and June on the island of Astola, off the
Makran coast, where the nests, as described by Butler, are small
holes scratched in the sand, several close together, each containing
one to three eggs, which are generally pinkish buff varying to
STERNA. 315
greenish grey, very beautifully blotched, spotted, or streaked with
blackish, red-brown, and inky purple, and measuring on an average
2-45 by 1-71.
1503. Sterna seena. The Indian River-Tern.
Sterna seena, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 171 ; Hume $ Oates, S. F.
iii, p. 193 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 32 ; Fairbank, ibid. p. 264 ; Inglis,
S. F. v, p. 47; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 492; Anders. Yunnan
Exped., Aves, p. 693 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 233 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 314 ;
Hume, Cat. no. 985 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 364 ; Leyge, Birds Ceyl.
p. ]003 ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 440 ; Reid, 8. F. x, p. 86 ; Davidson,
ibid. p. 326; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 423; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 429 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. i, p. 61 ; vi. p. 294 ; Hume,
S. F. xi, p. 350 ; Oates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 308.
Sterna aurantia., Gray, in Hardw. III. 2nd. Zool. i, pi. 69, fig. 2
(1832) ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 281.
Seeua aurantia, Blyth, Cat. p. 291 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 838 ; Godw.-
Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 275 ; Hayes Lloyd, Ibi*, 1S73,
p. 421 ; Blyth # Wald. Birds Burm. p. 163 ; Wardl.-Rams. Ibis,
1877, p. 472 ; Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 37.
The Large River- Tern, Jerdon.
Fig. 72. — Head of S. seena.
Coloration. The whole head to considerably below the eyes and
including 1he nape black glossed with dark green, a white spot
under each eye; rest of upper parts French grey, paling to pearl-
grey on the rump and tail ; chin and a streak on each cheek
bordering the black cap, together with the under tail-coverts,
white ; remainder of lower surface, inclusive of wing-lining, delicate
pale grey.
After the moult, which does not occur till about December, the
forehead is white and the crown dull grey, then black streaks appear
and the black cap is generally assumed by February. Young birds
have the feathers of the upper parts dull grey, with an inner
brown and an outer buff margin.
Bill bright deep yellow ; irides brown ; legs red (Jerdon\ The
bill and legs are duller coloured and the tip of the bill dusky in
autumn.
Length 15 to 18 ; tail 6 to 9-5, depth of fork 5 to 6 ; wing 11 ;
tarsus '8 ; bill from gape 2-3.
Distribution. Throughout India and Burma on all large rivers,
316 LARID.E.
less common in the south of the Peninsula, and of doubtful occur-
rence in Ceylon. This Tern is also found throughout the Malay
Peninsula as far as Singapore.
Habits, §c. Though essentially a river Tern, occurring singly or
in small parties about rivers and estuaries, this handsome Indian
Tern is often met with beating over tanks and even marshes,
especially if they are in the neighbourhood of rivers. It breeds in
March, April, and May, and lays 3 (sometimes 4) eggs in a small
unlined depression on a sandbank. Hundreds of nests sometimes
occurs on one sandbank, and other Terns, Skimmers, and Glareola
breed about the same time in siiniluY places. The eggs vary from
pale greenish grey to butf, spotted and blotched in the usual
manner with dark broxvn and pale inky purple, and they measure
on an average 1'65 by 1'25. The place where these or any Terns
are breeding may generally be recognized by the way in which the
birds wheel about overhead with their peculiar cry when anyone
is near their nests.
1504. Sterna melanogaster. The Black-bellied Tern.
Sterna melanogaster, Temm. PL Col pi. 434 (1832) ; Blyt.h $ Wald.
Birds Burm. p. 163 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xlv, pt. 2, p. 85 ;
xlvii, pt. 2, p. '2'2 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 492 ; Dav. 8f Wend.
S. F. vii, p. 93 ; Ball, ibid. p. 233 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 314 ; Hume,
Cat. no. 987 ; Doiff, S. F. viii, p. 372 ; Leyge, Birds Ce.yl. p. 1006 ;
Butter, S. F. ix, p. 440; Reid, S. F. x, 'p. 87; Gates, B. B. ii,
p. 424 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 429; Hume, S. F. x, p. 419; xi,
p. 350 ; Gates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 310 ; Saunders,
Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 43.
Sterna javanica, Horsf. Res. Java (1824) (deser. nulla), nee Tr.Linn.
Soc. "xiii, p. 198 (1821) ; Bh/th, Cat. p. 292 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii,
p. 840 ; Bulger, Ibis, 1869, p. 170 ; Blanf. J. A. S. B. xl, pt. 2,
p. 277 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 2^2 ; Adam, S. F. ii, p. 339 ; Wardl.-
Rams. Ibis, 1877, p. 472.
Sternula minuta et S. jerdoni, Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 403.
Pelodes javanica, Ball, S. F. ii, p. 440 ; Hume, 8. F. iii, p. 193.
Coloration. Forehead, crown, and nape, with the sides of the
head down to the lower edge of the orbit, black ; very often the
extreme base of the forehead is white like the lores, cheeks, chin,
and throat ; upper parts from nape ashy grey, slightly tinged with
brown on the tertiaries, tips and parts of inner webs of primaries
generally dusky, outer webs frosted and whitish ; tail paler grey
than the back, outer webs of outermost rectrices white ; fore neck
pale grey, gradually passing into chocolate, then into black on the
breast ; abdomen and lower tail-coverts black ; wing-lining white.
In winter the cap is white, streaked with black, aud the lower
parts white. According to Hume the winter plumage is not
assumed till December, and is only retained for about two months.
Very young birds have broad buff outer and blackish inner borders
to the feathers of the upper parts.
Bill orange-yellow ; irides blackish brown ; legs and feet orange-
red.
STERNA. 317
Length 13 ; tail 5 to 6'5, depth of fork 3-5 ; wing 9 ; tarsus
•55 ; bill from gape 1'8.
Distribution. Common about rivers and tanks throughout India
and Burma, but less abundant in Southern than in Northern India,
and not known with certainty to occur in Ceylon, though reported
to be found in the island by more than one observer. It is prob-
able in these cases that another species has been mistaken for the
present.
Habits, $c. This is one of the commonest of Indian river-birds,
and is generally seen flying and fishing singly or in small parties.
It frequents tanks and marshes as well as rivers, and though
perhaps less numerous than S. seena, is more widely distributed.
It breeds chiefly in March and April, though Doig records taking
eggs in Eastern Sind in June and July, and it lays in the same
situations as the Indian K,iver- Tern, and frequently in company
with it. The mode of deposition and colouring of the eggs is
similar, but those of 8. melanogaster are smaller and more elongate,
measuring on an average 1*25 by 0-95.
1505. Sterna albigena. The White-cheeked Tern.
Sterna albigeua, Licht. Nomencl. Av. p. 98 (1854) (descr. nulla) ;
Walden, Ibis, 1876, p. 384 ; Hume, S. F. iv, p. 467 ; Butler, S. F.
v, pp. 298, 323 ; Hume, Cat. no. 987 bis ; Vital, S. F. ix, p. 94 ;
Sutler, ibid. p. 440 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 430 ; id. Jour. Bom.
N. H. Soc. vi, p. 296 j Oates in Hume's N. Sf E. 2nd ed. iii,
p. 311 note ; Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 69.
Coloration. Forehead and upper lores, crown, nape, and sides of
the head to the lower edge of the orbit black ; chin, gape, lower
lores, and a streak along the edge of the black cap to the nape,
white ; all the rest of the plumage grey, dark ashy above, vinaceous
on the breast and abdomen ; upper and lower tail-coverts and tail
lighter ashy, except the outer webs of the outermost tail-feathers
which are dark ; outer web of first primary black except towards
the end, inner web blackish grey near shafts, white near the inner
border, the white not extending to the tip ; secondaries with white
tips and inner borders ; wing-lining pale grey.
In winter the lores and cheeks are white, forehead and anterior
portion of crown mixed white and black, wing-lining white, and
white is mixed with the grey of the lower parts. Young birds
resemble adults in winter plumage, but have a dark band on the
smaller wing-coverts and the underparts white throughout.
Bill black, red at base ; irides brown ; legs orange ( Vidal) ;
legs and feet bright red in adults, dull red in young (Butler).
Length 13-5 ; tail 6, depth of fork 3*25; wing9-5; tarsus -75;
bill from gape 2.
Distribution. Sea-coasts from the Red Sea to the Laccadive
Islands.
Habits, 6fc. This is a sea-tern, often seen some miles out at sea
but returning to the shore at night. Vidal observed that large
flocks of this species appear on the Malabar coast at intervals, and
318 LARID.*:.
although none were observed by Hume or myself on the Makran
coast in December and February, Butler found this Tern common
there and in Karachi Harbour in the latter part of the spring and
in summer. Probably it migrates to the southward in winter, for
Vidal observes that flocks reach the neighbourhood of Eatnagiri
about September and February in an exhausted condition. S. albi-
r/ena has been found to breed on low islands in the Eed Sea and
Persian Gulf.
1506. Sterna fluviatilis.» *The Common Tern.
Sterna fluviatilis, Neum. Isis, 1819, p. 1848; Hume fy Henders.
Lah. to York. p. 303 ; Hume, S. F. iv, p. 472 ; id. Cat. no. 986 ;
Letjf/e, Birds Ceyl. p. 1015 ; Davison, S. F. x, p. 418 ; Saunders,
Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 54.
Sterna hirundo, L. Syst. Nat. i, p. 227, pt. ; Blyth, Cat. p. 292 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 839; v. Pelzeln, Ibis, 1868, p. 321; Hume.
S.F.i, p. 282; C. H. T. Marshall, Ibis, 1884, p. 425.
Sterna tibetana, Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 649 ; Stanford, S. F. v,
p. 485.
The European Tern, Jerdon.
Coloration. Forehead and upper lores, crown, nape and sides of
the head as far down as the lower edge of the orbit, black ; back
and wings ashy grey, 1st primary with the outer web black and a
strip of the inner web near the shaft blackish, remainder of inner
web white ; 2nd primary less black, and with less white on the
inner web, secondaries edged with white ; rump, upper tail-
coverts, and inner webs of tail-feathers white, outer webs of the
same grey, darkest on the long outermost pair ; lower lores, cheeks,
chin, throat, wing-lining, and under tail-coverts white; breast
and abdomen very pale grey, with a vinous tinge.
In winter the forehead is white, or mottled with white, the
crown streaked with black, and the lower parts whitish. Young
birds have a broad white forehead, the hind head sooty black, a
white collar, a dark band along the smaller wing-coverts, and white
underparts. Very young birds have the usual broad buff outer
and brown inner margins to the feathers of the upper parts.
Bill, legs, and feet in the breeding-season coral-red, much duller
in winter, and blackish in young birds. The tip of both mandibles
is always blackish.
Length 14; tail 5 to 7'5, depth of fork 3 to 5; wing lO'o ;
tarsus -8 ; bill from gape 2.
Distribution. Temperate regions of Asia, Europe, and North
America, ranging into Ladak and the higher Himalayan valleys,
and occasionally in winter visiting parts of India and Ceylon.
Most of the birds obtained on the coasts of Southern India,
Ceylon, and the Malay Peninsula are immature.
Habits, fyc. The common Tern of Europe is found equally on
rivers,- '• lakes, and the sea-coast ; it is essentially a fish-eating
species, and breeds in May and June, on sandy or pebbly tracts
STEBNA. 319
near the shore, laying three eggs of: the usual character. The nest
is often on shingle above high-water mark.
The true S. hirundo, L. (S. macrura, auct.) breeds in north
temperate and arctic regions, but has been found migrating in
winter as far as South Africa and South America. Stragglers
might be met with in India. The coloration is very similar to
that of S. fluviatilis, but adults may be recognized by having the
bill entirely red, and birds of all ages by the tarsus being shorter
than the middle toe without the claw.
1507. Sterna longipennis. Nordmann's Tern.
Sterna longipennis, Nordmann in Ermans Reise, p. 17 (1835) ;
Hume, Cat. no. 986 bis ; Sounders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 67.
Sterna tibetana, apud Hume, S. F. viii, p. 158, nee Saunders.
Coloration. Similar to that of S. jluviatilis, except that the bill
is always black and the feet are blackish. Adults are darker in
colour, both above and below, but the difference is not great. All
the measurements appear identical, or nearly so, except those of
the bill, which is altogether smaller, and measures about 1-75 from
the gape.
Distribution. The Eastern coasts of Asia and the neighbouring
islands from Kamtchatka to New Guinea. Immature specimens
identified by H. Saunders have been obtained in the Malay Penin-
sula by Davidson and others ; and one example, now in the British
Museum, was collected by Legge in Ceylon, in June.
1508. Sterna dougalli. The Roseate Tern.
Sterna dougalli, Mont. Orn. Diet. Suppl (1813) ; Legge, S. F. iii
p. 376 ; Hume, S. F. iv, p. 294 : Sutler, S. F. v, p. 327 ; vii,
p. 188 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 492 ; Hume, Cat. no. 985 bis ;
Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1033 ; Parker, S. F. ix, p. 488 ; Oates, B. B.
ii, p. 425 ; id. in Hume's N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 301 ; Saunders,
Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 70.
Sterna paradisea, apud Keys. 8f Bias. Wirb. Eur. p. 247 (1840), nee
Briinn. ; Blyth, Cat. p. 292 ; id. Ibis, 1867, p. 177 ; Walden, Ibis,
1874, p. 149.
Sterna gracilis, Gould, P. Z. S. 1845, p. 76 ; Hume, S. F. ii, pp. 317,
501.
Sternula korustes, Hume, S. F. ii, p. 318.
Coloration. In breeding-plumage the crown, with the forehead,
upper lores, sides of head to lower edge of orbit, and upper part
of hind neck black ; lower lores, cheeks, sides of neck, and a collar
round the hind neck white ; back and wings pale pearl-grey ;
rump and tail paler, outer tail-feathers white ; outer web of 1st
primary black, except near tip ; inner web blackish near shafts,
inner border of all primaries and secondaries to the tips white,
and also the outer border of the secondaries near the end ; lower
parts throughout white, suffused with delicate pink, evanescent in
dried skins.
320 LARIDyE.
In winter the forehead is spotted with white, and the lower
parts are nearly white. Young birds have the upper parts white
with dark brown interinarginal bands on the feathers, and all the
primaries dark grey, the first almost black, with conspicuous white
inner borders.
Bill black, red at base ; irides dark brown ; legs and feet scarlet.
Length 15 ; tail 5*5 to 7'5, depth of fork 4 to 5 ; wiog 9 ;
tarsus '75 ; bill from gape 2.
Distribution. Coasts of the temperate and tropical Atlantic and of
the Indian Ocean. This Tern has not hitherto been recorded with
certainty on the west coast of India? though it is said to have been
seen in Sind, but it is far from rare in Ceylon and at the Andamans,
and\vas obtained by Davison on the coast of Southern Tenasseriin.
Habits, $c. A sea-tern, usually seen near the coasts. Mr. Parker
found a colony breeding on a sandbank near Adam's Bridge, North-
west Ceylon, in June. Each clutch contained one or two eggs,
laid in a small hollow in the sand very little above high-water
mark ; the eggs were brownish or greenish grey, spotted and
blotched as usual, and measured about 1-58 by 1-12.
1509. Sterna sinensis. TJie White-shafted Ternlet.
Sterna sinensi?, Gm. Si/st. Nat. i, p. f>03 (1788); Hume, S. F. v,
p. 325; ill. Cat. no. 988 bis: Ley ye, Birds Ceyl. p. 1019; Parker,
S. F. ix, p. 490 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 430 ; Gates in Hume's N. 8f E.
'2nd ed. iii, p. 312, parti m ; Suimders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 113.
ternula sinensis, Holdsivorth, P. Z. S. 1872; p. 481 ; Leyge, S. F.
iii, p. 377 ; iv, p. 246.
Sternula nrinuta, apud Oates, S. F. iii, p. 349 ; Wardl.-Rams. Ibis.
1877, p. 472.
Coloration. A broad arrowhead-shaped white patcli on the
forehead, the posterior angles running back above the eyes ; crown,
nape, and broad loral band from crown to base of culmen black,
including the orbit, and extending above but not beneath it, and
separated beneath by a narrow white stripe from the upper man-
dible; back, rump, and wings pale pearl-grey; shafts of all
primaries white ; outer web of outer primary and inner web near
the shaft dark grey or blackish, both primaries and secondaries
with much of the inner web white, and the outer web of the second-
aries near the end also bordered with white ; upper tail-coverts and
tail, wdth the whole of the lower parts and the cheeks, white.
In winter the white forehead is broader and the tail shorter.
Young birds have the crown greyish, lores mostly white, primaries
dark grey, the shaft of 1st primary white, of others brownish,
tail-feathers greyish. In very young birds the back-feathers,
scapulars, and tertiaries are brown, with huffy- white borders and
csntres, the crown mixed white and black, the nape blackish with
white edges.
Bill in summer yellow, broadly tipped with black; in winter
dark brown ; iridos brown ; legs and feet orange-yellow in summer,
reddish brown in winter (Oates}.
STERNA. 321
Length 10 ; tail 3-5 to 5'5, depth of fork 175 to 3-4 ; wing 7 ;
tarsus "65 ; bill from gape 1*7.
Distribution. Cevlon, Burma, probably the east coast of India,
and throughout South-eastern Asia and its islands to Japan in one
direction, and Australia in another.
Habits, $c. The habits of the three small Terns found in India are
similar. They are found on large rivers and tidal estuaries, on salt
lagoons, and sometimes on the open coast, feeding chiefly on fish.
They breed on sandbanks in rivers and on the coast, in March and
April in Pegu, and from June to August in Ceylon, and lay two or
three eggs, varying in colour from pale drab to brownish buff,
broadly spotted and streaked, and measuring about 1/24 by "94.
151 0. Sterna miimta. The Little Tern.
Sterna minuta, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 228 (1766); Name, Cat.
no. 988 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 86; Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 116.
Sternula minuta, Blyth, Cat. p. 292 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 840 ; Hume
£ Henders. Lah. to Yark. p. 303 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 654 ; id. S. F.
ii, p. 49.
Sterna gouldi, Hume, S. F. v, p. 326; C,'ipps, S. F. vii, p. 314;
Hume, Cat, no. 988 quat. ; id. S. F. ix, p. 131 ; xi, p. 350.
Sternula gouldi, Sail, S. F. vii, p. 233.
This closely resembles S. sinensis, but is smaller, with consider-
ably shorter outer rectrices ; the two outer primaries, as a rule,
with dark webs and sullied brownish shafts, the shaft of the second
very often much browner than that of the first ; the upper tail-
coverts and tail generallv tinged with grey ; bill shorter.
Length 9 ; tail 3 to 3'7, depth of fork 1/5 ; wing 6'75 ; tarsus
•65 ; bill from gape 1-5.
Distribution. Europe, the greater part of Africa in winter, and
Western and Central Asia with Northern India, as far south as the
G-odiivari. Specimens have been obtained in Burma, and even in Java.
The form breeding in India was distinguished by Hume as
S. gouldi, chiefly because of its greyish rump and of the shafts of
the first primary being whiter than that of the second, but these
differences are not constant.
Habits, fyc. Similar to the last. In Northern India this Tern
breeds on sandbanks in rivers from March to the beginning of
May, in the same localities as those selected by Sterna seena,
8. melanorj aster, Ehynchops albicollis, and Glareola lactea, all of
which lay earlier than S. minuta, or in similar places.
1511. Sterna saundersi. The Slack-shafted Ternlet.
Sternula minuta, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 840, pt. ; Hume, S. F. iv,
p. 469; Sutler, S. F. v, p. 324.
Sterna saundersi, Hume, S. F. v, p. 325 ; id. Cat. no. 988 ter ; Vidal;
8. F. ix, p. 95 ; Hume, ibid. p. 131 ; Sutler, ibid. p. 441 ; Leyye,
Birds Ceyl. p. 1023 : Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 430 ; id. Jour. Bom.
N. II. Soc. vi, p. 297 ; Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 120.
TOL. IV. Y
322
This is very closely allied to S. sinensis and S. tninuta, but it
has a paler mantle ; the upper tail-coverts and tail are grey like
the back, only the long outermost rectrices being white, and the
first three primaries have the shafts and outer webs and the inner
webs near the shafts blackish, strongly contrasting with the pure
white inner borders of the feathers. The bill too is straighter
and slenderer.
Length 9; tail 3, depth of fork 1-1; wing 675; tarsus -6;
bill from gape 1*6.
Distribution. Coasts of the Indian Ocean from South Africa to
Burma, with the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, &c. This species has
been found at Karachi, Eatnagiri, Ceylon, the Laccadives, Madras,
and Lower Pegu.
Habits, fyc. Very similar to those of the last two species, but
apparently this is even more of a sea-coast bird. The eggs were
taken at Karachi by Butler in May and June, and Legge found
birds breeding in Ceylon from June to August.
1512. Sterna melanauchen. TJte Black-naped Tern.
Sterna melanauchen, Temm. PI. Col. pi. 427 (1827); Blytk, J. A. S. B.
xv, p. 373 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 429 ; id. in Humes N. # E. 2nd ed.
iii, p. 302; Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 126.
Hydrochelidon margiuata, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 373 ; id. Ibis,
1865, p. 40.
Onvchoprion melanauchen, Blyth, Cat., p. 293; Jerdon, B. I. iii,
p. 844; Blair, Ibis, 1866, p. 221 ; Ball, J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2,
pp. 34, 243 ; WaWen, Ibis, 1874, p. 149.
Stern ula melanauchen, Hume, S. F. ii, p. 319.
Sterna sumatrana?, Raffl., Hume, S. F. v, p. 325; Hume <Sr Dav.
S. F. vi, p. 493; Hume, Cat. no. 991.
Coloration. Forehead, crown, and most of the lores wrhite ; a
broad black nuchal band, forming a slight crest at the nape, is
continued forward to the eyes, and in front of each of these is a
narrow black band terminating in a point and not reaching the
bill ; a broad white collar behind the nape : remainder of upper
parts very pale pearl-grey ; outer rectrices white ; inner borders of
quills the same, outer web of 1st primary blackish ; cheeks and
lower parts white with a roseate tinge.
In winter plumage there is rather less black on the nuchal and
ocular band. In young birds the black of the nape is brownish,
there is a dark band on the smaller wing-coverts, and the outer
primaries are dark grey on both sides of the shafts. In still
younger birds there are concentric brown bars on the mantle and
tail-feathers, and brown tips to the feathers of the crown.
Bill black, the extreme points of both mandibles pale yellowish
horny ; irides wood- brown ; feet black (Hume).
Length 13-5, tail 6 ; depth of fork 3 ; wing 8-5 ; tarsus '7 ;
bill from gape 2.
Distribution. Chiefly insular, throughout the tropical parts of
the Indian Ocean, the Malay Archipelago, and North Australia ;
STERNA. 323
north to the Loo-choo Islands, and east to' the Friendly and
Navigator Groups. This Tern is common at the Andamans and
Nicobars, and is occasionally obtained on the Burmese coast.
Habits, tyc. An oceanic Tern, keeping much to the high seas
near tropical islands. It breeds at both the Andamans and
Mcobars, on little rocky islets, between the middle of May and the
beginning of August, and lays two eggs — yellowish, pinkish, or
greenish, and double-spotted — on coral or sand ; the eggs measure
1*56 by 1'12 on an average.
1513. Sterna anaestheta. The Panayan Tern.
Sterna ausestheta *, Scopoli, Del. Faun, et Flor. Insubr. ii, p. 92 (1783) ;
Legge, S. F. iii, p. 377 ; Hume, S. F. iv, p. 474 ; Butler, S. F. v,
p. 301 ; Hume $ Dav. S. I. vi, p. 493 ; Butler, S. F. vii, p. 178 ;
Hume, Cat. no. 992 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1040 ; Butler, S. F. ix,
p. 441 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 431 ; Bat-net, Birds Bom. p. 433 ; id.
Jour. Bom. N. H. Sac. vi, p. 300 ; Gates in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed.
iii, p. 300 ; Aitken, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. ix, p. 496 ; Sounders,
Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 101.
Sterna panayensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 607 (1788).
Onychoprion auasthsetus, Blyth, Cat. p. 293 ; Jerdon, B. I. tii, p. 844;
Ball, S. F. i, p. 90 ; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 320.
The Brown-winged Tern, Jerdon.
Coloration. Forehead and superciliary stripe extending beyond
orbit white : crown, nape, and loral stripe, extending to the bill
and just including the orbit, black ; hind neck light grey ; back,
wings, rump, and tail dark greyish brown, basal three-fourths of
long outer pair of rectrices and their outer edges to the tip white ;
primaries blackish brown, portions of inner webs whitish ; cheeks
and lower parts white ; breast, abdomen, and flanks more or less
suffused with grey, often tinged pinkish.
In winter the upper plumage is browner and less grey, and the
feathers of the crown and lores are dark brown with pale edges.
This phase apparently lasts but a short time. Young birds have
the crown-feathers white with dark' shaft-streaks, the nape
blackish, the lores white with black specks, and the feathers of the
upper parts with rufous or whitish edges.
Bill, legs, and feet black ; irides deep brown (Hume).
Length 14-5 ; tail 6 to 7'5, depth of fork 3 to 4 ; wing 9'5 ;
tarsus -8 ; bill from gape 2.
Distribution. Tropical and subtropical seas. This Tern is
generally distributed on the Indian, Ceylonese, and Burmese
coasts, abounding at times on the reefs of the Laccadives, and
breeding at Vingorla Rocks and in the Persian Gulf.
Habits, <$fc. This and the next species approach the Noddies in
colour and habits, and are Oceanic Terns, being often seen far
from land, especially around oceanic islands. Frequently flocks
* This name is variously spelt anaeihetus, anaetheta, anosthcetus, an-
ctsthetus, &c.
Y2
324 LARID.E.
of this bird make their appearance on shore after high winds, and
this is the Tern, as Hume notices, that commonly alights on
ships to roost at night. It feeds on vAhatever can be picked up
from the sea, chiefly small fish and crustaceans. Hume, in
February, found numerous rotten and addled eggs and dried
carcases of this bird on the Yingorla Rocks, showing that it must
have bred there in great numbers in the monsoon. It lays
usually a single whitish, rather finely spotted egg, sometimes two,
measuring about T72 by 1'2, and makes a small hollow for its
nest amongst grass.
151 4. Sterna fuliginosa. The Sooty Tern.
Sterna fuliginosa, Gm. Syst. Nat. i p. 605 (1788) ; Legye< S. F. iii,
p. 378 ; Hume, S. F. iv, p. 477 ; id. Cat. no. 992 bis ; Legye, Birds
Ceyl. p. 1036 ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 441 ; Oates, S. F. x, p. 247 ; id.
B. B. ii, p. 432 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 433 ; Oates in Hume's N.
$ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 303 ; Sounders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 106.
Onychoprion fuliginosa, Hume, S. F. i, p. 440.
Coloration very similar to that of S. ancestheta, but much darker ;
the white frontal band is broader, but the superciliary portion of
it only extends to just above the eye; the dark loral stripe is more
oblique — it reaches the bill nearer to the gape, and extends above
the eye. The upper surface is sooty black, breast and throat
white, abdomen aud lower tail-coverts more or less suffused with
grey.
In winter the crown and lores are speckled with white. Young
birds are sooty brown throughout, paler below ; lower abdomen
whitish ; feathers of the upper parts with white tips, which are
broadest on the scapulars and tertiaries.
Bill, legs, and feet black, or blackish with a dull purplish tinge ;
irides deep brown (Hume).
Length 17 ; tail 6-5 to 7'5, depth of fork 3'5 to 4-5 ; wing 11-5 ;
tarsus *9 ; bill from gape 2-3.
Distribution. Tropical and subtropical seas. This Tern is
:met with occasionally on the Indian coasts, and breeds on the
Laccadives.
Habits, <$fc. This is perhaps even more an ocean-bird than S. an-
cestheta, and is known to sailors as the " Wide-awake." It feeds on
fish, cephalopods, and Crustacea picked up from the sea, and it breeds
on oceanic islands, one of its most famous breeding-places being that
known as " Wide-awake Fair," on the island of Ascension. It is
said by some observers to lay a single egg, but Hume found two
or three in each nest on Cherbaniani Reef, in the Laccadives, where
the Sooty Terns were breeding in great numbers in February, and
were found to feed their young entirely on small cephalopods of
the genus Sepiola. • The eggs vary much, but are usually whitish
with numerous red-brown spots, and measure about 1-94 by T34.
325
G-enus ANGUS, Stephens, 1826.
Bill long and slender, culmen considerably curved towards the
tip ; nostril in a groove, much farther from the base of the bill
than in Sterna ; tarsus short, ranch shorter than the middle toe
without claw ; feet large, toes fully webbed. Wing long, first
quill longest ; tail long, cuneate, the third or fourth pair of feathers
from the outside longest, considerably exceeding the outer feathers.
The whole plumage is very dark.
The Noddies, as they are called, are a group of tropical oceanic
birds allied to the Terns, but having a much slower, heavier flight
and very different habits. They live in the open sea and settle on
the water to feed on floating mollusca or dead fish, or offal. In
the British Museum Catalogue they are divided into two genera,
Anous and Micranous ; but the differences are not great, and it is
more convenient to class the two species found in Indian seas in
one generic group.
Key to the Species.
a. Fourth pair of rectrices from outside longest ;
bill stout, angle of lower mandible nearer
to tip than to gape; crown grey ........ A. ttoKdus, p. 325.
b. Third pair of rectrices from outside longest ;
bill slender, angle of lower mandible equi-
distant from tip and gape ; crown white . . A. leucocapillus, p. 320.
1515. Anous stolidus. The Noddy.
Sterna stolida, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 227 (1766).
Anous stoiidus, Blyth, Cat. p. 293 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 845 ; Ball,
S. F. i, p. 90 ; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 320; iv, pp. 429, 478 ; Legge,
S. F. iv, p. 247 ; Butler, S. F. v, p. 301 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi,
p. 493; Hume, Cat. no. 993 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1043 ; Hume,
S. F. x, p. 247; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 434; id. in Hume's N. $ E.
2nd ed. iii, p. 315; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 433; Saunders, Cat.
B. M. xxv, p. 130.
Fig. 73.— Head of A. stolidus. £.
Coloration. Forehead and crown pale grey, passing on the nape
into greyish brown, and this again into the dark smoky or choco-
late-brown of the upper and lower surface generally ; lores black
above, passing into the dark leaden brown of the cheeks and
326 LAIUD.E.
throat ; primaries and secondaries blackish ; tail-feathers very
dark ; wing-lining slaty grey.
Young birds are browner and paler, and have the forehead and
crown greyish brown.
Bill black, orange at the angle of the gape ; irides deep brown ;
legs and feet dusky vinous purple (Hume}.
Length 16 : tail 6 ; wing 10*5 : tarsus 1 ; bill from gape 2-3.
Distribution. Tropical and subtropical seas. This bird is found
occasionally on the Indian coasts, and has been recorded from
Makran, the Laccadives (where if breeds), Ceylon, and several
parts of the Bay of Bengal, especially the Nicobar Islands.
Habits, <$fc. Those of the genus. Hume found Noddies of this
species in large numbers breeding on Cherbaniani Reef, one of
the Laccadives, and just beginning to lay in the second week in
February. Only one egg is laid by each bird ; it is whitish as a
rule, very sparingly spotted with dark brown and pale purple, and
measures about 2-08 by T38.
1516. Anous leucocapillus. The White-headed Noddy.
Anous leucocapillus, Gould, P. Z. S. 1845, p. 10:3; Sounders, P. Z. S.
1876, p. 670, pi. Ixi, fig. 3; Hume, S. F. iv, p. 480; id, Cat.
no. 994 bis ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 435.
Anous melanogenys, Gray, Gen. B. iii, p. 661, pi. 182 (1846).
Anous tenuirosiris, apud Btyth, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 373; id. Cat.
p. 293; id. Ibis, 1865, p. 40; 1867, p. 178; Jerdon, B. I. iii,
p. 846 ; Beavan, Ibis, 1867, p. 334 ; 18C8, p. 405 ; Hume, Cat.
no. 994 ; Oates, B. B. ii; p. 435 ; nee Sterna tenuirostris, Temm.
Anous senex, apud Hume, $. :F. ii, p. 321 ; iv, p. 480 ; ncc Leach.
Micranous leucocapillus, Saundcrs, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 145.
Coloration. Forehead and crown white, passing into a*hy grey
and then into dark brown on the nape ; lores and chin jet-black ;
sidas of neck, throat, and fore neck black with a grey wash ; rest
of plumage blackish brown.
Younger birds are dark brown ; but the lores are black and the
forehead and crown white at all ages.
Bill black ; iris brown ; tarsi and toes blackish brown (Layard).
Length 13 ; tail 4*75 ; wing 9 ; tarsus '9 ; bill from gape 2-1.
Distribution. Tropical seas generally. This species has been
repeatedly seen and occasionally obtained in the Bay of Bengal.
Blyth received a specimen from the mouth of the Ganges, and
there is a skin in the Hume collection from Minicoy. The habits
resemble those of A. stolidus.
Gygis Candida (Gm.) is probably found at times in Indian seas.
There is a skin in the Leyden Museum, collected by Dussumier
and labelled Bengal, and Hume believes he has twice seen this.
bird (S. F. vii, p. 447) ; but before including the species in the
Indian list further evidence is desirable. If found, the White
Noddy, as it is called, may be easily recognized by its pure white
plumage, black bill, and blue irides. The tail resembles that of
Anous in shape. Wing 9*5 ; tarsus very short, '6.
RHYNCHOPS. 327
Subfamily RHYNCHOPIN^.
Both mandibles greatly compressed, the upper considerably
shorter than the lower, convex on both sides towards the base.
General form slight, Tern-like.
The bill of a young llhynchops, when the bird is hatched,
resembles that of a Tern.
Genus RHYNCHOPS, Linn., 1766.
Culmen curved ; low^er mandible knife-like, flexible, truncated
at the end and closely marked on the side with minute oblique
ridges ; nostrils elongate, near base of upper inaudible and near
commissure, and opening in an irregular hollow. Wings very
long, 1st long quill longest ; tail short, slightly forked. Feet small ;
webs between toes with concave edges ; tarsus longer than middle
toe and claw.
Five species are known, of which three are American, one is
African, one Indian.
1517. Khynchops albicollis. The Indian Skimmer or
Scissors-bill. (Fig. 68, p. 296.) 4
S. F. iv, p. 32; v, pp. ^25, 235; A. Anderson, P. Z. S. 1877,
p. 807; Wardl. Rams. Ibis, 1877, p. 472; Hume $ Dav. & F. vi,
A*-\f\ T\ * . O TTr 7 O T7T _ ** _. r\O T7. . -"7, * .1 „ C\i \ .
Hume, S. F. xi, p. 351 ; Oates in Hume's N. fy K 2nd ed. iii, p. 310 ;
launders, Cat. 13. M. xxv, p. 159.
Panchira, H.
Coloration. Forehead, lores, cheeks, neck all round, and all lower
parts white: crown, nape, back, and wings blackish brown ; secon-
daries broadly tipped white, tertiaries and scapulars narrowly edged
with white near the tip ; middle of rump, middle tail-coverts, and
iuDer webs of median rectrices blackish brown ; sides of rump and
of upper tail-coverts and remainder of tail white.
Bill deep orange, yellowish at the tip of both mandibles ; irides
brown ; legs bright vermilion-red.
Length 16-5 ; tail 4'5 ; wing 16 ; tarsus 1-1 ; lower mandible
from gape 3'5 to 4, upper inaudible half an inch to an inch
shorter.
Distribution. The larger rivers of India and Burma. This bird
is unknown in Ceylon.
Habits, $c. The Indian Skimmer is usually seen on broad and
328
smooth rivers down to the tideway, not in torrents nor, so far as
is known, on the sea, though occasionally a few birds may haunt
large open tanks, and even jheels. They are usually found
in the morning and evening flying, often in scattered flocks, rather
slowly close to the water, now and then dipping their bills in the
stream, as shown in the vignette on p. 296. During the day the
flocks generally rest on sandbanks. They certainly catch fish at
times ; I once found a fish in the stomach of a Skimmer on the
Nerbudda, and others have done the same, but as a rule nothing
but a yellowish oily fluid is found, apd the use of the very peculiar
beak that this bird possesses is still unknown. This species breeds
on sandbanks in rivers about March and April, and lays four eggs
in a small depression in the sand. The eggs vary in tint, pale buft'
or stone-colour, greenish or greyish white, blotched and streaked
with dark brown and pale inkv purple, and they measure about
1-63 by 1-18.
Family STEECORARIID^].
The Skuas are an interesting group of Gull-like birds that live
mainly by robbing Gulls, Terns, and Petrels of their food. Bold,
active, and armed with a strong bill and sharp claws, a Skua
pounces on other sea-birds and forces them to drop any fish or
other food they may have secured, and this food is seized by the
robber often before it reaches the water. At times Skuas feed on
eggs, on young or sickly birds, or on small mammals. They are
dark-coloured birds, and breed in high latitudes, laying as a rule
two olive eggs sported with brown.
The bill somewhat resembles that of Gulls in shape, but is con-
siderably broader at the base ; the culrnen is greatly curved at the
tip, and the upper mandible bent over the end of the lower; but
there is a well-developed horny cere extending more than half the
length of the bill, and with the anterior part of its lower border
overhanging the nostrils. The lower mandible is straight, and the
angle very near the end. The claws are greatly curved and very
sharp, the anterior toes long and fully webbed, hind toe small,
and the tarsus strong and shielded in front. Wings long and
pointed, 1st long quill longest; tail long and rounded, with the
two middle feathers projecting beyond the others, sometimes for
several inches. Skuas are distinguished from Gulls by having
well-developed functional caeca, and by having only one notch on
each side of the posterior margin of the sternum.
The Skuas have been divided into two genera on account of
slight differences in the bill and tail ; but the oulv two species
satisfactorily identified as occurring within Indian limits belong to
the same genus.
STERC011A.RIUS. 329
Genus STERCORARIUS, Brisson, 1760.
Characters of the family.
Key to tlie Species.
ft. Wing about 13: median rectrices pointed . 8. crepidatus, p. 329.
b. Wing 14 ; median rectrices rounded at end. £ pomatorhinus, p. 330.
1518. Stercorarius crepidatus. Richardson's Skua.
Larus crepidatus, Banks in Cook's Voy. (Hawkesivorth's ed.) ii, p. 15
(1773) (descr. nulla) ; Gmel. S. N. i, p. 602 (1788).
Stercorarius parasiticus, apud Schaejfer, Mm. Orn. p. 62, pi. 37
(1789) ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 268 ; nee Linn.
Stercorarius crepidatus, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxxii, p. 155 ;
Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 327.
Stercorarius asiaticus, Hume, S. F. i, p. 270 ; Butler Sf flume, S. F.
\, p, 294 ; Hume, Cat. no. 977 ter ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 422.
Fig. 74. — Head of S. crepidatus, immature, f .
Coloration. Crown, nape, lores, and sides of head to beneath
the orbit, with a patch at the side of the lower mandible below the
gape, dark brown, darker behind, but passing into whitish at the
base of the bill ; cheeks, ear -coverts and their neighbourhood,
lower parts to vent, and a narrow collar round the neck (sharply
defined in front, but not behind) white ; throat and collar more or
less tinged with glossy straw-colour, and very often a pale brown
gorget across the upper breast ; all upper parts from the neck,
the wings above and below, tail, lower tail-coverts, feathers around
vent, thigh-coverts, flanks, and axillaries dark brown ; all shafts of
primaries white.
There is also a dark variety, which is dark brown throughout,
generally rather paler below than above, and tinged with yellow
round the neck. Intermediate forms, with more or less of the
lower surface brown, also occur.
Young birds are dark brown above, the edges of many feathers
mottled with rufous ; lower parts brown, chin to fore neck streaked
with paler brown ; rest of lower plumage irregularly barred with
brown and white or rufous. In a further stage (as in the type of
&. asiaticus) the upper parts are blackish brown, the crown streaked
whitish, hind neck and back more or less barred and fringed with
the same, and some of the upper, tail-coverts broadly banded
330 STEBCOKARIIDJE.
brown and rufescent white ; lower parts white, with brown, rather
irregular crossbars on sides of neck, fore neck, breast, flanks, and
lower tail-coverts.
Bill brown ; cere pale greenish brown ; irides brown ; legs and
feet dull black (Hume).
Length about 20 ; tail without middle pair of feathers 5, the
middle feathers 1 to 3 inches longer; wing 13 ; tarsus 1'75 ; bill
from gape 2.
Distribution. This Skua breeds in Arctic and Subarctic regions,
down to lat. 55°, and is found in winter in many parts of the world,
ranging as far south as New Zealand, tbe Cape of Good Hope, and
Bio Janeiro. It is by no means rare at that season on the Makran
and Sind coasts, and some were seen by Captain Butler as late
in the year as June. There can, I think, be no doubt that Mr.
Howard Saunders was right in identifying S. asiaticus with
Richardson's Skua.
1519. Stercorarius pomatorhinns. The PomatorTiine Slcua.
Lestris pomarhinus, Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 514 (1815) ; Jerdon,
B. I. iii, p. 8'28.
Catarracta pomarina, Blyih, J. A. S. B. xxviii, p. 416.
Lestris pomatorhinus, Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 163.
Stercorarius pomatorhinus, Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 4ftO ; Hume,
Cat. no. 977 bis; Oates, B. L. ii, p. 413; Saunders, Cat. B. M.
xxv, p. 322.
This is a larger species than S. crepidatus, but similar in
plumage, except that the cap is blackish and without any whitish
frontal margin, and that the throat and collar are more strongly
tinged with glossy brownish yellow ; there is some white barring
on the hind neck behind the collar, and the lower fore neck, upper
breast, and lower abdomen are dark brown, more or less barred
and mottled with white. The middle tail-feathers, too, are blunt
and rounded at the end, not pointed. Dark forms also occur, as
in S. crepidatus.
Bill horn-brown, bluish on the cere ; irides brown ; legs and
feet black.
Length 21 ; tail 5-25, the middle tail-feathers 2 to 4 inches
longer ; wing 14 ; tarsus 2-2 ; bill from gape 2.
Distribution. The Pomatorhine Skua breeds north of the Arctic
circle, but ranges widely in winter, and has been shot in Australia,
South Africa, and South America. A single specimen was once
obtained by Col. Tickell at Moulmein.
A single specimen of the Antarctic Skua, Stercorarius (or
Megalestris) antarcticus, was brought alive to Major Legge at
Colombo, in Ceylon, but under circumstances which made it
doubtful whether it had been captured in the island (Birds Ceyl.
p. 1050, footnote). This Skua is a large bird, with a wing of about
16 inches, dark brown above and paler brown be]ow, inhabiting
the Southern Ocean.
Fig. 75. — Pelecanus crispus.
Order XIX. STEGANOPODES.
This order contains the Pelicnns, Frigate-birds, Cormorants,
Gannets or Boobies, and Tropic-birds — all distinguished by having
the four toes united by a web (fig. 76). There is a great difference
between the preceding order — the schizognathous Gaviae — and that
now under consideration. The Steganopodes are desmognathous
birds, distinctly connected with the Accipitres, and might have
followed the diurnal Birds of Prey in the classification. The
orders to be hereafter discussed have more or less connexion with
the Stegnnopodes.
The principal characters of the present order are the following : —
All four toss united by web, the hsillux well developed and turned
inwards. Skull desinognathous and holorhinal ; basipterygoid pro-
cesses absent ; angle of mandible truncnted. Furcula generally
anchylosed to keel of sternum, least in Sula nnd Phaethon. Oil-
gland tufted ; caeca variable ; tongue rudimentary. Deep plantar
tandons united by a strong vinculum, and only a slender portion
332 PEL SCAN IDvE.
of the Jtexar longus hallucis reaches the hallux. Aquincubital ;
affrershaft rudimentary or wanting; plumage of the neck con-
tinuous, without apteria. The eggs are somewhat variable ; the
Fig. 76. — Foot of Phalacrocorax juvanicus.
young are hatched blind, either naked or covered with down, but
in all cases undergo a protracted downy stage, during which they
are helpless and fed by the parent birds.
Families of Steganopodes.
a. Web between toes deeply emarginate ; tail
forked Fregatidae.
b. Web between toes not em arginate; tail rounded
or cuneate.
«'. Middle tail-feathers not greatly produced ;
nostrils not pervious.
a". Size very large : bill long, flattened. . . . Pelecanidae.
b" . Size moderate : bill compressed.
a3. Bill slender, subcylindrical, or very
elongate and pointed ; nostrils small . Phalacrocoracidas.
b3. Bill stout, conical ; no external nostrils. Sulidae.
b'. Middle tail-feathers greatly produced ; nos-
trils pervious Phaethontidae.
Family PELECANIDAE.
This family, like PhaetJwntidce, Sulidce, and Freyatidce, consists of
a single living genus, which is distributed throughout the warm
and temperate regions of the earth. There are 17 cervical ver-
tebrae. The ambiens and all other of the characteristic thigh-
muscles are absent, except the femoro-caudal. No syringeal
muscles.
Genus PELECANUS, Linn., 1766.
Upper mandible depressed, narrower and higher at the base,
broader and flattened towards the end, composed of a median bar,
convex externally, continuing the whole length of the bill, and
terminating in a strongly hooked nail, and of two lateral portions,
PELECANUS. 333
, each separated from the median bar by a very narrow but distinct
groove, in the basal part of which the small nostril opens. Lower
, mandible thin, of two flexible arches supporting a large pouch of
naked membrane. Sides of head, including the eyes, without
feat hers. Wings ample ; tail short ; tarsus compressed, reticulate
in front.
Pelicans are found in all the warmer regions of the world.
Four species occur in India.
Key to the Species.
a. Feathers of forehead terminate in a point.
a'. Tail-feathers 22 : bill from gape in female
10-12, in male 14-16 in P. rosem, p. 333.
V. Tail-feathers 24: bill in both sexes 17-
18 in P. onocrotalus, p. 334.
b. Feathers of forehead end in front in a trans-
verse concave line ; 22 rectrices.
c'. Wing- 25-20 ; hill from <rape 14-18 in. . . P. crispus, p. 335.
d1. Wing 22-24 ; bill 13-14 in P. philippensis, p. 335.
The habits of all Pelicans, so far as is "known, are similar. These
birds are found on marshes, rivers, backwaters, or the sea, some-
times singly or in small numbers, but often in large flocks. They
fly well, with the neck bent and the head close to the shoulders,
and often ascend to great heights in the air. They walk badly,
and are seldom seen on land ; they swim well and strongly, but
they never dive. They live on fish, and when in flocks often
capture their prey by forming in single, double, or even triple
lines across a piece of water, and driving the fish before them by
beating the water with their wings. When the fish are driven
into shallow water, the Pelicans scoop them up into their pouches.
The following are some of ihe Indian names for Pelicans : — •
Hawasil, Guyun bher, Gany yoya, Penr, Jalasind, H. ; Bellua, Birua
or Bherua, Behar ; Gara-polo or Gora-pallo, Beng. ; Chinka-batu,
Tel. ; Madde-pora, Tain. ; Kulukedai, Ceylonese Tamils ; Kula
Kidar, Singh. Sdchawct (P. ruseus), Woon-boh (P. philippensis),
Burm.
1520. Pelecanus roseus. The Eastern White Pelican.
Pelecanus roseus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 570 (1788) ; Walden, Tr. Z. S.
ix, p. 245 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 239.
Pelecanus javanicus, Horsf. Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 197 (1821);
Blyth, Cat. p. 297 ; id. J. A. S. B. xviii, p. 821 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii,
p. 857 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 179 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 494 ;
Cripps, S. F. vii, p. 314 ; Hume, Cat. no. 1003 ; Reid, S. F. x,
p. 87 ; Hume, ibid. p. 496 ; Barnes, Birch Bom. p. 437 ; Hume,
S. F. xi, p. 351.
Pelecanus mitratus, apud Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 856, pt. ; Sclater,
P. Z. S. 1868, p. 266, tier. 3 ; nee Licht.
Pelecanus minor, apud Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 180; Elliot, P. Z. S.
1869, p. 580 ; Oates, S. F. x, p. 247 ; nee Riipp.
Pelecanus onocrotalus, apud Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 854 ; Hume, S. F. i,
Ball, S. F. vii, p. 233 ;
334 PELECAXID.E.
pp. 128, 288, pt.; Adam, ibid. p. 403;
Hume, S. F. x, p. 502 ; Doig, ibid. p. 510.
The European Pelican, Crested Pelican, and Lesser White Pelican,
Jerdon.
Coloration. Adults are white, deeply suffused with rosy pink
when in full breeding-plumage ; all primaries and primary-coverts
black ; secondaries black, with white outer borders that become
broader on the inner feathers, some of which and some scapulars
generally have a narrow outer blackish edge ; a patch of elongate
feathers on top of breast yellow or «chreous.
Young birds have the scapulars, the wing-feathers, quills and
coverts above and below, and the tail-feathers brown ; primaries
black ; head, neck, and lower parts more or less mixed or tinged
with dull ferruginous red.
There is no true crest in the male ; the feathers, in a line or inane
along the back of the neck, are slightly lengthened, and it is only
in old females that a crest about 4 inches long occurs. Tail-
feathers 22.
In adults the upper mandible is blue, slightly mottled with
white on the median rib, red at the sides, nail coral-red ; basal half
of lower mandible blue, red at the margins, terminal half yellow ;
pouch gamboge-yellow ; face yellow ; iris lake-red ; tarsus and toes
pink, webs yellow. In young birds the bill is blue faintly margined
with black, nail pale chestnut, pouch ochre-yellow, face violet, iris
orange, legs yellowish white, the front of the tarsus and toes
blackish (Gates).
Length of male about 62 ; tail 8 ; wing 27 ; tarsus 5 ; bill from
gape 14 to 16. Females are smaller : length 54 ; tail 7 ; wing 24 ;
tarsus 4-5; bill 10 to 12.
Distribution. Eastern Asia and the Malay Archipelago. A
winter visitor to Burma and to many parts of India, where, how-
ever, it passes gradually into the next species.
1521. Pelecanus onocrotalus. The White or Roseate Pelican.
Pelecanus onocrotalus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 215 (1766) ; Blyth, Cat.
p. 297 : Salater, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 264, figs. 1, 2 ; Hume, S. F, \,
pp. 128, 288, pt. ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 32 ; Hume, Cat. no. 1001 ;
id. S. F. x, p. 488 ; Barnes, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 303 *.
Pelecanus niitratus, Licht. Abh. Ak. Berl. 1838, p. 436, pi. iii, fig. 2 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, j). 856, pt. ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 179.
Pelecanus longirostris, Hume, S. F. v, p. 491 ; id. Cat. no. 1001 bis.
This only differs from P. roseus in its larger size and longer bill,
in having Ihe frontal region much swollen, and in possessing
24 rectrices instead of 22. There is also apparently less difference
in size and in the length of bill between the sexes.
Length of male about 72 ; tail 8 ; wing 28 ; tarsus 5'5 ; bill
from gape 18. Females are smaller.
* Some of the?e references probably belong to P. roseus, but as (he two forms
pass into each other in India, it is impossible to disentangle the synonymy.
PELECANUS. 335
Distribution. Southern Europe, Northern Africa, and South-
western Asia. Some of the White Pelicans found in Northern
India in the cold season belong apparently to this species, but the
greater number are intermediate in size and other characters
between P. onocrotalus and P. roseus.
1522. Pelecanus crispus. The Dalmatian Pelican.
(Fig. 75, p. 331.)
Pelecanus crispus, Bruch, Isis, 1832, p. 1109; Sclater, P. Z.S. 1868,
p. 267 ; Hume, Ibis, 1868, p. 235 ; Elliot, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 582 ;
Hume, S. F. i, p. 288 ; iv, pp. 33, 40 ; vii, pp. 98. 448 ; id. Cat.
no. 1004 bis ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 87 ; Hume. ibid. p. 494 ; Doig, ibid.
p. 503 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 436.
Coloration. Silvery white ; the back-feathers, scapulars, greater
and median wing-coverts, tertiaries, and upper tail-coverts with
black shafts ; primaries and primary-coverts black, ends of secondary
quills ashy brown, whitish on edges ; tail pure white in old birds.
Feathers of head and neck soft and curly, without any dark bases ;
crest broad and thick, but not long. There appears to be no change
of plumage at the breeding-season, except the assumption of a yellow
breast-patch of lengthened feathers.
Young birds are more or less brown on the upper parts, wings,
arid tail, and the neck-feathers have dark bases. The adult plumage
is gradually assumed, and in this and other Pelicans requires three
or four years for completion.
Bill in adults dusky plumbeous ; edges of upper and lower
mandibles for the terminal two-thirds yellowish ; nail orange ;
pouch light primrose to pale fleshy, but in the breeding-season
deep orange-red ; cheeks and orbits yellow ; irides white ; legs and
feet pale plumbeous. In young birds the bill is horny brown or
grey, lower mandible and pouch creamy white, cheeks and orbits
the same, irides pale yellow (Hume).
Length of male 72 ; tail 9 ; wing 28 ; tarsus 4*5 ; bill from
gape 17. Females are smaller : wing 26 ; bill 14.
Distribution. South-eastern Europe, Northern Africa, and South-
western Asia as far east as India. This Pelican is a winter visitor
to Oudh, the North-west Provinces, the Punjab, Sind, and Baluch-
istan, and abounds at the season nam^d in the dhundhs or marshes
of Siud, on the Indus, and on the Makran coast. Either this or
P. onocrotalus breeds near Fao, at the head of the Persian Gulf.
1523. Pelecanus philippensis. The Spotted-billed Pelican.
p. 324 ; Butler 8f Hume, S. F. iv, p. 33; Oates, S. F. v, p. 16
Hume $ D(w. S. F. vi, p. 495 ; Oates, S. F. vii, p. 41 ; Dav.
Wend. ibid. p. 93; Hume, Cat, no. 1004; Butler, S. F. ix,p.442;
Reid, S. F. x, p. 87 ; Oates, ibid. p. 247 ; Hume, ibid. pp. 499, 501 '
id. S. F. xi, p. 3-51 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 438.
336
Pelecanus philippinensis, Wafden, Tr. Z. S. ix} p. 246 ; Legt/f, Birds
Ceyl. p. 1 198.
Peleeanus manillensis, apud Oates, B. B ii, p. 236 : id. in Humes
N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 276 ; nee Gmel.
The Grey Pelican, Jerdon.
Coloration. In breeding-plumage (September to February) the
greater part of the plumage is white : the lower back, upper
rump, flanks, vent- feathers, and lower tail -co verts vinaceous pink ;
crown and neck-feathers short, curly, white, dark brown at the
base ; a slight crest and a ridge *>r mane of longer brownish
feathers down the back of the neck : scapulars, median and greater
wing-coverts, and upper tail-coverts with black shafts ; lesser and
median secondary-coverts elongate and pointed ; primaries and
primary-coverts black or dark brown, terminal halves of secondaries
blackish or brown : tail light ashy brown.
Young birds and old birds from March to August have the head
and neck white, with black bases to the feathers; back white;
rump, upper tail-coverts, and flanks white, with brown shai't-
stripes ; wings and tail brown ; lower plumage whity brown ;
wing-coverts short, not lanceolate. Both breeding and non-
breeding plumages are assumed by a moult. The full breeding-dress
is not assumed till the fourth year ; in the second and third years
the assumption is only partial. Mr. Oates, who kept Pelicans for
several years and studied the changes of plumage, has given a full
account of them.
Bill pinkish yellow, the lateral portions of the upper mandible
with large bluish-black spots; the nail and terminal halves of both
mandibles orange-yellow7, the central portions of the sides of the
lower mandible smeared with bluish black; pouch dull purple,
blotched and spotted with bluish black ; eyelids and skin round
the eye orange-yellow, skin in front of the eye livid ; irides stone-
white, varying to pale yellow clouded with brown ; legs and feet
very dark brown (Oales}. Tail-feathers 22.
Length 57 ; tail 7'5 ; wing 22 ; tarsus 3'5 ; bill from gape 14.
Females are a little smaller.
Distribution. Throughout the better-watered tracts of India,
Ceylon, and Burma, and the whole Oriental Region.
Habits, tyc. This is the only Pelican that has been observed to
breed within Indian limits. Several breeding-places have been
noticed in Ceylon, where the breeding-season is between December
and March. Jerdon states that he visited one breeding-place in
the Carnatic, but the birds were absent, and of late years no
authentic account of Pelicans breeding in India has appeared. In
Burma, however, Oates visited a forest near Shwe-gyen, on the
Sittang, where this bird breeds in enormous numbers in November,
making its nests of sticks on high trees, there being from three to
fifteen nests in one tree. The area in which these birds breed
is about 20 miles long by 5 broad. The eggs, three in number,
are white and. chalky, always greatly soiled during incubation, and
they measure about 3 by 2'15.
FREGATIDjE. 337
Family FREGATID^E.
This family is formed by a single genus containing the Frigate-
birds — rather large dark-coloured oceanic birds, which far surpass
all other Steganopodes in expanse of wing, and greatly resemble
Accipitrine birds in their mode of flight. Although, as in other
families of the present order, all four toes are united by a mem-
brane, the web is much less developed than in the allied forms.
The tarsus is broad and very short. Furcula arichylosed to keel of
sternum ; nostrils not pervious. Cervical vertebrae 15 ; syringeal
muscles present ; ambiens and femoro-caudal developed, the other
characteristic thigh-muscles wanting.
Frigate-birds breed on oceanic islands. The nest of sticks
is placed ou rocks or on bushes, and a single \vhite e^g is laid.
Genus FREGrATA, Brisson, 1760.
Bill long, straight, and strongly hooked at the end, both man-
dibles being curved downward at the tip; culmen flattened, lateral
grooves deep, bifurcating at the dertrum or nail, and the lower
branch terminating in a notch in the rnargiu; nostrils in the
groove, basal and linear. A large naked gular pouch. Wings
very long and pointed : 1st quill considerably the longest. Tail
of 12 feathers, deeply forked. Tarsus very short, feathered ; middle
toe longest ; web between toes deeply emargiiiate ; claws long,
curved, tliat of middle toe pectinated inside.
Two or three species are known and range throughout tropical
seas; two have been taken within Indian limits.
Key to the Species.
a. Bin from gape about 5 inches F. aquila, p. 338.
b. Bill from gape about 375 inches . F* ariel, p. 338.
Fig. 77.— Head of F. arid.
Frigate or Man-o'-war Birds are well known to seamen from
their remarkably powerful flight, and from the use they make of
their speed in pursuing Ganuets, Gulls, and Terns in order to rob
them of their prey. The Frigate-birds live by piracy in tropical
seas, just as the Skuas do in colder latitudes ; but the species
of Frujata do not confine themselves to nsh takeu by other birds :
YOL. IT. 2
they ofteu capture flying-fishes, cuttle-fishes, crabs, or even young
turtles.
1524. Fregata aquila. The Frigate-bird or Man-of-war Bird.
Pelecanus aquilus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 216 (1766).
Attagen aquilus, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 853.
Fregata aquila, Hume, Cat.no. 1000; Lcgge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1204;
Oates, B. B. ii, p. 227.
Coloration. Male black throughout, richly glossed with metallic
purple and green on the head, nfck, back, and scapulars, less
richly on the wings and tail.
Females have the whole breast white, this colour extending back
laterally on to the flanks, the back brownish black, and all the
smaller wing-coverts and the inner median coverts with pale
brown or whitish edges.
Young birds have *-he head, neck, breast, and middle of abdomen
white, the head and neck often tinged with ferruginous, and the
lower breast sometimes blackish brown ; wing-coverts as in the
adult female. In worn plumage the back and quills are brown.
Bill bluish grey ; irides red (sometimes black) ; gular skin, legs,
and feet red.
Length about 40; tail 15-19; wing 22-25; bill from gape
4-5-5-25.
Distribution. All tropical seas and oceans. This bird has
been occasionally obtained on the coast of India. Jerdon mentions
receiving a specimen that had been shot near Mangalore, and there
is a skin from Ceylon in the British Museum.
1525. Fregata ariel. The Smaller Frigate-bird.
Attagen ariel, Gould, Gray, Gen. B. iii, p. 669 (1845) (descr. nulla) ;
Gould, Biids Australia, vii, pi. 72 (1848) ; Layard, A. M. A7. H.
(2) xiv, p. 271.
Attagen minor, apud Holds/worth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 482; nee -Pele-
canus minor, Gm.
Fregata minor, apud Hume, S. F. vii, p. 447 ; id. Cat. no. 1000 bis;
Leffye, Birds Ceyl. p. 1203 ; Hume, S. F. ix, p. 119 ; Oates, B. B.
ii/p.228.
Coloration similar to that of F. aquila, except that the adult
male has a large white patch on each tiank, and the female a white
or whitish collar round the base of the neck. This species is, how-
ever, much smaller, with a shorter and more slender bill. Young
birds have the breast blackish brown, and only the head, neck,
and abdomen white.
Bill grey ; irides red ; gular skin red ; eyelids, legs, and feet
black in males; red in females. In the your.g the irides are
black; bill and feet blackish white ('Challenger' Keports).
Tail about 13 ; wing 20 ; bill from gape 3*5-4.
Distribution. Tropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans as
far east as the Society Islands. This Frigate-bird appears not to
be rare on the coast of Ceylon, where several examples have been
obtained.
PIIAL A.CKOCOR ACI D /E.
339
Fig. 78. — Plotus melanogaster.
Family PHALACROCOEACID.E.
The Cormorants and Darters are diving fishers with black or
blackish plumage on the upper parts, and very often on the lower
also. They have a longish neck, a somewhat slender and elongate
bill, and stiff tail-feathers. The nostrils are small and not per-
vious. Cervical vertebrae 20. Ambiens, feinoro-caudal, and serm-
tendinosus muscles present, the two accessory thigh-muscles
wanting. Syringeal muscles present.
There are two subfamilies thus distinguished; each contains a
single genus : —
Bill hooked at tips, margins of com-
missure smooth Phalacrocoracince, p. 340.
Bill straight, pointed, margins toothed. Plotinos, p. 343.
z2
340 PHALACKOCORACID^:.
Subfamily PHALACROCORACIN^E.
4
Genus PHALACROCORAX, Brisson, 1760.
Bill of moderate length, rather slender, compressed ; culmen
rounded, sharply hooked at the end, a long narrow groove on each
side, bifurcating afe the dertrum or nail, and the lower branch run-
ning to the commissure. A gular pouch, naked auterioriy. Wings
of moderate length ; 2nd quill usually longest. Tail rounded or
cuneate, of 12 or 14 stiff feathers. Tarsus short and compressed ;
toes flattened; claws much curved.
This genus contains about M7 species, which are of almost world-
wide distribution. Three are Indian.
Key to the Species.
a. Tail of 14 feathers ; wing about 13 in. long . . P. carbo, p. 340.
I). Tail of 12 feathers.
G', Wing about 10-5 in. P.fuscicollis, p. 341.
V. Wing about 8 in P.javanicus, p. 342.
All Cormorants live on fish, which they capture by diving, and
all are extremely voracious. They swim much immersed in the
water. When resting after fishing, they sit on rocks, on stumps
or branches, and often remain motionless with their wings partially
expanded. They have a powerful sustained flight ; but rise from
the water heavily and with difficulty, flapping for some distance
along the surface. They make their nests of twigs, lined with
grass or seaweed, and placed on trees or rocks, and the eggs are
elongate-oval with a chalky-white superficial layer, beneath which
the shell is bluish green.
1526. Phalacrocorax carbo. The Large Cormorant.
Pelecanus carbo, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 216 (1766).
Phalacrocorax carbo, Pallas, Zooar. Rosso- Asiat. ii, p 297 ; Hume fy
Dav. S. F. vi, p. 496; gall, S. F. vii, p. 234 ; Doty, ibid. p. 409;
Hume, Cat. no. 1005 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 364 ; Le</(/e, Birds
Ceyl. pp. 1182, 1223; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 594; Reid, S. F. x,
p. 87 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 231 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 438 ;
Hume 8f Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 352 ; Oates in Humes N. $ E. 2nd
ed. iii, p. 270 ; Barnes, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 304 ; Bulkley,
op. cit. vii, p. 544.
Graculus albiventer, Tickell, J. A. S. B. xi, p. 463 (1842).
Graculus carbo, Blyth, Cat. p. 298 ; Jcrdon, B. I. iii, p. 861 ; Hume,
S. F. i, p. 289 ; Adam, ibid. p. 403 ; Oates, S. F. iii, p. 349 ; v,
p. 169 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 33 ; Doiy, S. F. viii, p. 377.
Ghogur, Pan-koioa, Jal-koioa, H. ; Tin-gyi, Burm. These names are
used for all species of Cormorants. Wadda Silli, Sind ; Bonta-kaki, Tel.
Coloration, Adults are black, glossed with dull purplish or
green : a white band from eye to eye across the throat, forming a
broad border to the naked gular pouch ; a small longitudinal
PIIALACftOCORAX. 341
pointed nuchal crest ; feathers of the upper back, scapulars, and
wing-coverts with broad brownish bronze centres and black
margins, the quills brownish black ; tail-feathers dull black.
In the breeding-season a large patch of snowy-white appears on
each fl.ink, and the plumage of the head and upper neck, with the
exception of the crest, is interspersed with a mass of long silky,
almost hair-like white plumes, which often conceal the shorter
black feathers. These white feathers are shed after the breeding-
season.
Young birds of the year are dull brown above, with blackish
margins to the feathers of the upper back, the scapulars, and
wing-coverts ; the middle of the throat, the whole breast, and the
middle of the abdomen white. There is a gradual passage from
this to the adult plumage, which is only assumed in. the fourth
year, the upper parts, at a period when there is still much white
or whitish on the lower plumage, resembling those in adult birds.
Upper mandible and tip of lower dark brown, remainder of lower
mandible white or pinkish ; irides green ; eyelids and lores dusky
yellow ; skin of throat bright yellow, or black spotted with yellow ;
skin under eye orange ; legs and claws black. Tail-feathers 14.
Length 32; tail 7 ; wing 13 ; tarsus 2'3 ; bill from gape
3-75. There is considerable variation, and males as a rule are
larger than females.
Distribution. Almost throughout Asia, Europe, Africa, and Aus-
tralia, and on the A tlantic coast of North Americ a. This Cormorant
occurs on the coasts, large rivers, and larger pieces of fresh wrater
throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma.
Habits, cf*c. The Common Cormorant, though often seen fishing
singly, generally roosts in companies, and often associates in. large
flocks. It breeds in colonies, and the nests and eggs have been
taken in October by Gates in Lower Pegu, in January by Captain
Horace Terry near Eellary, Madras Presidency, and by Scrope
Doig on the Eastern JSTara, Siud, in November. The nests are,
in India, generally on trees growing in water, sometimes on rocks,
elsewhere on sea-cliffs. The eggs, 4 to 6. or even 7 in number,
are very elongated ovals, measuring about 2*5 by 1*6.
1527. Phalacrocorax fuscicollis. The Indian Shag.
Phalacrccorax fuscicollis, Stc-ph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii, pt. 1. p. 91
(1825) ; Hwne $ bav. S. F. vi, p. 406 ; Dav. $ Wend. S. F. vii,
p. 93 ; Butler, ibid. pp. 178, 189, 467 ; Ball, ibid. p. 234 ; Hume, Cat.
no. 1006; Doig, S. F. viii, p. 372; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1182;
Butler, S. F. ix, p. 442 ; Davidson, 8. F. x, p. 327 ; Gates, B. B.
ii, p. 233 ; Barnes, Birds Bow. p. 439 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Sac.
vi, p. 305; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 352 ; Gates in Hume's N. 8r E. 2nd
ed. iii, p. 272.
Graculus sinensis, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 298 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 862 ;
King, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 218 ; Gates, S. F. iii, p 350;
Butler, S. F. iv, p. 33.
Graculus fuscicollis, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 181; Bulger, 7^1869,
p. 170 ; Blyth Sf Wald. Birds Burm. p. 164 ; Gates, S. F. v, p. 170.
The Lesser Cormorant, Jerdon.
342 PHALACROCOftACIDJE.
Coloration. Black, glossed with purplish or greenish ; feathers
of upper back, scapulars, and wing-coverts dull brownish bronze,
with broad black margins. There are a few white specks on the
sides of the head, and, in breeding-plumage only, a pure white
tuft on each side of the neck behind the ear-coverts.
In non-breeding plumage, the throat is more or less speckled
with white.
Young birds are brown above, with black margins to the
feathers of the upper back, to the scapulars, and wing-coverts ;
throat white ; breast and abdomen partly or wholly white.
Bill dusky brown, reddish beneath ; irides verdigris-blue; nude
orbits black; gular skin yellow; feet black (Jtrdon). Irides
green ; naked skin of head yellow (Oates).
Length 25; tail (of 12 feathers) 6*5; wing 10*5; tarsus 1-8;
bill from gape 3-25.
Distribution. This species is rare or wanting in Northern India,
except in Sind, where it is a permanent resident, and about Delhi.
It has been found sparingly in Central India, the Deccan, the
Carnatic, and Orissa, and has been seen occasionally in Ceylon,
but appears not to have been observed on the Malabar coast. It
is more common to the eastward in Burma, and was found by
Hume in Manipur. It is probable that in some cases small
females of P. carbo have been mistaken for P.fuscicollis.
Habits, fyc. The Indian Shag is a bird of rivers, lakes, and
estuaries, rather than of the sea-coasts. It is resident in India, and
has been found breeding by Gates in July amongst reeds in the
Myitkyo Swamp, Pegu, and by Doig and Butler on tamarisk trees
in the Eastern Nara, Sind, from July to December. The eggs
are like those of P. carbo, and measure about 2-1 by 1-4.
1528. Phalacrocorax javanicus. The Little Cormorant.
PHydrocorax niger, Vieill N. Dirt. d'Hist. Nat. viii, p. 88 (1817).
Carbo javanicus, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 197 (1821).
Carbo melauognathus, Brandt, Bull. Acad. St. Petersb. iii, p. 57
(1837).
Graculus pygmaeus, amid Bhjth, Cat. p. 293 ; BlytJi $ Wald. Birds
Burm. p. 164 ; Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 264 ; Gates, S. F. v, p. 170 ;
nee Pallas.
Graculus javanicus. Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 863 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 181 ;
Butler $ Hume, 'S. F. iv, p. 34.
Graculus melanognathus, Hume, N. $ E. p. 660 ; id. S. F. i, p. 289 ;
Adam, ibid. p. 403.
1'halacroccrax pygmaeus, apud Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi, p. 496 ;
Ball, AS'. F. vii, p. 234; Cripps, ibid. p. 315 ; Hume, ibid. p. 497 ;
id. Cat. no. 1007 ; Doig, S. F. viii, p. 372 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl
p. 1191 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 96 ; Butler, ibid. p. 442 ; Reid, S. F.
x, p. 88 ; Davison, ibid. p. 419 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 234 ; id. in
Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 273 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 439 ;
id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 305 : Hume, S. F. xi, p. 352.
Pan-kowa, Jograbi, H. ; Pan-kowri, Pan-kouti, Beng. ; Niru-kahi,
Tel. ; Kadal Kagam, Jttr Kakam, Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Diya Kawa, Cing.
Coloration. Black, with a slight green gloss ; scapulars and
PHALACROCORAX. 343
wing-coverts dark silvery grey, with a broad black border to each
feather. In the breeding-season some scattered while feathers
are developed on the crown and sides of the head, and a few long
white hair-like plumes grow on the sides of the neck ; the feathers
uf the occiput and nape are slightly lengthened.
In non-breeding plumage there is a white throat bordering the
gular pouch.
Young birds are brown with a white throat, the coloration is
darker above; the back, rump, tail, and wing-feathers blackish;
scapulars and wing-coverts grey with brown borders ; middle of
breast and abdomen whitish.
Fig. 79.— Head of P. javanicus.
Bill brown, livid purple in the height of the breeding-season ;
gular skin and orbits blackish, livid in summer ; legs blackish,
dusky livid at the same season (Jerdon).
Length 20 ; tail (of 12 feathers) 5*75 ; wing 8 ; tarsus 1-4 ;
bill from gape 2'3.
Distribution. Throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma in all lovr,
well-watered areas, also in the Malay Peninsula, {Sumatra, Java,
and Borneo.
Habits, fyc. This is by far the commonest Indian Cormorant ;
it is found in rivers, marshes, and large tanks, but not on the sea-
coast, at all events commonly. It is usually found singly or in
small parties, but collects into flocks to roost, and breeds in
enormous numbers on trees about water in July, August, or
September in ^Northern India and in Burma, but in February and
March in Ceylon. The eggs are 3 to 5 in number, and measure
about 1-76 by 1-16.
Subfamily PLOTINJS.
Genus PLOTUS, Linn., 1760.
Bill slender, straight, very sharp-pointed, both margins of com-
missure toothed near the tip ; no lateral groove ; nostrils small,
basal, linear ; neck very slender, with a bend at the 8th and 9th
vertebrae which, as Garrod has shown (P. Z. S. 1876, p. 337),
enables the bird, by suddenly straightening the neck, to transfix
with its bill the lishes it captures. Wing pointed, 3rd quill
longest ; scapulars elongate and lanceolate. Tail long, cuneate, of
12 rigid feathers.
Four species inhabit the tropical regions of different con-
tinents ; one is Indiau.
344 PHALACKOCORACTDJE.
1529. Plotus melanogaster. The Indian Darter or Snake-lird.
(Fig. 78, p. 339.)
AnMnga melanogaster, Pennant, Indian Zool. p. 13, pi. xiii (1709).
Plotus melanogaster, Gmel. Syat. Nat. i, p. 68') (1788) : Blyth, Cat.
p. 299 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. '865 ; Hume, N. fy E. p. 661 ; id. S. F.
i. p. 289 ; Adam, ibid. p. 403 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 34 ; Fairbanfr,
Birds Bom. p. 440 ; Hume, S. F. \\, p. 353 ; Gates in Hume's
N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 274 ; Barnes, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi,
p. 306 ; Sinclair, op. cit. viii, p. 434.
Banwa, Pan Diibbi, H. ; Sili, Sind; Goyar, Ben°r. ; KaUaki-pitta, Tel.;
Chakuri, Southern Gonds ; Pambuttara, Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Diya Kawa,
Belli Eawa, Cing.
Coloration. Crown and neck brown, all the feathers with pale
edges, back of neck blackish ; chin, throat, and a line commencing
above Ihe gape, and continued about halfway down each side of
the neck, white ; a minute white streak also above the eye ; upper
back black, the feathers with brown edges ; lower back, rump,
tail-coverts, tail-feathers, primary and secondary quills, and lower
parts from the neek glossy black ; scapulars, wing-coverts, and
tertiaries black, with conspicuous silvery-white shaft-stripes ; last
tertiary in each wing arid two middle pairs of tail-feathers with
the outer web ribbed. Sexes alike.
In immature birds the neck is pale brown, whitish beneath,
with the lateral stripes indistinct. The black on the lower back,
rump, breast, and abdomen is sooty or brownish, and the silvery
stripes on the upper plumage tinged with yellow.
Bill with the upper mandible brown or blackish, the lower
yellowish; irides yellow; legs black (Oates). Iris pearly white,
with an inner and outer ring of yellow (Legye).
Length 36; tail 9; wing 14; 'tarsus 1*7 ; bill from gape 3\8.
Distribution. Throughout the Oriental Region in suitable
localities. In India, Ceylon, and Burma this bird is found
wherever there are extensive pieces of fresh water or large rivers
with a slow current.
Habits, fyc. The Snake-bird haunts fresh water, not the sea, but
it may be found on tidal estuaries and creeks. It swims with
only its snake-like head and neck out of water, and dives very
rapidly, either from the surface of the water or from a perch above it.
Its food consists of fish, and it captures them when diving either by
impaling them, with one of its mandibles or securing them between
the two; it then emerges from the water, throws up the captured
fish, catches it again, and swallows it head foremost. After
feeding, the Darter perches on a branch or stump of a tree, and
sits cormorant-like with extended wings. The voice of this Darter,
8ULIDJE. 345
according to Legge, is a harsh dissyllabic croak. The nest and
eggs are like those of Cormorants: 1 he breeding-season is July
and August in Northern India and Burma, January and February
in Madras and Ceylon. The birds breed in colonies, and generally
in company with Cormorants and Herons, on trees in or near
water, and the es:gs are three or four in number and measure
about 2-13 by 1'37.
Family SULID^E.
The Gannets or Boobies are black and white or brown and
white birds of considerable size, inhabiting the open sea, and
living on fish. They have a powerful pointed bill, and the outer
nostrils in adults are completely closed. Cervical vertebrae 18.
Ambiens, femoro-caudal, and semitendinosus muscles present, the
two accessory thigh-muscles absent. No syringeal muscles.
There is only one genus.
Genus SULA, Brisson, 1760.
Bill strong, straight, compressed, pointed ; the culmen flattened,
broad at the base, curved at the end but not hooked ; upper
mandible with a linear groove on each side near the culmen ;
nostrils completely closed in adults, minute and basal in young
birds ; inner margins of both mandibles serrated, especially towards
the tip. Sides of head to behind the orbit, chin, and part
of throat naked, the feathered area ending on the throat, in all
Indian species, in a transverse line. Wings long, pointed ; tail
long, wedge-shaped. Tarsus short ; outer and middle toes equal ;
claw of middle toe broad and pectinated.
About six species are known, including the Gannets, which
inhabit temperate regions and have a narrow naked strip running
down the middle of the throat, and the Boobies, which are tropical.
Three of the latter are said to be found in Indian seas.
Key io the Species.
a. Tail-feathers 14.
a'. Head, neck, and upper parts brown in adults ;
feet pale yellow & leucoy aster, p. 346.
//. Head, neck, body, and tail white in adults ;
feet red ....." S. pitcatrixj p. 347.
b. Tail-feathers 16.
c'. Head, neck, and body white in adults ; tail
blackish ; feet slaty S. cyanops, p. 347.
The members of this genus are said to be oceanic birds, but
they are more commonly found singly or in flocks about reefs and
islands, and they breed chiefly on isolated rocks in the sea, some-
346
times near continents, laving a single egg, which is externally chalky
white, but bluish green when the outer layer is removed. All have a
steady, rather powerful flight, generally to be recognized by the bird's
habit of alternately making a few rapid beats with the wings and
then sailing for some distance with wings extended. They feed
upon fish, the tropical species very generally on flying-fish, but
remains of cuttlefishes have also been found in their stomachs.
The Gaunets, or Solan Geese, as they are often called, dash into
the sea after their prey from a considerable height and with great
force, but Boobies appear less addicted to this style of fishing.
The name Booby appears to be derived partly from the stolid
appearance of the birds, partly from their frequently settling on
vessels and allowing themselves to be easily captured,
3530. Sula leucogaster. The Booby or Broivn Gamut.
Pelecanus sula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 218 (1766).
Pelecanus leucogaster, Bodd. Tabl PL Enl. p. 57 (1783).
Sula fiber, apud Blj/th, Cat. p. 296; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 851 ; Hume,
S. F. ii, pp. 51, 324 ; iv, p. 483.
Sula australis, Steph. apud Hume, 8. F. v, p. 318; Hume Sr Lai:.
S. F. vi, p. 493 : Hume, Cat. no. 998.
Sula leucogastra, Sclat. fy Sale. P. Z. S. 1878, p. 601 ; Legye, Birds
Ceyl. p. 1177.
Dysporus sula, Oates, B. B. ii, p. 229.
Fig. 80.— Head of S. Icucoy aster, i.
Coloration. In adults the head, neck, and upper breast, with
the whole upper surface, dark chocolate-brown : wing and tail-
feathers bluish brown; lower breast and belly white; wing-lining
almost wholly brown.
Young birds have the upper parts, wings, tail, head, and neck
all round down to the middle of the breast uniform sepia-brown,
lower breast and abdomen pale brow;nish, the limits of the two
colours well defined.
Bill creamy white, with a bluish tinge in veins ; pouch, gape, lores,
and orbital spaces pale hoary greenish yellow ; irides white ; legs
and feet pale yellow (Hume). Tail-feathers 14.
Length 32; tail 8; wiug 15; tarsus 1'7; bill from gape 4'7.
SULA. 347^
Distribution. Tropical seas throughout the world. The Booby
has frequently been seen and occasionally shot on the coasts of
India, Ceylon, and Burma-.
]531. Sula piscatrix. The Red-legged Booby.
Pelecanus piscator, Linn. Syst. Nut. i, p. 217 (1766).
Dysporus piscator, Sundevall, Physioyr. Sdllskapets Tidsk. i, p. 217 ;
Vrf. A. M. N. H. xix, p. 235 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 230.
Sula piscator, Blyth, Cat. p. 297 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 852 ; Hume,
Cat. no. 999.
Sula piscatrix, Hume, S. F. iv, p. 483 ; v, p. 312.
The White Booby, Jerdon.
Coloration. Adults are white with the exception of the
primaries, secondaries, and greater coverts, which are dark brown
tinged with silvery grey; the head, neck, and back sometimes
washed with buff.
Young birds are sepia-brown throughout, lower parts paler ; in
the next plumage the abdomen becomes whitish or white, then
the head, neck, and body. The quills are always more or less
tinged with hoary grey.
Bill, facial skin, legs and feet red (Sundevall); i rides grey, bill
in young bluish pink, orbital area plumbeous, pouch flesh-coloured
(McOillivray}. Tail-feathers 14.
Length about 26; tail 8-5; wing 15; tarsus 1-3; bill from
gape 4.
Distribution. Tropical seas. Blyth states that this bird is
common in the Bay of Bengal, and Jerdon that it is occasionally
seen there ; Sundevall says it is common in the Indian Ocean
between 10° N. and 10° 8., and that he saw one bird in May on
the coast of Bengal. It is, however, possible that S. cyanops,
which was not recorded from Indian seas by Sundevall, Blyth, or
Jerdon, has been at times mistaken for S. piscatrix. Hume saw
a large flock, apparently of the present species, close to one of the
Laccadive Islands ; and Blyth identified with S. piscatrix a young
bird obtained by Layard from the Maldives. No other specimen
has been obtained in the neighbourhood, and although, as the Bed-
legged Booby is common in the Malay Archipelago, it must, I
think, inhabit Indian seas, its claim to a place in the list of Indian
birds cannot be regarded as quite certain.
1532. Sula cyanops. The Masked Booby.
Dysporus cyanops, Sundevall, Physioqr. Sdllskapets Tidsk. i, p. 218
'(1837) ; id. A. M. N. H. xix, p. 236; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 231.
Sula cyanops, Butler, S. F. v, p. 303 ; Hume, ibid. p. 307 ; id. Cat.
no. 999 bis ; Butler, S. F. viii, p. 383 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1180;
Murray, S. F. x, p. 165 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 436 ; Sinclair,
Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. v, p. 303.
Sula melanops, Heugl. Ibis, 1859, p. 351, pi. x, fig. 2.
Coloration in adults white, except the quills, greater coverts,
and tail-feathers, which are blackish brown.
348 PHAfiTHONTIDJE.
Birds of the year are said to be greyish brown throughout. At
a later stage the upper parts and neck all round are dark brown,
the breast and abdomen white. This plumage is probably replaced
by that of the adult, some skins with the upper surface mostly
white retaining dark spots on the wing-coverts and lower back.
S. cynnops in the dark plumage is distinguished from S. Uuc.oc/aster
by having only the neck, not the breast, brown, and by its white
wing-lining.
Bill yellow or greenish yellow; loral and facial skin dark slate-
colour ; i rides yellow, reddish, 01^ greenish yellow; legs and toes
dark slaty or plumbeous ; webs darker (Legge). Tail-feathers
16 or 18.
Length 32; tail 7; wing 16-5; tarsus 2*2 : bill from gape 5*1.
Birds from the South Pacific are larger.
Distribution. Tropical seas. This Booby is of occasional occur-
rence on the Indian coasts both east and west of India. Specimens
have been obtained by Butler off Mekran, by Murray at Karachi,
aud by Sinclair close to Bombay.
Family PHAETHONTID^E.
The members of this family are about the size of the smaller
Gulls, and combine the structure of Gannets or Cormorants with
the habits and appearance of Terns. They have a satiny white
plumage, with a few black markings. The bill is pointed, not
hooked, the nostrils are narrowly pervious, and the palate is im-
perfectly desmognathous, the maxillo-palatines being separate
behind, though united with the nasal septum anteriorly, and the
vomer being well-developed and conspicuous. Cervical vertebroe
15. Ambiens absent, femoro-caudal, semitendinosus, and accessory
semitendinosus present, the last-named muscle not occurring in
other Steganopodous birds. Syringeal muscles present. Members
of the present family are also distinguished by laying spotted eggs.
A single genus.
Genus PHAETHON, Linn., 1766.
Bill stout, slightly curved throughout, the margins finely ser-
rated. Wings very long, 1st primary longest. Middle pair of
tail-feathers excessively elongated and attenuated. Tarsus very
short.
Four or five species are known, of which three have been recorded
from Indian seas.
349
Key to the Species.
a. Outer web of first primary black.
«'. Back barred in adults; white tips to iirst
primary very narrow. Tail-feathers 14 . P. indicus, p. 349.
b' . Back quite white in adults; white tip to
first primary more than 0'5 in. long-.
Tail-feathers 12 P.Jlavirostris, p. 350.
b. Outer web of tirst primary white. Tail-
leathers 1C . P, rubricauda, p. 350.
The Tropic-birds, called by sailors Boatswain (Bosun) Birds,
because, it is said, the long median tail-feathers recall the Boat-
swain's marling- spike, are truly oceanic, and are commonly seen
at a distance from land, where they attract attention by their
habit of flying up to ships, hovering round the masts, and some-
times resting on the masthead. They have a swift and elegant
night, and are often seen with their bills pointed downward, but
they turn their heads in various directions, sideways and even
backward when flying. Their visits to ships appear due to
curiosity, anything serves to attract them, and the firing of a gun
will often bring them from a considerable distance. They feed on
fish captured on the surface. They breed on oceanic islands,
chiefly in holes of rocks, laying a single egg, pinkish-white in
colour, mottled, spotted, and smeared with brownish purple.
1533. Phaethon indicus. The Short-tailed Tropic-bird.
Phaeton rubricauda, apud Holdsiuorth, P.Z.S. 1872, p. 482
Blanford, ZooL Geol. Abyssinia, p. 441 ; nee Bodd.
Phaeton <etherius, apud Hume, S. F. i. pp. 286, 441 ; nee Linn.
Phaeton indicus, Hume, S. F. iv, p. '481 (1876); Butler, S. F. v,
p. 302 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. . vi, p. 493; Hume, Cat. no. 996 bis ;
Butler, S. F. viii. p. 388 ; Let/ye, Birds CeyL p. 1173 ; Hume, S. F.
x, p. 146 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p.' 226 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 434.
Fig. 81 .—Head of P. indicus. $.
Coloration white, with a satiny gloss, barred with black on the
hind neck, back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts, -the bars
more or less crescentic ; a single broadly crescentic black patch
in front of the eye extending to the gape, and a black streak,
more or less broken, running back from each eye to the nape and
350 PHAETHONTIDyE.
forming a band round the crown ; outer webs, shafts, and portions
of inner webs near shafts of first five primaries black except the
narrow extreme wThite tips of the feathers ; tertiaries, primary
coverts, greater tertiary coverts, and long flank-feathers black
with white borders ; shafts of rectrices black except at the ends.
Young birds have a few black spots on the head.
Bill dull orange-red, inner margins of both mandibles dusky ;
irides blackish brown ; legs, hallux, and base of other toes and of
their webs yellowish white ; rest of feet black. Tail-feathers 14.
Length (including long tail-feathers) about 21 ; tail 7'5-12 ;
tail without median rectrices 4; wing 11-5; tarsus 1; bill from
gape 3-25.
Distribution. All seas around India from the Straits of Malacca
to the Persian Gulf, also the lied Sea.
This species is probably found throughout the Northern Indian
Ocean ; it represents the Atlantic P. cetherius, but is considerably
smaller, and has a much shorter tail.
1534. Phaethon flavirostris. The White Tropic-bird.
Phaeton Candidas (Bnss.}, Blyth, Cat. p. 296; Jevdon, B. I. iii,
p. 850.
Phaeton flavirostris, Brandt, Bull. Acad. St. Petersb. ii, p. 349
(1837) ; Beavan $ Tytl. Ibis, 1867, p. 334 ; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 323 ;
id. S. F. v, p. 498 ; Hume, Cat. no. 997 ; Legyc, Birds Ceyl. p. 1172;
Gates, B. B. ii, p. 225.
Coloration white and satiny ; a crescentic patch in front of each
eye, and a broad stripe behind it to the ear-coverts black, as are
the outer webs, shafts, and inner webs near the shafts of the first
five or six primaries, with the exception of the white tips, -75 to
1-5 inches long, in Indian Ocean birds ; greater portion of each
tertiary and a band along the smaller secondary coverts some
distance from the edge of the wing also black.
Young birds as usual are barred above with black.
Bill pale yellow ; legs and base of toes olive-yellow ; feet black.
Tail-feathers 12.
Length 20 ; tail 18 ; wing 10*75 ; tarsus -9 ; bill from gape
2-8.
Distribution. Tropical seas all round the world. Several speci-
mens have been recorded within Indian limits, amongst them one
on the Ceylon coast identified by Legge, one at the Andamans
obtained by Col. Tytler, and one inland in Cachar recorded by
Hume.
1535. Phaethon rubricauda. The Red-tailed Tropic-bird.
Phaeton rubricauda, Bodd. Tabl. PL Enl. p. 57 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii,
p. 849 ; Hume, S. F, ii, p. 322 ; Hume, Cat. no. 996 ; Gates, B. B.
ii, p. 224.
PHAETHOff. 351
? Phaeton setherius, apud Jllyth, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 374 ; id. Cat.
p. 296 ; id. Ibis, 1867, p. 178.
Coloration. White, often tinged with rosy ; a patch in front of
the eye and a small streak behind, the shafts of the primaries and
tail-feathers, except at the ends, broad shaft-stripes to the later
secondaries and tertiaries, black ; there are broad grey shaft -
stripes on the long flank-feathers ; the long middle tail-feathers
have black shafts and red webs.
Young birds have the upper parts barred with black.
Bill yellow ; legs and basal portions of feet yellow ; rest of feet
black. Tail-feathers 16.
Length 33 ; tail 19 ; wing 13 ; tarsus 1*25 ; bill from gape
3-25.
Distribution. Tropical portions of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
This species is said to have been repeatedly obtained or seen in the
Bay of Bengal, and as Hume described an undoubted specimen
which he said came from the area, I include the species. There is
no specimen from Indian seas in the British Museum, and it is
certain that P. indicus has been on several occasions taken for the
young of the present form.
Order XX. TUBINARES.
The Petrels were formerly classed with the Grulls, to which they
have a considerable external resemblance, although they differ in
many important characters, and they appear, on the whole, to be
as nearly allied to the Steganopodes as to any other order. They
may be at once distinguished from all other birds by the nostrils
terminating externally in tubes, separate or united. The rham-
photheca or horny covering of the bill is divided into several
pieces by deep grooves, as in some Steganopodes, and the upper
mandible is generally much hooked at the end. The anterior toes
are webbed throughout, the hallux is small, rudimentary or absent,
being frequently represented by the claw-phalanx alone. The
wings are long in the typical forms, the primaries 11, the filth
secondary wanting. Oil-gland tufted. Spinal feather-tract well-
defined on the neck by lateral bare tracts ; forked on the upper
back.
Petrels are schizognathous and holorhinal. The vomer is large,
broad, depressed, and pointed. Nostrils impervious. Cervical
vertebra? 15. Large supraorbital glands ; two carotids ; caeca rudi-
mentary or wanting. Femoro-caudal and semitendinosus muscles
always present, ambiens and accessory fernoro-caudal generally,
but wanting in a few genera.
The majority of the species lay a single egg in a burrow or
under stones, without any nest. Some, as the Albatrosses, make
a nest in the open. The egg is either entirely white or has a
faint zone of reddish spots near the larger end. The young are
helpless, and clad with down till fully grown. Sexes alike in
coloration.
The Petrels are birds of the ocean, passing the greater part of
their life far from land, resting on the water at times, and only
visiting the shore, as a ride, for breeding purposes. They feed on
floating Crustacea, mollusca, small n'sh, alive or dead, and similar
aliment. Some of them, as the Fulmars and Dapt'wn, follow
ships and feed on any refuse, especially fat, that may be thrown
overboard. Most of the Petrels are swift and powerful flyers,
and may be seen skimming over the waves, almost without moving
their wings, whilst some of them, and especially the small Stormy
Petrels, appear to aid their flight by striking the water with their
feet. Hence, as Newton points out in his * Dictionary of Birds,'
their name of Petrel was derived, for they were supposed to be
walking on the sea as St. Peter is recorded to have done.
Many Petrels are crepuscular or nocturnal, especially during the
breeding-season. The majority of them, on being captured, vomit
a small quantity of clear oil with a disagreeable smell.
The classification of the Petrels, like their systematic position,
is still unsettled. By many the Albatrosses are placed in a
PROCJSLLA.RIIDJ;. 353
separate family, whilst Forbes*, to whom we owe by far the best
account hitherto published of their anatomy, only assigned distinct
family rank to Oceanites and its allies. Seebohmt and Salving
do not recognize this distinction, but attach weight to the presence
or absence of basipterygoid processes, and the last-named divides
the order into four families, of which Procellariidce and Diomedeidce
(Stormy Petrels and Albatrosses) want the processes, whilst Puf-
finidm and Pdeca noidece possess them, the other distinctions being
founded on characters of the nostrils, sternum, furcula, coracoids,
and primaries. These families may be worthy of distinction, but
there is so much doubt that, in arranging the few species of which,
in each case, from one to three specimens have been obtained in
the seas around India, the simple plan of leaving all the Indian
genera in one family is most convenient.
Family PROCELLAHIID^l.
To this family, as above stated, all known Indian genera of
Petrels are here referred. They are four in number.
Key to the Genera.
a. Tarsus much longer than middle toe ; Indian
species small, wing1 not exceeding 7 in. ;
nostrils with a single anterior orifice.
a'. Basal phalanx not half length of mid-toe . . OCEANITKS,P. 353.
l> . Basal phalanx of mid-toe flattened, more
than half length CYMODROMA,
b. Tarsus shorter than middle toe ; wing in Indian [p. 354.
species exceeding 7 in.
c'. Nostrils separated at orifice by a broad
septum PUFFINUS, p. 355.
d' Nostrils not separate at orifice, but divided
inside DAPTION, p. 357.
Genus OCEANITES, Keys. & Bias., 1840.
The small birds commonly called Stormy Petrels or Mother
Carey's Chickens, of which the Atlantic Procellaria pelagica is
the best known, have been divided into several genera, the present
being one. In it the bill is slight and shorter than the head, the
orifice of the combined nostrils single ; wings very long, with the
2nd quill longest ; the tail moderate, the outer rectrices slightly
* ' Challenger' Reports, Zool. iv, pt. xi, p. 1.
t Classification of Birds, p. 34 ; Suppl. p. 15.
J Cat. B. M. xxr, p. 342.
VOL. IV. 2 A.
354
longer than the middle pair; tibia partly nude, tarsi smooth, not
scutellated, much longer than the toes ; the hind toe only repre-
sented by a minute claw ; basal phalanx of middle toe not
flattened and shorter than the other phalanges and the claw
together ; claws sharp, spatulate, but little flattened.
This genus ranges throughout the Southern Oceans and into the
North Temperate zone. Two species are known, of which one is
probably the common small Petrel of the Indian seas,
1530. Oceanites oceanicus. •Wilson's Stormy Petrel.
Frocellaria oceaniea, Kuhl, Beitr. p. 136, pi. x, fig. 1 (1820).
Procellaria wilsonii, Bonap. Jour. A<-. Phil, iii, p. 231, pi. 9 (1823).
? Thalassidroma sp., Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 827; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 317;
Leffffe, S. F. iii, p. 375.
Thalassidroma wilsoni, Butler, S. F. v, p. 291.
Oceanites oceanicus, .Bonap. Consp. Av. ii, p. 199 (1857); Hume,
S. F. v,p. 291 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 490; Butler, S. F. vii,
)\ 178; Hume, Cat. no. 976; Le'/ye, Birds Ceyl. p. 1050; Oate*,
B. B. ii, p. 437 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 421 ; Salvin, Cat. B. M.
xxv, p. 358.
Fig. 82. — Head of 0. oceanicus. |.
Coloration. Sooty-black, rather paler and browner beneath and
oh the forehead ; greater secondary wing-coverts greyish brown ;
upper tail-coverts and lower flanks, together with the shafts and
extreme bases of the lateral rectrices, white.
Irides blackish ; bill, legs, and feet black ; centres of webs
between toes pale yellow (Butler).
Length 7'5 ; tail 2'6 ; wing 6-25 ; tarsus 1-4 ; bill from gape -65.
Distribution. Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Not rare in the
seas around India. Specimens have, however, so far only been
identified from, the Mekran coast.
Habits, $c. Like the other Stormy Petrels, this bird is generally
seen far from laud, singly or in scattered flocks, skimming over
the waves or resting on the sea. It breeds on stony or rocky
islands.
Genus CYMODROMA, Eidgway, 1884.
A near ally of Oceanites, distinguished principally by having
the basal phalanx of the middle toe greatly flattened, and
equalling or exceeding the other phalanges and the claw in
PUFFIN us. 355
length ; claws flattened and broad, spade-shaped, pointed at the
end.
This genus of Petrels is chiefly found in the Southern Oceans,
but one species appears to have been obtained in the Bay of
Bengal.
1537. Cymodroma melanogaster. The Dusky-vented Petrel.
Thalassidroma melanogaster, Gould, A. M. N. H. xiii, p. 367
(1844).
Cymodroma melanogaster, Ridgway, Man. N. Am. Birds, p. 72 ;
'Sttlvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 364.
Coloration. Upper parts blackish brown, head, quills, and tail
blacker, back and wing-coverts browner; upper tail-co\erts and
bases of all rectrices, except the middle pair, white ; lower parts
to abdomen, middle of lower abdomen, and long under tail-coverts
dark sooty-brown; greater part of abdomen, flanks, and wiiig-
lining, except near the edge of the wing, white ; base of feathers
of throat and sometimes the ends also white.
Bill and legs black.
Length 8; tail 3; wing 6-5 ; tarsus 1-6; hill from gape '83.
Distribution. Southern Oceans, the range extending in the
Atlantic as far north as the tropic of Cancer. A single specimen
from the Tweeddale Collection, labelled " Bay of. Bengal " in the
Marquis of Tweeddale's handwriting, is in the British Museum,
and is the only authority for the occurrence of this species m
Indian JSeas. There appears, however no reason to doubt the
accuracy of the label.
Genus PUFFINUS, Brisson, 1760.
The Shearwaters, as they are generally termed, are birds of
moderate size, with a long, slender, compressed bill much hooked
at the tip, and with both mandibles curving downward at the
end. The tubular nostrils terminate in two distinct oblique
oritices, directed forward and upward, with a broad division
between them. Wings long, 1st quill longest. Tail of 12 feathers,
moderately long, graduated, rounded at the end. Tarsus com-
pressed, sharp in iront, reticulated, shorter than the middle and
outer toes, which are subequal ; hind claw distinct.
The genus is distributed throughout the Oceans, and 20 species
are recognized in the British Museum Catalogue ; of these two have
been obtained in Indian seas.
Key to the Species.
a. Plumage dark brown throughout P. chlcrorhynchus, p. 356.
b. Lo\\er suriace white P. persicus, p. 006.
2 A 2
356 PROCELLAIIIID.E.
1538. Puffinus chlororhynclius. The Green-billed Shearwater.
Puffinus chlororhynchus, Less. Traite, p. 613 (1831); Legge, Birds
Ceyl. p. 1054 ; id. S. F. ix, p. 264 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 439 j
Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 372.
Puffinus sphenurus, Gould, A. M. N. H. xiii, p. 365 (1844).
Puffinus ?, Leyge, S. F. iii, p. 374 ; Hume, Cat. no. 976 ter.
Fig. 83. — Head of /'. chlororhynchus. j.
Coloration. Dark smoke-brown, slightly paler and greyer beneath,
especially on the throat, which has an ashy tinge.
Bill dusky greenish ; iris dusky ; legs and feet fleshy white
(Legge}.
Length 17; tail 5; wing 11 : tarsus 1-8; bill from gape T75.
The median rectrices exceed the outer by about 1*5 inches.
Distribution. Indian Ocean, seas of Australia and New Zealand,
and Southern Pacific. This Shearwater is common about the
Seychelles, Rodriguez,, and Mauritius, and has been found breeding
at Round Island, near the latter. It has been obtained more than
once on the coast of Ceylon, and is very probably, as Legge
pointed out, the bird of which a specimen was once obtained at
Madras by Jerdon, but lost before a complete description was
taken (B. I. iii, p. 826). The coloration of this was identical
with that of P. ctdororhynchus, but some of the measurements
(length 18, wing 124, tail 5, bill at gape 1|) were large and
agreed better with those of (Estrelata macroptera, to which Jerdon
noticed the resemblance. The latter is easily recognized by its
tarsi not being compressed, and by its stouter bill ; bill and feet
black in colour.
I have seen off Bombay a dark-coloured Petrel that looked to
me larger than P. persicus, but it was at a considerable distance.
1539. Puffinus persicus. The Persian Shearwater.
Puffinus persicus, Hume, S. F. i, p. 5 (1873): v, p. 293; id. Cat.
no. 976 bis; Blanf. Ibis, 1873, p. 215; Butler, S. F. v, p. 292;
Barney Birds Bom. p. 421 ; id. Ibis, 1893, p. 175 ; Salvin,
Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 381, pi. iv.
Coloration. Whole upper surface uniform blackish brown, the
dark colour extending on the head to a little beneath the eye ;
feathers around eye whitish; lower surface pure white; flanks,
DAPTION. 357
axillaries, and under wing-coverts near edge of wing dark brown ;
remainder of wing-lining white.
Bill dusky brown, bluish at base, and on three-fourths of lower
mandible ; irides brown ; legs and feet white, tinged with pink and
lavender ; claws, margin of web, outer toe, and part of ridge of mid-
toe black (Hume). The amount of black on the foot varies slightly.
Length 13; tail 2-8 (median feathers about '5 longer than
outer) ; wing 7'9 ; tarsus 1*5 ; bill from gape 1*75.
Distribution. The Arabian 8ea, from the neighbourhood of
Bombay to Aden. Not rare off the Sind and Baluchistan coasts.
This bird is scarcely separable from ^he widely spread
P. obscurus, of all tropical and subtropical oceans. It differs in
having the axillaries dark brown instead of white or mottled, and
is perhaps rather larger, but the difference is very slight. As
Mr. Salvin has kept P. persicus distinct, I admit the species, but
I am inclined to regard it as only a geographical race.
Genus DAPTION, Stephens, 1826.
Bill short, stout, gonys angulate near the end, and the extremity
inclined upward ; nostrils terminating in a single orifice, but
divided within. Wings long, 1st quill longest, secondaries short.
Tail rather short, slightly rounded at the end ; rectrices 14.
Tarsus slender, reticulate, somewhat compressed and shorter than
the middle or outer toe ; hind claw stout.
There is only one species.
1540. Daption capensis. The Cape Petrel.
Procellaria capensis, Linn. £yst. Nat. i, p. 213 (1766).
Daption capensis, Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii, pt. 1, p. 241,
pi. 28 ; Hume, Ibis, 1870, p. 438 ; id. S. F. vii, pp. 442, 463 ; id.
Cat. no. 975 ter ; Leyge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1056 ; Oates, B. B. ii,
p. 438; Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 428.
Coloration, Head all round and hind neck brownish black;
upper parts white, each feather broadly tipped with black, except
the smaller wing-coverts and the primary-coverts, which are
blackish throughout ; quills and tail-feathers white with long
black tips, the outer webs of the earlier primaries also blackish ;
lower parts from the throat white, the feathers of the throat and
lower tail-coverts more or less spotted with dusky.
Bill black ; irides brown ; legs and feet deep brown, the toes
spotted at the side with whitish (Leyge).
Length about 16; tail 4; wing 10-25; tarsus 1-7; bill from
gape 1-6.
Distribution. This Petrel, known to sailors as the " Cape
Pigeon," is common throughout the Southern Oceans, but is of
rare occurrence north of the Equator. A single individual,, of
v\hichthe skin is preserved in the Hume Collection, was shot by
Mr. Theobald in the Gulf of Manaar, between Ceylon and the
mainland.
35S
It is certain that the Petrels above described are not the only
species that frequent Ihe seas of India. Reference has already
been made in the account of Puffinu* chlororJii/nchus to a doubtful
species once obtained by Jerdon at Madras. Then Hume (S. P. ii,
p. 317) saw, near Preparis and the Cocos, on the 4th March, 1873,
several blue and white Petrels, probably a species of Prion. They
were known to the officers of the ship as " Whale Birds." A bird
known by the same name is said by Butler to occur on the Baluch-
istan coast (8. F. v, p. 304). Again it is extremely doubtful whether
all the small " Stormy Petrels " so "frequently seen in the upper
part of the Bay of Bengal (S. F. ii, p. 317) are Gceanites oceanicns
or Cymodroma melanogaster. I have a distinct recollection, when
on my way from Calcutta to Madras by steamer on one occasion,
about 1867., of seeing,- only a few yards away from the vessel,
several small Petrels that appeared to want the conspicuous white
rump of those two species, and my recollection is confirmed by a
note in pencil on the margin of my copy of Jerdon. It is far
from improbable that some kind of Oceanodroma, of which several
species occur in the North Pacific, may be found in the Bay of
Bengal.
Lastly, there is the bird seen by Sundevall and identified by him
as Hctlodroma or Pdlecanoides urinatricc *. Jerdon (B. I. iii, p. 827),
who has been followed by Hume (Cat. no. 977) and Gates (B. B. ii,
p. 440), admits the species as Indian. The locality was also
given in Blyth's Catalogue, p. 295. The following is Sundevall's
account : —
" In the southern parts of the Bay of Bengal I saw several times
in December and January a bird which could hardly be anything
else than the above-mentioned (P. winatrue). The colour and form
were clearly distinguished through the telescope at less than 100
ells distance. It was blackish grey, beneath and under the wings
white, with projecting nostrils, and was but little larger than Alca
alle (the Little Auk), which it resembled in its exterior. T>vo or
three were commonly seen together resting on the water, from
which they occasionally arose and flapped with their wings like
ducks. They dived remarkably well and long, like Alca and Uria,
and flew heavily with a rapid motion of the wings for a short
distance close over the surface."
That some bird not yet identified, probably a Petrel, was seen is
evident, but as no specimen was obtained it is premature to
identify this with a species of very weak powers of flight, and only
found, so far as is known, in latitudes considerably south of the
Equator.
* Physiogr. Sallskapets Tidsk. i, p. 222 (1837) ; A. M. K. II. xix, p. 238.
Fig. 84, — Ardea cinerea and young. ('From the group in the British Museum.
Order XXI. HERODIONES.
The Ibises, Spoonbills, Storks, and Herons have long been
classed together, though their relations to each other, and to the
Phrenicopteri on one side and the Steganopodes on the other, give
rise to a great variety of opinions.
All are marsh birds, and resemble Cranes and Limicola3 in having
lengthened bills, necks, arid legs, and all formed, with those types,
part of the old order Grallatores or Waders — the Gralla) of
Linnaeus. But the Ibises, Storks, and Herons differ widely from
Cranes, Rails, Plovers, &c. in anatomy and in their young being
helpless when hatched. In this respect and in the characters of
the palate, the Herodiones resemble the Steganopodes and the
-Accipitrine birds, to which they are more nearly allied than to the
schizoguathous Limicolae and Grallae.
360 PLATALE^.
In the Herocliones the skull is desmognathous, and basipterygoid
processes are wanting. The nostrils are pervious. There are
two carotids ; the caeca are rudimentary ; the oil-gland is tufted ;
and the wing aquincubital. Plantar tendons galline as a rule,
but the vineuluin in some Herons and Bitterns is weak or
absent, so that the flexor longus hallacis passes freely to the
hallux, as in Passeres. Other anatomical characters vary in the
different suborders. An aftershaft is generally present, but is
wanting in some Storks.
The tibia, except in a few Herons, is partially bare, the toes
long, the hind-toe well-developed and not raised above the other
toes. Almost all the genera make nests of sticks in trees,
and the young remain in the nest for a time and are fed by the
parents.
The Indian Herodiones may be arranged in three suborders thus
distinguished : —
a. Schizorhinal; accessory femoro-caudal present ;
sternum with four posterior incisions ;
syririgeal muscles present PLATALE^.
b. Holorhinal; no accessory femoro-caudal;
sternum with two posterior incisions.
a. No intrinsic muscles to syrinx ; dorsal
apterium not extending to neck CICONI^E.
6'. A pair of intrinsic muscles to syrinx :
dorsal apterium extending up back of
neck .
Suborder PLATALE^E.
The members of this suborder are schizorhinal (see p. 202), an
exceptional character amongst desmognathous birds, and the
posterior portion of the mandible is prolonged behind the quadrate,
as in Anseres, and recurved. In the sternum there are two
incisions on each side of the posterior border. Cervical vertebrie
17. All the muscles of the thigh present, including the accessory
femoro-caudal, which is wanting in Storks and Herons. A pair of
intrinsic syringeal (tracheo-bronchial) muscles present as in
Ardese*.
This suborder comprises twro families : —
a. Bill curved downwards Ibididae, p. 361.
b. Bill straight, flattened, dilated at the end Plataleidae, p. 366.
* 1 am indebted to Mr. F. E. Beddard for this information. The muscles
are usually stated to be wanting in the Ibises and Spoonbills, but were observed
by Garrod in Platalea ajaja (P. Z. S. 1875, p. 299).
361
Family IBIDIDJE.
The members of this family were long confounded with Curlews.
The bill is long, curved downwards and compressed at the sides,
and there is, on each side of the culmen, a longitudinal groove, in
the basal portion of which the nostril is pierced.
The four species of this family known to occur in India are
referred to three genera.
Key to the Genera.
a. Tarsus covered with hexagonal scales.
a'. Head and neck naked in adults ; plumage
white Ims, p. 361.
b'. Head naked in adults, neck feathered ; plumage
blackish INOCOTIS, p. 362.
b. Tarsus with transverse scutellae in front.
c'. Head feathered in adults, only the lores naked. PLEGADIS, p. 364.
Genus IBIS, Lacepede, 1801.
The head and neck naked ; bill stout, blunt, the nostril linear ;
tibia half -naked ; tarsus reticulate ; toes long, bordered by a
membrane that forms a web towards the base, especially between
the 3rd and 4th toes. Tail moderate, of 12 feathers. Tertiaries
in the breeding- season with elongate plumules forming ornamental
plumes.
This genus, of which the Sacred Ibis is the type, ranges from
Africa through India and the Malay countries to Australia. One
species is Indian.
1541. Ibis melanocephala. The White Ibis.
Tantalus melanocephalus, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, p. 709 (1790).
Ibis melanocephalus, VieilL Nouv. Diet, d' Hist. Nat. xvi, p. 23 ;
Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 158; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 484;
Cripps, S. F. vii, p. 310 ; Leyge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1106 ; Hume, Cat.
p. 941 ; Doia, S. F. viii, pp. 372, 377 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 91 ;
Butler, ibid. p. 43-5 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 77 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 268 ;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 390 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 151 ;
Hume, S. F. xi, p. 338 ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii,
p. 226 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 7.
Threskiornis melanocephalus, Gray, Cat. Mamm. etc. Coll. Hodys.
p. 137; Blyth, Cat. p. 275 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 768 ; Stoliczka, J. A.
S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 255 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. (332 ; id. S. F.\, p. 257 ;
Adam, ibid. p. 400 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 25 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 231.
Thresciornis melanocephalus, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 174 ; Beavan, Ibis,
1868, p. 399.
Munda, Safed Baza, Didhar, H. ; Kacha-tor, Purneah ; Sabut-btiza,
Do-chora, Beng. ; Tatu-koka, Cing. ; Kayusoti, Burm.
362 IIJIDID/E.
Coloration. Plumage white, the ends of the tertiaries slaty grey,
and generally the tips of the first primaries edged or mottled with
brown. In breeding-plumage there are elongate white feathers
round the base of the neck and plumes on the upper breast, and
the grey tertiaries are elongate and loose-textured.
Young birds have the head and neck feathered as far forward
as the eyes ; the head, except beneath, blackish grey, which passes
gradually into white on the hind neck.
Bill black ; irides red-brown ; head and neck dark bluish black ;
legs glossy black ; skin of wing blooc^-red.
Length 30 ; tail 5 ; wing 14 ; tarsus 4 ; bill from gape 6*o.
Distribution. Throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma in suitable
localities, also in China and Southern .Japan.
Habits, <$fc. The White Ibis is a resident, most common in those
parts of the plains of India where there are large marshes with
high reeds and trees growing in them, but it may be found
wherever there are rivers or large tanks ; generally in flocks,
except in the breeding-season. It feeds on mollusca, Crustacea,
insects, worms, &c. The breeding-season is from June to August
in Northern India, November to February in Ceylon, and the
nest is of sticks on a large tree, several pairs of birds often
nesting together. The eggs are from 2 to 4 in number, generally
•3, bluish or greenish white, as a rule without markings, but
occasionally delicately spotted with yellowish brown, and they
measure on an average 2-54 by 1*7.
Genus INOCOTIS, Reichenb., 1852.
Two Indian species of Ibis are distinguished by having the head
naked in adults but not the neck ; the bill is more slender than
in the genus lb-is; the feet shorter, and the plumage nearly black
instead of white.
One of the species, /. davisoni, has been unnecessarily made the
type of a distinct genus, the differences between the two being
very small indeed.
Key to the Species.
a. Crown of the head with red granular papillae . . I. papillo&H#t p. 362,
b. No red papilla3 on the head, crown smooth . . . t /. ftarisoni, p. 364.
1542. Inocotis papillosus. The Blnck Ibis.
Ibis papillosa, Ternm. PL Col. pi. 304 (1824).
Geronticus papillosus, Gray, Cat. Mamm. etc. Coll. Hodys. p. 137 ;
Blyth, Cat. p. 275 ; Jer'don, B. I. iii. p. 769 ; Blytlt, 'ibis, 1867,
p. 174 ; King, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, p. 217 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. 8. B.
xxxix, pt. 2, p. 275; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt, 2, p. 255;
Hume, N. fy E. p. 633 ; id. S. F. i, p. 257 ; Adam. ibid. p. 400;
Blyth, Birds Burin, p. 158 ; Butler fy Hume, 8. F. iv. p. 25 ;
Fail-bank, 8. F. iv, p. 264 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 231.
Inocotis papillosus, Bonap. Consf). ii, p. 154 ; Davids, fy Wend. S. F.
INOCOTIS. 3G3
vii, p. 92; Hume. Cat. no. 942; Doig, S. F. riii, pp. 372, 377 ;
Butler, S. F. ix, p. 435 ; Reid, S. P. x, p. 77 ; JJavison, ibid.
p. 417 ; McGregor, ibid. p. 442 ; Oates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed.
iii, p. 228 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 390 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H.
Soc. vi, p. 152; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 12.
Buza, Kola Buza, Kardnkal, H. ; Nella kankanum, Tel. ; Black Curlew,
King- Curlew of Anglo-Indians.
Fig. 85. — Head of /. papillosits. £.
Coloration. Neck and body above arid below dark olive-brown,
with slight greenish gloss on the back, a large white patch on the
inner lesser and marginal coverts of each wing ; rest of the wing
above and below and tail black, glossed with purplish and green.
The young have the head feathered on the crown and throat,
the feathered area above and below ending in a point, the fore-
head, area round the eye, and the chin bare. Feathers of the
neck and body with rufous edges.
Crown of adults nearly covered with red papiike, the area thus
ornamented cut off transversely behind and pointed in front,
remainder of naked skin of head black; bill greenish-leaden;
irides dull orange-red ; legs and feet brick -red.
Length 27 ; tail 7'5 ; wing 15'5 ; tarsus 3 ; bill from gape 5-5.
Distribution. The plains of Northern India (not the Himalayas)
and the Peninsula as far south as Mysore, except on the Western
coast. This bird is not found in Lower Bengal and is apparently
wanting to the eastward, but Godwin-Austen got it at Mymen
singh, and according to Blyth it has been obtained in Arrakan.
Habits, fyc. The Black Ibis is far less of a marsh bird than the
White Ibis, and is generally found on dry cultivation or open
ground in pairs or small parties. It is said to feed partly on
grain, but chiefly on insects, Crustacea, &c. It often perches on
large trees and it has a peculiar harsh cry, not very frequently
uttered except in the breeding-season. It breeds at various seasons;
March and April, and again in August and September, in Northern
India, about December in the Deccan. It makes nests of sticks
on trees, and lays 3 or 4 sea-green eggs, unspotted as a rule, and
measuring about 2-43 by 1'7. Occasionally the Black Ibis lays in
a nest that has been used by a vulture, eagle, or o\vl. The
flesh of this species is at times very good eating, far superior to
that of Ibis
364 IBIDIDvE.
1543. Inocotis davisoni. Davisons Blade Ibis.
Geronticus davisoni, Hume, S. F. iii, p. 300 (1875).
Geronticua papillosus, ap-ud Oates, #. F. iii, p. 347 ; nee Temm.
Inocotis papillosus, apud Gates, S. F. v, p. It58.
Graptocephalus davisoni, Elliot, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 490 ; Hume fy Dav.
S. F. vi, p. 485 ; Hume, Cat. no. 942 bis ; Oates, S. F. ix, p. 300 ;
x, p. 244 ; id. B. B. ii, p. 269 ; id. in Hume's N. Sf E. 2nd ed.
iii, p. 231.
The plumage is coloured as in the last species, but this bird is
rather larger arid the naked skin of the head is very differently
coloured. There is no red area on the crown, the occiput is smooth,
the frontal area more rugose, the skin of the head is blackish
brown, with a broad white ring tinged with blue at the nape just
above the feathered neck.
Bill bluish; irides orange-red : feet pale coral-red (Oates).
Length 30 ; tail 8 ; wing 16'5 ; tarsus 3'5 ; bill from gape 7.
Distribution. Pegu ; Southern Tenasserim ; Cochin China and
Siam.
Habits, Sfc. This Ibis is a resident on the plains of the Irrawaddy,
occurring singly or in pairs, with very similar habits to those
of /. papillosus. In Southern Tenasserim it has only been
observed at particular seasons. It haunts open plains or marshy
flats or the banks of rivers, and perches on high trees, audit has a
harsh weird cry. Gates found on the 13th Eebruary a nest be-
longing to this bird, containing two pale blue eggs, one of \vhich
measured 2'55 by 1*8. The nest was of sticks on a tree.
Genus PLEGADIS, Kaup, 1829.
This genus is distinguished by having the head feathered except
on the lores and area in front of the eye. The tarsi are lengthened,
and scutellate in front ; toes long and slender. The bill is much
more slender than in the genus Ibis.
A single species of wide range is found in India ; two other
reputed species are American.
1544. Plegadis falcinellus. The Glossy Ibis.
Tantalus falcinellus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 241 (1766).
Numenius igneus & N. viridis, 6'. G. Gm. Reise d. Russl. \, pp. 166,
167 (1770).
Ibis falcinellus, Vieill. Nouv. Diet, d Hist. Nat. xvi, p. 23 ;
Oates Sf Hume, S. F. iii, p. 192.
Plegadis falcinellus, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 82 ; Legqe, Birds Ceyl.
p. 1109; Parker, Ibis, 1883, p. 194; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 281 ;
id. in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 231 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi,
p. 29.
Falcinellus igneus, Gray, Cat. Mamm, etc. Coll. Hoclgs. p. 136;
Blyth, Cat. p. 274; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 243; Jenlon, B. I. iii,
p. 770; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 275; Hume,
N. $ E. p. 635 ; id. S. F. i, p. 257 ; Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 158 ;
PLEGADIS. 365
Butler Sf Hume, 8. F. iv, p. 25 : Davidson # Wenden, S. F. vii,
p. 92; Sutler, ibid. p. 188: Ball, ibid. pp. 231, 234; Cripps, ibid.
p. 310; Hume, ibid. p. 491 ; id. Cat. no. 943; Doig, S. F. viii,
p. 377; Hume $ Inylis, S.' F. ix, p. 259; Butler, ibid. p. 436;
Swinhoe, Ibis, 1882, p. 123; Btddulph, ibid. p. 289; Reid, S. F.
x, p. 78 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 325; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 339; Barnes,
Birds Bom. p. 391 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 153.
Kaivdri, Kowar, Chota buza, H. ; Kala Kachiatora, Beng. ; Tati
Krmkaram, Tel.; Karupu Kotan, Tarn. (Cevlon) ; Rattu datuduwa,
Cing.
Coloration. In breeding-plumage the crown is glossy purplish
red, changing to green ; remainder of the head brown, with purple
gloss ; neck all round, upper back, scapulars, and smaller wing-
coverts dark chestnut, breast and abdomen lighter chestnut ; rest
of plumage, including wings, tail, and under tail-coverts, black or
deep brown, richly glossed with bronze-green and purple or steel-
blue.
In winter plumage the smaller wing-coverts and scapulars
resemble the rest of the upper plumage, and the head and neck
are blackish brown, streaked with white.
Young birds resemble old birds in winter plumage, but have the
base of the neck and lower parts blackish brown.
Bill dark livid brown ; facial skin livid, extending round the
eye ; irides brown, in some mottled with grey ; legs and feet
bronzed brown, bluish above the knee (Legge).
Length 25 ; tail 4 : wing 11 ; tarsus 4; bill from gape 5' 25.
Distribution. Widely spread through the warmer parts of the
world. Found in India, Ceylon, and Burma, but rare or unknown
throughout the drier hilly regions, and common only in well-
watered parts, especially where there are large marshes or tanks,
liare in Burma, though abundant in Manipur. In most parts of
India this Ibis is a cold-weather visitor only, but it breeds in Sind,
on the Eastern Nara, in large numbers, also in Ceylon, and
probably in other suitable places.
Habits, &fc. The Grlossy Ibis is usually seen in India in large
flocks, frequenting marshes, tanks, paddy fields, the borders of
rivers, tidal creeks, or the sea-coast. Its food consists of insects,
Crustacea, mollusca, worms, &c. Mr. Doig found it breeding in Sind
in June, whilst in Ceylon Col. Legge and Mr. Parker took its nests
between November and February. The nest is the usual platform
of sticks on a tree, and the eggs are generally three in number,
and of a beautiful blue colour, and they measure about 2-01 by
1-40. This bird has a low call, and is said to be excellent eating.
366 PLATALEID.*:.
Family PLATALEID^E.
The Spoonbills are so nearly related to the Ibises, that by many
naturalists the two are united in the same family. But the
Spoonbills are less conspicuously schizorhinal, and their bill is
very different in form, dilated at the tip and not curved. A single
genus is Indian.
Genus PLATALEA, Linn,, 1766.
Both mandibles greatly flattened, especially anteriorly, where
they become broader, spoon-shaped, and slightly curved down at
the tip ; nostrils near base, elongately oval, each in a groove that
extends from the base, the two grooves parallel at first and
diverging at the nostrils, and running thence to the tip just inside
the curved border of the mandible. Sides of head in front of eye
naked. Legs long, tibia half-naked, tarsus reticulated throughout ;
toes long, bordered by membrane and webbed at the base. One
species is Indian.
1545. Platalea leucorodia. The Spoonbill.
Platalea leucorodia, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 231 (1766) ; Blyth, Cat.
p. 276 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 763 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 173 ; King,
J. A. 8. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 217 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2,
p. 255; Hayes-Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 419 ; Hume, N. # E. p. 628 ;
id. 6'. F. i, p. 256; Adam, ibid. p. 399; Butler $ Hume, S. F.
iv, p. 24; Davids. $ Wend. S. F. vii, p. 91 ; Ball, ibid. p. 231 ;
Hume, ibid. p. 491 ; id. Cat. no. 939 ; Doiy, S. F. viii, p. 372 ;
Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1096; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 91 ; Butler, ibid.
p. 435 ; Heidj 8. F. x, p. 77 ; Damson, ibid. p. 324 ; Simson, Ibis,
1882, p. 93 ; Parker, Ibis, 1883, p. 194 ; Swinh. $ Barnes, Ibis,
1885, p. 136; Ogilme Grant, Ibis, 1889, p. 35; St. John, ibid.
p. 178 ; Gates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 217 ; Barnes,
Birds Bom. p. 388 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 150.
Platalea leucerodia, Reichenb. Jour. f. Orn. 1877, p. 159; Sharve,
Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 44.
Chamach buza (Spoon Ibis), H. ; Chinta, Beng. ; Gentu muku kont/a,
Tel.; C'hapij Chttndim, Tarn. (Ceylon).
Coloration. Pure white ; on the lower fore neck a patch of
cinnamon-buff or tawny in adults. A large nuchal crest of
pointed and drooping plumes is assumed in the breeding-season.
Young birds have no crest, and the primaries and primary-
coverts, and sometimes the secondaries, have black shafts ; the
outer primaries have blackish edges and tips.
Bill black, more or less yellow at the tip; loral space yellow;
gular skin extending 2% to 3 inches down the throat reddish
PL AT A LEA.
yellow; legs and feet black (Legge). Bill in young birds yellow,
later dark ashy.
Fig. 80.— Bill of P. Itucorotlia. $.
Length of male .33 inches : tail 4g75 ; wing 15 ; tarsus 6 ; bill
from gape 8. Females rather less. Eastern specimens run larger
than Western, and the Japanese race has been separated as
P. major.
Distribution. Central and Southern Europe, Eastern Africa,
South-western Asia, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and Central Asia
to China and India. Spoonbills occur locally in well-watered
tracts throughout the Indian Peninsula and Ceylon, but are rare
or wanting in drier and hilly regions. They are not common in
Lower Bengal, though some have been observed near Calcutta and
Dacca, but the species has not been met with in Assam, Manipur,
or Burma.
Habits, tf*c. Spoonbills are resident in India; they are known to
breed in the Deccan, Sind, and the North-west Provinces, and also
in Ceylon. In Northern India, in the cold season, they are found
about large rivers, tanks, and marshes in small flocks, sometimes
in larger numbers, and they feed in shallow water on insects,
crustacea, worms, mollusca, and on \\ater-plants, occasionally alt»o
on small fish or frogs. They fly well, with the neck straight.
Several pairs breed together, making nests of sticks on trees near
water, and they lay usually four eggs, chalky white, with ill-defined
brown spots, and measuring about 2'7 by 1*81. The breeding-
season varies : August in the North-west Provinces, October and
November in Sind, April and May in the Deccan, March in Ceylon.
Spoonbills are good to eat.
368
Suborder CICONIA.
The Storks, which constitute the present suborder, are holo-
rhinal ; the mandible is not produced behind its articulation with
the quadrate, and there is a single incision on each side in the
posterior border of the sternum. Cervical vertebra) 17. Ambiens
generally present but small, occasionally wanting ; accessory
femoro-caudal absent, and the femoro-caudal is sometimes wanting.
No tracheo -bronchial muscles to the syrinx, hence all Storks are
absolutely destitute of voice ; they make sounds by snapping their
bills, and some are said to emit a grunting noise. The dorsal bare
tract does not extend to the neck. There are no powder-down
patches, and the middle claw is not pectinated.
Family CICONIID^.
Bill stout and long, without any distinct groove at the sides of
the upper mandible; genys long. Wings long; tail short. Legs
very long, tibia half-naked, tarsus reticulated with hexagonal scales.
Toes of moderate length, the three anterior toes united by web
at the base ; hind-toe on same plane ; claws generally short, broad,
and blunt.
Key to the Genera.
a. Mandibles in contact ; no open space be-
tween them.
a'. Bill straight.
a". Forehead, crown, and cheeks
feathered CICONIA, p. 368.
b". Crown feathered; forehead and
cheeks naked DISSURA, p. 370.
c". Crown naked; whole head and neck
nearly naked LEPTOPTILUS, p. 373.
b'. Bill slightly curved upward at end ;
head feathered XKNORH^NCHUS, p. 371.
c'. Bill curved downward at end ; head
naked PSKUDOTANTALUS, p. :37f>.
b. An open space between mandibles ANASTOMUS, p. 377.
Genus CICONIA, Brisson, 1760.
The typical Storks have a long, stout, tapering, and pointed
bill, the lower mandible slightly inclined upward towards the end ;
nostrils almost linear, basal, pervious ; orbits naked, sides of head
CICONIA. 3691
feathered around them : lower half of tibiae bare ; tarsi longr
reticulated ; feet short, toes broad ; claws very short, broad,
depressed.
Key to the Species.
a. Head, neck, and back white C. alba, p. 369.
b. Head, neck, and back black or dark brown C. nigra, p. 369.
1546. Ciconia alba. The White Stork.
Ardea ciconia, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 235 (1766).
Ciconia alba, Bechst. Naturg. Deutscnl iii, p. 48 (1793) ; Bhjth, Cat.
p. 276; Irby, Ibis, 1861, 'p. 244; Jerdon, B. 7. iii, p. 736; Blyth,
Ibis, 1867, p. 172 ; Hume, 8. F. i, p. 252 ; Butler $ Hume, S. F.
iv, p. 22 ; Fairbank, ibid. p. 263 ; Davidson fy Wenden, S. F. vii,
p. 90 ; Ball, ibid. p. 230 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 306 ; Hume, Cat. no. 919 ;
Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1119 ; Butler, 8. F. ix, p. 433 ; Parker, ibid.
p. 485 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 74 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 323 ; Davison,
ibid. p. 415 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 376 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 331.
Ciconia ciconia, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 299.
Lag-lag, Haji Lag-lag, Ujli, Dhak, Ghybur, H. ; Wadume Konga, Tel.
Coloration. White, except the quills, primary-coverts, larger
secondary-coverts, and longer scapulars, which are black, slightly
glossed with purple and green ; outer webs of secondaries more or
less frosted with white.
Bill fine blood-red, irides brown, naked orbits black ; legs red
(Jerdon).
Length 3| feet ; tail 9-5 inches ; wing 24 ; tarsus 8 (7-9) ; bill
from gape 8.
Distribution. The greater part of Europe and Africa, Western
and Central Asia, breeding in the north temperate region, and
migrating southward in winter. Storks are fairly common in
many parts of Northern India, and they occur in the Deccan, but
they are rare to the southward and in Ceylon, where, however,.
Mr. Parker states that he found some breeding in December.
Hume saw in Manipur birds probably of this species, but perhaps
of the Eastern C. boyciana*, which replaces C. alba in Eastern Asia.
No white Stork is known to occur in Burma.
Habits, Sfc. A migratory bird, breeding on trees, and where
protected by the inhabitants, as in many parts of Europe and Asia,
on houses. In India, where this Stork arrives in October and
leaves in March, it is generally seen in flocks on open plains, and
it feeds on insects, reptiles, and fish. It builds a huge nest of
sticks, and lays 3 to 5 white eggs measuring about 3'2 by 2-15.
1547. Ciconia nigra. The Black tilorlc.
Ardea nigra, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 235 (1766).
Ciconia nigra, Blyth, Cat. p. 277 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 735 ; Butler
$ Hume, S. F. iv, p. 22; Fairbank, ibid. p. 263; Davidson $
* C. boyciana (Swinh. P. Z. S. 1873, p. 513 ; 1874, pi. i) i* a, larger bird
resembling C. alba in plumage, but with a black bill.
YOL. IT. 2 B
-370 CICONIIDJE.
Wend. S. F. vii, p. 90 ; Hume, Cat. no. 918 ; Scully, S. F. viii,
p. 359 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 98 ; Scully, ibid. p. 591 ; Butler,
S. F. ix, p. 433 ; Davidson, S. F. x, p. 323 ; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 376.
Melanopelargus nigra, Hume, S. F. i, p. 252 j Ball, S. F. ii, p. 433 ;
v, p. 420; \ii, p.230.
Surmai, H.
Coloration. Deep blackish brown, glossed with purple, green,
and bronze ; sides of head glossed bronze ; fore neck bronzy green,
followed by a purple gorget ; uppe» breast glossed green ; lower
breast, abdomen, flanks, and under tail-coverts white.
Beak, naked skin round the eye, and legs red, with an orange
tinge ; irides reddish brown (Dresser).
Length 40; tail 10 ; wing 21 ; tarsus 8 : bill from gape 8.
Distribution. The greater part of Europe, Africa, and Asia. This
Stork breeds in temperate Europe and Asia and migrates south-
ward in winter. Large numbers visit the Punjab and Northern
Sind at that season, and smaller numbers occur throughout
Northern India, Assam, and the Deccan, but the species has not
been observed in Southern India, Ceylon, or Burma.
Habits, <$fc. In India Black Storks usually occur in flocks, which
are frequently of large size. This bird much resembles the White
Stork in habits, but does not breed about human dwellings.
Genus DISSURA, Hume, 1879.
This is distinguished from Ciconia by having the forehead and
the sides of the head to behind the eyes nude, and the upper tail-
coverts stiff and bifurcating, the exterior coverts longest, nearly
reaching the tip of the tail. A single species.
1548. Dissura episcopus. The White-necked Stork.
Ardea episcopus, Bodd. Tabl. PL Enl. p. 54 (1783).
Ardea leucocephala, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 642 (1788).
Ciconia leucocephala, Blyth, Cat. p. 277 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 737 ;
Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. 2, p. 175 ; Butler fy Hume, S. F.
iv, p. 22.
Melanopelargus episcopus, Hume Sf Henders. Lah. to Yark. p. 294 ;
Hume, N. $ E. p. 609; Adam, S. F. i, p. 398; Ball, S. F. ii,
p. 433 : Hume fy Gates, S. F. iii, p. 189 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi,
p. 469 ; Davidson $ Wend. S. F. vii, p. 90.
Ciconia episcopus, Blyth 8f Wold. Birds Burm. p. 158 ; Fairbarik,
S. F. iv, p. 263 ; Wardl. Rams. Ibis, 1877, p. 470.
Dissura episcopus, Ball, S. F. vii, p. 230 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 307 ; Hume,
Cat. no. 920 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 359 ; Butler, ibid. p. 387 ; Legge,
Birds Ceyl. p. 1119 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 88 ; Butler, ibid. p. 433 ;
T?nisJ ,V T? -v r\ 1 'A. • 7}//juV7«m» thirl r» .^9^ • J^miisnn ihid, rv 41 7 •
Oates,
Barnes,
p. 142 ; Hume fy Crippl, S. F. xi, p. 331 ; Beddard, P. Z. S. 1896,
p. 231 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 294.
XENORHY^CHUS. 371
Manik-jor, Lay-lay, H. ; Bcic/ald, Mar. ; Sanku-budi-konga, Tel. ;
Mdna koku, Vanalay koku, Padre koku, Cing. ; Chi-gyin-sut, Burm.
Beef-steak Bird of some Anglo-Indians.
Fig. 87. — Head of Dissura episcopus. f .
Coloration. Crown black glossed with green ; neck, lower
abdomen, under tail-coverts, and tail white ; remainder of plumage
black, glossed with green on the lower back and rump, lesser
and greater coverts and quills, and upper abdomen, purple on the
upper back, median coverts, and breast.
In young birds the white neck-feathers are more fluffy and the
dark parts brown.
Bill black, tinged with red on the culmen, tips and margins of
the mandibles ; eyelids and facial skin plumbeous ; irides crimson ;
legs and toes red (Oates).
Length 36 ; tail 8 ; wing 20 ; tarsus 6'5 ; bill from gape 6'5.
Distribution. Except in the Punjab and Sind (where, however,
a solitary specimen was once obtained,) this Stork appears to occur
almost throughout the well-watered plains of India, Ceylon,
and Burma ; also in the Malay Peninsula, Cochin China, Sumatra,
Java, Borneo, and Celebes.
Habits, <$fc. The White-necked Stork is found singly or in small
flocks on open plains and cultivation or on the banks of rivers,
marshes, and tanks, especially about ponds that are nearly dry ;
it feeds on insects, reptiles, frogs, mollusks, crabs, fish, &c. It
flies strongly and well, and may be occasionally seen circling high
in the air without moving its wings. It breeds in June, July, and
August in Upper India, but in the Deccan about December and
January; makes a large nest of sticks, thinly lined with down and
feathers, or thickly covered with straw, leaves, and feathers mixed,
and lays normally four bluish-white eggs measuring about 2*5
by 1-83.
Genus XENORHYNCHUS, Bonap., 1857.
Bill very long, ascending slightly towards the tip ; tarsus ver
long. Head and neck completely feathered.
The only species of this genus is a large and handsome bird.
CICONIID^E.
1549. Xenorhynchus asiaticus. The Black-necked Stork.
Mycteria asiatica, Lath. 2nd. Orn. ii, p. 670 (1790).
Ardea indica, Lath. t. c. p. 701 (1790).
Mycteria australis, Shaw, Trans. Linn. Soc. v, p. 34 (1800) ; Blyth,
Cat. p. 276; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 244; Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 734;
Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 276; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 172; Godw.-
Aust. J.A.S. B. xliii, pt. 2, p. 175.
Mycteria indica, Hume, S. F. i, p. 252 ; id. N. $ E. p. 607 ; Adam.
S. F. i, p. 398 ; Hume $ Oates, 8. F. iii, p. 189.
Xenorhynchus asiaticus, Walden in Blyth' s Birds Burm. p. 158;
Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 469 ; Gates, S. F. vii, p. 51 ; Ball, ibid.
p. 230; Hume, Cat. no. 917; Doig, S. F. viii, p. 371; Legge,
Birds Ccyl. p. 1116 ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 432 ; Parker, ibid. p. 484 ;
Reid, S. F. x, p. 74 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 264 ; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 375 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 141 ; Hume fy Cripps,
S. F. xi, p. 330; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 265 ;
Sha?-pe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 310.
Mycteria asiatica, Godiv.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xlv, pt. 2, p. 84; Hume
8? Butler, S. F. iv, p. 22.
Banaras, Loharjung, Loha sarang, H. ; JRam salik, Beng. ; Peria Uoku,
Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Al-koka, Cing. ; Telia-herenga, Assam ; Hnet-kalah,
Burm.
Fig. 88.— Head of X. asiaticus.
Coloration. Head and neck black, richly glossed with bluish
green, except the occiput which is coppery brown, passing into1
purple on the edges ; scapulars, tertiaries, greater secondary-
coverts, greater under wing-coverts, and tail black, richly glossed
with metallic green ; rest of plumage white.
In young birds the head, neck, back, and wings are brown,
many of the feathers with pale edges ; the scapulars and wing-
feathers darker and glossed with green ; the quills whitish towards
the base ; lower back and rump whitish, middle upper tail-coverts
brown; tail-feathers brown, whitish for some distance at the base and
white-tipped ; sides of breast brown ; lower parts from neck white.
Bill black ; gular skin and eyelids dusky purple ; irides bluish
brown ; legs and toes coral-red {Oates) ; irides dark brown in the
male, bright yellow in the female (Gurney}.
Length 52; tail 9; wing 24: tarsus 12 to 13-5; bill from
gape 12.
Distribution. The Black-necked Stork is resident in suitable
localities throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma, and through the
Malay countries and archipelago to Australia. It is in India far
from generally distributed, not being found in dry sandy tracts,
nor as a rule in forests, but keeping chiefly to the plains of the
great rivers.
LEPTOPTILUS.
373
Habits, fyc. The banks of large rivers, tanks and marshes are
the usual resort o£ this great bird, which is generally seen singly
or in pairs. Like other Storks it feeds on fish, reptiles, frogs,
crabs/mollusks, &c. It breeds from October to December, makes
a huge pile of sticks, lined with rushes, grass, &c., on a tree, and
lays usually four white eggs measuring about 2'91 by 2'12.
Genus LEPTOPTILUS, Less., 1831.
Bill very large, high at the base, tapering gradually, culmen and
commissure nearly straight, culineu as long as the tarsus or longer ;
nostrils small, narrow, near the culmen. Head and neck nearly
naked, having only a few scattered hair-like feathers ; crown
absolutely nude.
There are three species of this genus, inhabiting Africa and
Southern Asia. All are very large birds. Two are Indian.
Key to the Species.
a. A gular pouch ; larger, wing 32 in., tarsus 13 .. L. dubius, p. 373.
b. No gular pouch ; smaller, wing 26 in., tarsus 10'5. L.javanicus, p. 374.
1550. Leptoptilus dubius. The Adjutant.
Ardea dubia, Gmel Syst. Nat. i, p. 624 (1788).
Ardea argala, Lath. 2nd. Orn. ii, p. 6/6 (1790).
Ardea gigantea, Forster, Faun. Ind. p. 11 (1795), descr. nulla.
Leptoptilus argala, Blyth, Cat. p. 277; id. J. A. S. B. xxiv, p. 279 ;
id. Ibis, 1861, p, 268 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 730 ; Beavan,Ibis, 1868,
p. 396 j Hayes Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 418 ; Blyth fy Wald. Birds
Burin, p. 158; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 21 ; Fan-bank, ibid. p. 263;
Wardl Rams. Ibis, 1877, p. 470 ; Hume Sf Dav. S. F. vi, p. 468 ;
Bingham, S. F. vii, p. 25 ; Butler, ibid. p. 187 ; Ball, ibid. p. 229;
Cripps, ibid. p. 306 ; Hume, Cat. no. 915 ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 432 ;
Reid, 8. F. x, p. 73 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 323 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H.
Soc. i, p. 176 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 262 ; id. in Hume's N. $ JE. 2nd
ed. iii, p. 260 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 374 ; Hume $ Cripps, S. F.
xi, p. 330.
Leptoptilus dubius, Hume, S. F. i, p. 252 ; Adam, ibid. p. 398 ; Ball,
S. F. ii, p. 432 ; Oates, 8. F. iii, p. 346 ; Shar-pe, Cat. B. M. xxvi,
p. 315.
Leptoptilus giganteus, Oates, S. F. vii, p. 50.
Hargila, Garur, Peda-dhauk, H. ; Dusta, Dakhani ; Chaniari dhauk,
Beng. ; Pinigala-konya, Tel. ; Don-zat, Burm.
Coloration. Adult in breeding-plumage. Head, neck, and pouch
nearly naked, a few scattered dark brown feathers only occurring ;
a ruff of white feathers round the base of the neck ; upper plumage,
wings, and tail black with a slight green gloss, greater wing-coverts
and tertiaries silvery grey ; lower parts white, the under tail-
coverts soft and downy. In non-breeding plumage the tertiaries
und greater coverts are black like the rest of the wing.
Young birds have the greater wing-coverts and tertiaries brown.
Bill pinkish flesh-colour; skin of head and chin pale reddish
brown, rough and blackish on the forehead ; neck saffron-yellow,
374
turning to pink at the end of the pouch, which is spotted with
black ; loose skin at back of neck brick-red ; irides yellowish white ;
legs and toes brown, the edge of the reticulations white (Gates).
Bill pale dirty greenish ; legs greyish white (Jerdori). The pouch
is sometimes 12 to 16 inches or more in length, but is capable of
extension and retraction to a considerable extent.
Length 60 ; tail 13 ; wing 32 ; tarsus 13 ; bill from gape 13.
Distribution. Throughout the greater part of India in summer,
very common in Bengal and Northern India, rare or wanting in
the South, unknown in Ceylon ; vary abundant and breeding in
parts of Burma in winter, and occasionally met with throughout
the year. This Stork ranges into the Malay Peninsula, Siam,
Cochin China, Sumatra, Java, and Borneo.
Habits, 6fc. This is a Stork that has taken to the ways of vultures,
feeding with them on carcases and offal, and visiting piles of
refuse in and around large towns, in company with kites and
crows, to search for food. In Calcutta throughout the hot season
and rains Adjutants swarm, and formerly, before the sanitary
arrangements of the city were improved, numbers haunted the
river ghats in the daytime and perched on Government House
and other conspicuous buildings at night. Adjutants as useful
scavengers are in many places protected by law. Their food,
however, is not confined to carcases and offal, they live also at
times on fish, reptiles, and frogs like other Storks. Their flight
is heavy and noisy, but they soar like vultures ; when on the ground
they often rest on the whole tarsus, and they frequently sit with
the head drawn in between the shoulders. The pouch is uncon-
nected with the gullet, and the common idea that it serves to
r338ive food is quite erroneous. Adjutants breed on large trees
in. November and December ; immense numbers were found by
Gates breeding in company with Pelicans near Shwegyin in Burma,
and the nests and eggs of colonies near Moulmein have been
described by Tickell, Bingham, and others. A few cases of
nidification have been observed in India — in the north of the
Gorakhpur district (Beavan\ in the Sundarbuns (Frith, Morell), and
in Manbhoom (Ball). The nest is a huge structure of sticks; the
eggs, usually three in number, are white and measure about 3 by
2'28. Both Gates and Bingham describe a peculiar grunting
pound, like the lowing of a cow, made by Adjutants in the
breeding-season. These birds are completely destitute of voice-
muscles, and it is a question how the noise is produced. Usually,
like other Storks, the only sound they make is produced by
snapping their huge bills.
1551. Leptoptilus javanicus. The Smaller Adjutant.
Ciconia javanica, Horsf. Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 188 (1821).
Leptoptilus javanicus, Blyth, Cat. p. 277 ; Jerdon, B. I. Hi, p. 732 ;
Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burin, p. 159 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi,
p. 469; Oates, S. F. vii, p. 51; Davids. $ Wend. ibid. p. 90;
Ball, ibid. p. 230; Hume, Cat. no. 916; Leyge, Birds Ceyl.
PSEUDOTANTALUS. 375-
p. 1113; Butler, 8. F. ix, p. 432; Parker, ibid. p. 483; Reid,
S. F. x, p. 73 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 263 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 374 ;
Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 330 ; Gates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. Hi,
p. 264 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 317.
The Hair-crested Stork, Jerdon; Chinjara, Chandana, Chandiari,
Bang-gor, Chota ganir, II. ; Madan-chur, Modun-tiki, Beng. ; Tokla-
moora, Assam. ; Dodal-konga , Dodal gatti-gadu, Tel. Mdna, Ceylon ;
Don-mi-gwet, Burni.
Coloration. Scattered hair- like feathers and down on neck and
on sides of head, much thicker about the nape, dark brown ; upper
plumage, wings, and tail black, glossed with metallic green ;
feathers of the back, scapulars, and wing-coverts closely barred
across, a coppery spot in some skins (breeding-plumage ?) close-
to the tip of each larger secondary-covert ; longer scapulars
and tertiaries edged laterally with white; lower parts white,
except the wing-lining which is black ; under tail-coverts longer
than in L. dubius, very soft.
Young birds have more feathers about the nape.
Bill dirty yellowish ; bare top of head dirty green ; nude face
and neck much tinged with yellow and at seasons with red ; irides
whitish ; legs dusky black (Jerdon}.
Length 54 ; tail 11 ; wing 26 ; tarsus 10-5 ; bill from gape 12.
Females appear to be considerably smaller.
Distribution. The greater part of India but nowhere common,
rare or wanting to the westward, not observed in Rajputana,
Sind, or the Punjab, and of doubtful occurrence in the Bombay
Presidency. This Adjutant has been observed on the Malabar
coast, and it occurs and breeds in Ceylon. It is found throughout
Burma and the Malay Peninsula, Eastern China, Sumatra, Java,
and Borneo.
Habits, $c. This is by no means so familiar a bird as its larger
relative, nor is it, as a rule at all events, a feeder on carrion. It
keeps to well-wooded and watered tracts, living on fish, reptiles,
locusts, crabs, &c. It breeds in Pegu and the neighbourhood
of Moulmein later than L. dubius, and in Ceylon from February
to April. The details of niditication are similar to those of the
larger Adjutant. The eggs measure about 2'84 by 2'09.
Genus PSEUDOTANTALUS, Eidgway, 1883.
Bill long, scarcely compressed, broad at the base, bent down
towards the tip ; lower mandible slightly concave beneath \
culmen rounded throughout ; both mandibles subcylindrical an-
teriorly ; nostrils near the culmen, basal, oval ; head aud throat
naked, nape and neck feathered ; legs long, tibia half-nude, toes
long. Lower tail-coverts extending beyond the tail.
This genus and Tantalus, which is an American form, chiefly
distinguished by its naked neck, were long classed with the Ibises
or in a family apart, but they are true Storks. One species is-
Indian.
-376 CICOXTIDJE.
1552. Pseudotantalus leucocephalus. The Painted Stork.
Tantalus leucocephalus, Pennant, Ind. Zool. p. 11, pi. x (1769) ;
Blyth, Cat. p. 275 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 761 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867,
p. 173 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 274 ; Stoliczka,
J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 255 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 626; Adam,
S. F. i, p. 899 ; Butler $ Hume, S. F. iv, p. 24 ; Fairbank, ibid.
p. 263 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi, p. 484 : Davids. $ Wend. S. F.
\ii, p. 91 ; Murray, ibid. pp. 110, 113 ; Butler, ibid. p. 188 ; Ball,
ibid. p. 231 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 309 ; Hwne, ibid. p. 507 ; id. Cat.
no. 938 ; Doiff, S. F. viii, pp. 372, 374 ; Newton, ibid. p. 415 ;
Leffffe, Birds Ceyl. p. 1100; Butle*, S. F. ix, p. 435; Reid, S. F.
x, p. 76 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 324 ; Simson, Ibis, 1882, p. 93; Oates,
B. B. ii, p. 267 ; Swinkoe 8f Barnes, Ibis, 1885, p. 136 ; Barnes, Birds
Bom. p. 387 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 338 ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E.
2nd ed. iii, p. 220 ; Barnes, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc.'i, p. 60 ; vi. p. 149.
Pseudotantalus leucocephalus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 323.
The Pelican Ibis, Jerdon ; Janghil, Dokh, II. ; Kat-Sarunga, Ram-
jhankar, Sona-janga, Beng. ; Lungduk, Sind ; Yerri Kali-konga, Tel. ;
Singa nareli, Tarn. ; Changa vella nary, Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Datuduwa,
Cing. ; Hnet-kya, Burm.
Fig. 89. — Head of P. leucocephalus.
Coloration. White, except the primaries, secondaries, and tail,
which are black glossed with green ; lesser and median, but not the
greater, coverts the same with broad white margins ; the under
wing-coverts and a broad band across the lower breast black
glossed with green, with white edges to the feathers ; tertiaries
pink with white borders ; scapulars and greater wing-coverts white
tinged with rosy.
In young birds the neck and back are light brown, the neck-
feathers scale-like, with dark edges which are broader behind than
in front, lesser and median wing-coverts dark brown, greater
•coverts paler, quills and tail as in adults ; the rump, breast, and
abdomen sullied white.
Bill and facial skin orange-yellow, plumbeous at the base of the
bill ; irides pale yellow ; legs, toes, and claws brown. In the young
the iris is brown (Oates); legs fleshy red (Jerdon, Cripps).
Length 40 ; tail 6'5; wing 20; tarsus 9*5 ; bill from gape 10.
Distribution. Resident throughout India, except in the Punjab,
in tracts w'here there are large rivers, tanks, and marshes ; also in
Ceylon and Burma, and in Southern China and Cochin China ; but
P. leucocephalus is very common in the Deccan. It is replaced
l>y an allied species P. lacteus in the Malay Peninsula and
Islands.
ANASTOMUS. 377
Habits, $c. This bird, well known as the Pelican Ibis, a name
involving error, is common in well- watered parts of the country,
solitary or in flocks, frequenting the larger pieces of water, and
with the usual habits of Storks. It breeds on large trees, often
about villages, several birds nesting together : it makes a rather
small nest of sticks, and lays usually 4, but sometimes as many
as 8, white eggs, measuring 2-77 by 1-88. The breeding-season
is September and October in Northern India, February in the
Deccan. This bird is easily tamed and becomes very sociable.
Genus ANASTOMUS, Bonnaterre, 1790.
This genus may be recognized at once by its remarkable bill, in
which, when adult, an open space is left between the mandibles.
These are in contact for a distance from the gape and again at
the tip. The bill is strong and stout and the genys considerably
curved ; the anterior half of the upper mandible is furnished with
lamellae along the commissure. Face in front of the eyes and
around them, with the area below the eyes, and the chin and
throat naked in adults, only the lores naked in young birds.
Tarsus moderate, about as long as the culmen, reticulate ; toes and
claws considerably longer in proportion than in Storks generally.
The open space between the mandibles is said to be the result
of wear *, caused by the shells of the mollusca, on which the
bird feeds ; in the nestling, and up to the age of 4 or 5 months,
the commissure is straight and the two mandibles in contact
throughout.
Three species are known ; one inhabits Africa, another Mada-
gascar, the third India.
1553. Anastomus oscitans. T7ie Open-bill.
Ardea oscitans, Bodd. Tabl PL Enl. p. 55 (1783).
Anastomus oscitans, Blyth, Cat. p. 276 ; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 244 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 765; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 173 5 Hume, N. 8f
E. p. 630 ; id. S. F. i, pp. 107, 133 ; Ball, S. F. ii, p. 435 ; Blyth,
Birds Burm. p. 158; Butler fy Hume, S. F. iv, p. 25 ; Binyham,
ibid. p. 211 ; Fairbank, ibid. p. 264 ; Murray, S. F. vii, p. 110 ;
Butler, ibid. pp. 188, 189 ; Ball $ Hume, ibid. p. 231 ; Cripps, ibid.
p. 310 ; Doiff, ibid. p. 467 ; Hume, Cat. no. 940 ; Leyc/e, Birds
Ceyl. p. 1103; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 435; Reid, 8. F. x, p. 77;
Davidson, ibid. p. 324 ; Damson, ibid. p. 417 ; Oates, B. B. ii,
p. 266 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 389 ; Hume $ Cripps, S. F. xi,
p. 338 ; Oates in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 224 ; Barnes,
Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 151 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 306.
The Shell-Ibis, Jerdon ; Gunyla, Ghonyal, Ghonyhila, H. ; Dokar, H.
(Bekar) : Tonte-bhanya, Shamakh-bhanya, Samak-khol, Hammak-kas,
Beng. ; Pauna konya, Southern Gonds ; Gain Konya, Tel. ; Natte kuti
nareh, Tarn. ; Karunary, Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Gombelle-koka, Cing. ; Kha-ru-
tsoke, Burm. (Arrakan).
* As Legge has pointed out, signs of wear are confined to the lower
mandible, the thick rhainphotheca of the upper mandible and the lamellae
show no signs of attrition ; moreover the space does not exist near the gape,
where the greatest crushing-power can be exerted.
378
Coloration. In breeding-plumage the longer scapulars, ail th
quills, the winglet, primary and greater secondary coverts, ane
the tail are black, glossed with dark green and purple ; remainder
of plumage white.
Fig. 90.— Head of A. oscitans.
At the moult after the breeding-season the white is replaced
by smoky grey, darkest on the occiput and upper back. This
becomes white by a change of colour in the feathers at the
breeding- season. The black parts of the plumage undergo no
change.
Young birds have the back and shorter scapulars brown, longer
scapuhirs and tertiaries brownish ; otherwise they resemble adults-
in non-breeding plumage.
Bill dull greenish, tinged with reddish beneath ; nude orbits and
gular skin blackish ; irides grey or pale brown ; legs pale fleshy
(Jerdon).
Length 32; tail 7; wing 16*5 ; tarsus 5-5 ; bill from gape 6.
Distribution. Throughout the great plain of Northern India
from Bengal to Sind ; particularly common in Bengal, and in other
well-watered tracts throughout India and Ceylon, but this bird is
not common except about large rivers or marshes. It is also-
common in Assam and Manipur and is found in Arrakan, but is
very rare in Pegu and unknown elsewhere in Burma. It occurs,
however, in Cochin China.
Habits, $*c. This curious Stork lives chiefly on freshwater
raollusca, especially Ampullaria, and, it is said, Unio, and is
stated by Jerdon, from his observations on captive and blinded
birds, to cut off the operculum of the Ampullaria and extract the
animal whole ; but Bingham, who had good opportunities of
matching the birds, both in the field and in confinement, found
that they broke the Amputtarice before extracting the molluscs,
and crushed smaller mollusca before swallowing them. They
occasionally eat fish, crabs, &c., but subsist mainly on mollusca,
Anastomus is often seen in flocks, frequenting marshes and paddy
fields. It breeds on trees gregariously and lays from 2 to 5,
generally 4, white eggs, measuring about 2*24 by 1-6. The
breeding- season is July and August in Northern India, January to
March in Ceylon.
The name Shell-Ibis being inapplicable to a bird that is a Stork
and not an Ibis, I have adopted the term Open-bill proposed by
Professor Newton. It is a translation of Buffon's Bee ouvert, the
oldest name for this bird in a European language.
3791
Suborder AEDE^E.
This suborder, containing the Herons and their allies, is holo-
rhinal ; the mandible is not produced behind its articulation with
the quadrate, and there is only a single incision on each side of
the posterior border of the sternum. Cervical vertebrae 18 to 20,
Ambiens and accessory femoro-caudal absent, femoro-caudal some-
times very small. A pair of tracheo-bronchial muscles present.
The spinal bare tract extends far up the neck ; in one genus.
Ardetta, the whole back of the neck is naked.
The suborder is sometimes divided into three families, Ardeidce,
Scopidce, and Balcenicijpitidce ; the last two are peculiar to Africa,
and their relations to the Ardeidce are variously regarded by
different writers. The Ardeidce alone are Indian.
Family ARDEID^.
Bill generally slender, straight, grooved at each side of the-
upper mandible ; nostrils lateral, in the groove ; legs long ; toes
long and slender, a slight web between the outer and middle toes ;
hind toe well developed, on the same plane as the others.
Herons are also distinguished by the presence of powder-down
patches on each side of the rump and of the breast, and by the
middle claw being pectinated. Most Herons, if not all, keep the
neck bent in a curve, so that the head rests between the shoulders
when flying, and often when sitting.
The family is generally distributed, and several genera are
Indian. Although many of the Indian Herons move about the
country greatly, on account of the varying distribution of water
and food at different seasons, the only truly migratory form is-
Botaurus', all others are believed to breed in the country.
Key to the Genera.
a. Tail-feathers 12.
«'. Nude tibia much longer than inner toe
and claw.
a". Plumage grey above, varied beneath . . AUDEA, p. 380.
b". Plumage white throughout ; culmen
much shorter than tarsus HERODIAS, p. 385.
380 ARDEIDJ3.
I'. Nude tibia slightly longer than inner toe
and claw or shorter ; plumage either dark
grey throughout, except on throat, or
pure white throughout ; culmen not
exceeding or just exceeding tarsus in
length LEPTERODIUS, p. 390.
c'. Nude tibia shorter than inner toe and claw.
c". Wings, body, and tail white.
a3. Head and back white in winter,
ochreous buff in breeding-season ;
culmeu shorter than tarsus BUBULCUS, p. 388.
b3. Head and back always coloured, not
buff, or only in parts buff ; culinen
longer than tarsus ARDEOLA, p. 392.
d" . Wings, body, and tail not white.
c3. Culmen longer than tarsus BUTORIDES, p. 394.
d3. Culrnen about equal to tarsus; bill
deep at base NYCTICORAX, p. 396.
e3. Culmen shorter than tarsus GORSACHIUS, p. 398.
.b. Tail-feathers 10.
d'. Middle toe and claw not longer than
culmen.
e". Size small, wing under 6 inches AEDETTA, p. 399.
f. Size larger, wing over 6 inches DUPETOR, p. 403.
e'. Middle toe and claw longer than tarsus,
which is much longer than bill BOTAUBUS, p. 405.
Genus ARDEA, Linn., 1766.
Bill long, compressed, pointed ; culmen nearly straight ; both
mandibles slightly serrated at commissure, upper mandible grooved
•on each side of culmen ; nostrils subbasal, elongate, situated in the
groove. Sides of head to behind the eyes naked. Tarsus long,
scutellate in front ; tibia half-naked. Wings ample ; tail short.
Upper surface grey ; the feathers at the base of the neck and the
scapulars elongate, forming ornamental plumes ; no dorsal train.
Head crested.
This genus is almost cosmopolitan ; of the ten species known
half occur in India. The Purple Herons, which have a pro-
portionally larger foot and differ slightly in habits, are placed by
Sharpe in a distinct genus, Phoyx, but the division, though justi-
fiable, appears scarcely necessary.
Key to the Species.
a. Mid-toe and claw as long as tarsus or longer ;
crown and crest black A. manillensis, p. 381.
b. Mid-toe and claw shorter than tarsus.
a'. Crown of head white (grey in young),
crest black A. cinerea, p. 382.
b'. Crown and crest grey.
a". Lower parts grey A. sumatrana, p. 383.
b". Lower parts white A. insignia, p. 383.
c'. Crown and crest chestnut A. goliath, p. 384.
ARDEA. 381
1554. Ardea manillensis. The Eastern Purple Heron.
Ardea purpurea, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 278 ; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 244
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 743 ; Hume, Ibis, 1869, p. 238 ; id. N. $ E.
p. 611 ; Ball, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 289 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 253 ;.
ii, p. 303 ; Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 159 ; Butter 8f Hume, 8. F. iv,
p. 23; Fairbank, ibid. p. 263; Oates, S. F. v, p. 167; Hume $
Dav. S. F. vi, p. 472 ; Hume $ Bourd. S. F. vii, p. 39 ; Ball, S. F.
vii, p. 230 ; Cripps,ibid. p. 307 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves,
p. 686 ; Hume, Cat. no. 924 ; Doig, S. F. viii, p. 372 j Legge,
Birds Ceyl. p. 1132 ; Vidal, S. F. be, p. 88 ; Butler, ibid. p. 433 ;
JReid, S. F. x, p. 74 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 323 ; Hume, ibid. p. 416 ;
Oates, B. B. ii, p. 245 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 378 ; id. Jour. Bom.
N. H. Soc. vi, p. 143 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 332 ; Oates in Hume's
N. Sf E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 235.
Phoyx manillensis, Sharpe, Bull. B. O. C. iii, p. xxxviii (1894).
The Purple Heron, Jerdon ; Nari, Ldl-sain, Ldl-anjan, H. ; Khijra >
in Behar ; Lal-kank, Beng. ; Pamula nari-gadu, Tel. ; Sannari, Tarn. ;
Karawal-koka, Singh. ; Khyung byaing, Arrakan ; Nga-hit, Burm.
Coloration. Forehead, crown, long occipital crest, a streak down
the back of the neck, one on each side down the side of the neck,
and another streak on each side from the gape to the nape slaty
black ; chin and throat white ; rest of head and neck ferruginous
red, paler and buff on sides of head and middle of fore neck ; long
feathers overhanging upper breast buffy white, streaked with black
and chestnut ; lower hind neck, back, rump and upper tail-coverts,
wings and tail slaty grey, the back darker, and the quills and
tail-feathers blackish ; scapulars with long pointed rufous ends ;
middle of breast and abdomen and lower tail-coverts slaty black ;
sides of breast rich chestnut ; flanks ashy grey ; thigh-coverts
cinnamon ; wing-lining mostly ferruginous.
Young birds have neither crest nor lengthened plumes on the
scapulars or breast ; the upper parts are brownish grey, with
broad rufous edges to the feathers ; crown partly grey ; neck
rufous, fore neck with black streaks ; lower surface a mixture of
buff and grey.
This Heron is distinguished from the Purple Heron of Europe,
Africa, and South-western Asia {A. purpurea) by wanting the
black streaks on the fore neck.
Bill deep yellow, brownish above ; orbital skin greenish yellow ;
irides yellow ; tarsus reddish brown, yellowish behind and on the
soles of the feet (Jerdon).
Length 38 ; tail 5'25 ; wing 14-5 ; tarsus 5-5 ; bill from gape 6.
Toes very long, the middle toe and claw as loog as the tarsus.
Distribution. Throughout the Oriental region. Common in
suitable localities throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma.
Habits, <$fc. A shy skulking bird, that generally hides in high
reeds, and may, as Jerdon remarks, often be observed with its
head and long neck protruded above the grass. It is not found in
open ground, and it roosts on low trees ; it not unfrequently feeds
at night. When disturbed it rises with a harsh cry. It breeds-
382
in thickets or in dense clumps of bulrushes, and makes large
stick-nests, in which it lays 4, or sometimes 5, bluish-green eggs,
measuring about 2-17 by 1'56. The breeding-season in most
parts of India and Burma is July and August, but in Ceylon
December to March.
1555. Ardea cinerea. The -Common Heron. (Fig. 84, p. 359.)
Ardea cinerea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 236 (1766) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 278 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 741 ; Hume fy Henders. Lah. to York. p. 295 ;
Hume, N. $ E. p. 610; id. S. F. i, p. 253 ; Adam, ibid. p. 399 ;
Blyth, Birds Burin, p. 159 ; Butler $ Hume, S. F. iv, p. 23 ;
Hume, ibid. p. 465 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 472 ; Ball, S. F. vii,
p. 230 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 307 ; Hume, Cat. no. 923 ; Doit/, S. F. viii,
p. 371; Leffffe, Birds Ceyl. p. 1127; Vidal, S. I\ ix, p. 88;
Butler, ibid. p. 433; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 99; Scully, ibid.
p. 591 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 74 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 323 ; Hume, ibid.
p. 416 ; Stcinh. Ibis, 1882, p. 123 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 243 ; id. Ibis,
1888, p. 73; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 377; id. Jour. Bom. N. H.
Soc. vi, p. 142 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 332 ; Oates in Hume's N. 8f E.
2nd ed. iii, p. 233; Sharpe, Yark. Miss., Aves, p. 124; id.
Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 74.
Ardea brag, Is. Geoffr. in Jacguem. Voy. iv, Ois. p. 85, pi. 8 (1844).
The Blue Heron, Jerdon ; Nari, Sain, Kabud, Anjan, H. ; Khyra, in
Behar ; Sada-kanka, Anjan, Beng. ; Saa, Sind ; Narraina pachi, Tel. ;
Narrayan, Tarn. ; Kallapua-karaival-koka, Induru-koka, Cing.
Coloration. Head white, with the exception of the occiput,
nuchal plumes, and a broad band from the occiput to each eye,
which are purplish black ; neck white, tinged with greyish lilac,
lowrer fore neck streaked with black; upper parts from neck,
including tertiaries, wing-coverts, and tail-feathers, ashy grey, the
scapulars with elongate pearly-grey or whitish tips, outer wing-
coverts pale or whitish ; primaries and secondaries, primary-coverts
and winglet bluish black ; elongate breast-plumes white ; middle
of breast and abdomen, thigh-coverts and lower tail-coverts white ;
a black patch of lengthened plumes on each side of the breast,
continued as a black band on each side of the abdomen to near the
vent ; sides of body, flanks, and wing-lining ashy grey.
In females the black crest-plumes are shorter and the black
feathers on each side of the breast less prominent.
Young birds have the head and neck grey, except a small black
nuchal crest, and white chin and throat ; scapular and breast-
plumes wanting, and no black on the breast, though the black
streaks on the fore neck are very conspicuous ; upper plumage
brownish grey.
Bill dusky yellow, culmen brownish ; loral skin greenish ; iris
golden yellow ; legs and feet greenish brown, with the tibia and
posterior part of the tarsus greenish yellowr (Legye).
Length 39 ; tail 7 ; wing 18 ; tarsus 6 ; bill from gape 6.
Distribution. The greater part of the Old World. Common in
most parts of India and Ceylon; less common, though widely
distributed, in Burma.
Habits, <Sfc. A resident bird, breeding in many parts of India.
ARDEA. 383
The Common Heron is generally solitary, and may be seen standing
on the edge of water, river, marsh, or tank, looking out for food,
chiefly small fish and frogs. It flies heavily with its neck bent
and head drawn in, and it has a deep-sounding sonorous call-note,
often uttered during flight. The breeding-season is generally in
India from March to May, July and August in Sind, November
to March in Ceylon. The Common Heron makes a stick-nest on a
tree, several pairs often nesting in company, and lays in India, as
a rule, three bluish-green eggs, measuring on a average 2-27 by 1-66.
1556. Ardea sumatrana. The Dusky-grey Heron.
Ardea sumatrana, Raffles, Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 325 (1822) ; Blyth
Cat. p. 278; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 740, pt.t Blyth, Ibis, 1865,
p. 36 ; Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 159 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 469 ;
Hume, Cat. no. 922 bis; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 244: Sharpe, Cat.
B. M. xxvi, p. 68.
Ardea fusca, Blyth, A. M. N. H. xiii, p. 176 (1844).
Coloration. Crown and upper surface, with quills and tail-
feathers, dark sJaty ; long occipital crest-feathers, sometimes 9
inches in length, and lanceolate tips of scapulars pearly white, as
are also the greatly lengthened and acuminate feathers at base of
neck all round, longest on the fore neck and upper breast ; chin
and fore part of cheeks white ; sides of head and neck all round
ruddy brownish grey, becoming vinaceous on throat and darker
on hind neck ; lower parts slaty grey, with a lilac tinge and some
white shaft-stripes.
Young birds have no elongate plumes, and are browner, the
feathers of the upper surface have rufous tips, and the lower
surface is rufescent grey, streaked with whitish.
Bill black, the lower mandible yellowish white at the base ;
irides pale orange ; legs and feet black, soles faded yellow
(H. 0. Forbes).
Length 50; tail 6-5; wing 18-5; tarsus 67; bill from
gape 7*5.
Distribution. Arrakan, Southern Tenasseriin, the Malay
Peninsula and Archipelago, and Australia. A specimen in the
British Museum is said to be from N.E. Bengal, but is more
probably from Arrakan. This species was once supposed to
inhabit Sind, but no importance can now be attached to the
evidence upon which its occurrence in that province was inferred.
Habits, $c. This large Heron is said to be confined in Tenas-
serim to the sea-coast and the mouths of rivers and estuaries. It
is found singly, feeding on small fish, crabs, &c., which it finds on
the mud-flats at low tide, and perching on the mangroves when
the water is high.
1557. Ardea insignis. The Great White-bellied Heron.
Ardea insignis, Hodf/s. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 86 (1844), descr.
imlla ; Hume, S. F. vi, p. 470 (1878), descr. princ. ; Oates, B. B.
ii, p. 245 ; id. in Hume's N. Sf E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 232; Sharpe, Cat.
B. M. xxvi, p. 70.
384 AEDEID^E.
Ardea nobilis, apud Gray, Cat. Mamm. fyc. Coll. Hodgs. p. 133
(1846); nee Blyth.
Ardea sumatrana, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 278, pt. ; Jerdon, B. I. iii,
p. 740, pt. ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 610; nee Raffles.
Ardea fusca, apud Hume, Cat. no. 922; Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 332;
nee Blyth.
Coloration. Similar to A. sumatrana, but greyer and not so dark
above, the wings and tail-feathers bluish grey ; neck and sides of
head purer grey and less rufous ; the breast-plumes have white
ends and shaft-stripes, and, especially, the lower breast, abdomen,
under tail-coverts, axillaries, and wirfg-lining are white ; thigh-
coverts white in front, grey behind.
Young birds want the ornamental plumes, and have the upper
surface brownish. They may be recognized at once by the white
breast and abdomen.
Coloration of soft parts not recorded. Tail 8*5 ; wing 21-5 ;
tarsus 7*5 ; bill from gape 8.
Distribution. This species is known from the Terai of Nepal,
Sikhim, and Bhutan, where it has been collected by Hodgson and
Mandelli. Cripps states that he once saw it above Negheri Ting
in Upper Assam, and Gates records it from Bhamo. It is just
possible that some of the large Herons seen at times in the
Peninsula of India may have belonged to this species.
Habits, $c. Hume says that a huge stick-nest on a tree in the
swampy Terai was pointed out to him as belonging to this birdr
which was said to breed in July and August.
1558. Ardea goliath. The Giant Heron.
Ardea goliath, Cretzschm. in Rilpp. Atlas, p. 39, pi. 36 (1826) ;
Temm. PI. Col pi. 474 (1829) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 278 ; id. J. A. S. B.
xxiv, p. 280 ; Jerdon, B. 1. 'iii, p. 739 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1865, p. 36 ;
Hume, N. $ E. p. 610 ; id. S. F. i, p. 105 ; Blanf. Eastern Persia,
ii, p. 295 ; Hume, S. F. \, p. 105 ; vii, p. 490 ; id. Cat. no. 921 ;
Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1124; Parker, S. F. ix, p. 486; Butler,
S. F. x, p. 149 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 66.
Ardea nobilis, Blyth, A. M. N. H. xiii, p. 175 (1844).
Coloration. In the adult (only known from Africa), the crown
and crest are deep vinous chestnut, neck behind and on the sides
rufous cinnamon, chin, cheeks, and throat white, lower fore neck
purplish black streaked with white, elongate breast-plumes streaked
white and slaty black; upper parts, wings, and tail slaty grey;
lower parts from the breast, lower tail-coverts, sides of body, and
wing-lining deep chestnut.
In young birds the colours are dull, the head and neck much
paler, the grey of the upper parts with rufous edgings ; lower
parts white streaked with brown.
Bill dark slaty, lower mandible fleshy with a dark margin ; irides
yellow with reddish margins ; eyelid pale slaty ; legs and feet
dark slaty blackish {Legge}. The genys is more curved than in
other species of Ardea.
Length 56 ; tail 8-5 ; wing 24 ; tarsus 9 ; bill from gape 9'5.
HEROD I AS. 385-
Distribution. Througliout Africa. The occurrence of this bird in
Cnclia is remarkable and somewhat mysterious. Mr. Blyth, in
1845-46, procured several specimens, all of immature birds, in the
Calcutta bazaar. None has been obtained near Calcutta since,
despite numerous enquiries by Hume and others, nor, so far as is
known, has a single specimen been collected elsewhere in India,
but in Ceylon two were shot, one in 1878 and another in 1879, and
a third was seen by Mr. Parker in 1880. Then Jerdon observed
a bird of this species at the foot of the Khasi Hills ; Hume saw six
huge Herons apparently of this species in Sind ; and I have twice
seen very large Herons, once by a tank at Bazargaon, near Nagpur,
and another time at Bam pur in Baluchistan. There can be no
doubt that a big Heron with a reddisli head and neck occurs in
India, but until an adult can be compared, it cannot be regarded
as certain that this bird is identical with the African A. goliath.
Should it prove distinct, it will bear Blyth's name A. nobilis.
Genus HERODIAS, Boie, 1822.
The true Egrets are Herons with pure white plumage at all
times and with, in the breeding-season, a dorsal train of feather?
elongate and " decomposed," i. e. with the barbs or rami separate
and distant from each other so as to form the ornamental plumes
or aigrettes from which the bird's name is derived. They are-
slenderer birds than those forming the genus Ardea, and have a
smaller, more compressed bill, and a very thin neck. Though all
very similar except in the breeding-season and only to be distin-
guished by size, they develop in the nuptial plumage different tufts
of ornamental feathers, and on this account the three Indian species-
are made by Sharpe the types of as many genera.
Key to the Species.
a. Neither crest nor breast-plumes; tarsus 5'2 to
8-2in H. alba, p. 385.
b. No crest ; breast-plumes in breeding-plumage ;
tarsus about 4-5 H. intermedia, p. 386,
c. Both crest and breast-plumes in breeding-
plumage ; tarsus about 3'75 H. garzetta, p. 387.
All the Egrets associate together and have very similar habits.
They haunt marshes, paddy fields, tanks, rivers, and creeks, and
live on fish, inollusca, &c. They perch freely on trees and make
their nests on them. The nests are of sticks, and generally many
pairs of birds breed in company.
1559. Herodias alba. The Large Egret.
Ardea alba, Linn. Si/st. Nat. i, p. 239 (1766).
Ardea egretta, Bechst. Naturg. DeutschL iii. p. 41 (1793) ; Hume,
N. $ E. p. 613.
Ardea torra, Buck. Ham., Frankl. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 123; Salviidori,.
Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) vii, p. 431.
VOL. i\. 2 C
386 ABDEIDJE.
Herodias alba, Blyth, Cat. p. 279 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 744 : Blyth,
Ibis, 1865, p. 36 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 253 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 23 ;
Gates, S. F. v, p. 167 ; Hume, Cat. no. 924 bis ; Scully, S. F. viii,
p. 360 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1138 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 75 ; Oates,
B. B. ii, p. 246 ; id. in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 237 ; Sharpe,
Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 90.
Herodias egretta, Hume, S. F. v, p. 347.
Herodias torra, Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 472 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 230 ;
Hume, Cat. no. 925 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 360 ; Doig, ibid. p. 372 ;
Tidal, S. F. ix, p. 88 ; Butler, ibid. p. 433 ; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 379 ; Hume $• Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 332 ; Barnes, Jour. Bom. N.
H. Soc. vi, p. 143.
Mallany bayla, Torra-bayla, Tar-bayla, Bara-baola, H. ; Dhar-boyla,
Beng. ; Pedda-tella-konya, Tel. ; Mala-konya, Gond ; Vella koku, Tarn. ;
(Ceylon) ; Baddadel-koka, Cing.
Coloration. Pure white. In the breeding-season a train of long
ornamental feathers with fine separate and distant barbs springs
from the back and extends 4 or 5 inches beyond the tail ; no crest
or breast-plumes. The train is dropped after the breeding-season.
In the breeding-season, the bill is black, orbital skin bright green,
iris yellow, legs and feet black, soles yellowish, naked part of tibia
bluish black. At other seasons the bill is yellow, orbital skin
greenish yellow, tibia dull greenish (Oates).
Dimensions vary greatly. An average specimen measures :
length about 36, tail 5'5, wing 14-5, tarsus 6, bill from gape 5'5.
The wing, however, varies from 13 to 17 and the tarsus from 5'25
to 8*5 ; birds from the north, as usual, being larger than those which
breed to the southward. Hume and other naturalists thought that
two different species, a larger and a smaller, occurred in India,
but it is impossible to distinguish them.
Distribution. The warmer parts of Europe and Asia as far east
as Burma, with the whole of Africa ; allied species or races replacing
H. alba in Eastern Asia and Australia and in America. This
Egret is found throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma.
Habits, 6fc. The Large Egret is rather more solitary in general
than the smaller species, but it frequently associates with them.
It breeds in Northern India and in Burma about July and August,
but in the Carnatic and Ceylon, where the rains fall and the
country is flooded during the north-east monsoon, all Herons
breed from December to February. This species lays generally 3,
occasionally 4, bluish-green eggs measuring on an average 2-11 by
1-55.
1560. Herodias intermedia. The Smaller Egret.
Ardea intermedia, Wagler, Isis, 1829, p. 659 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 615.
Ai-dea egrettoides, apud Temm. Man. d'Orn. ed. 2, iv, p. 374 (1840),
nee Gmel.
Herodias intermedia, Blyth, Cat. p. 279 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli,
pt. 2, p. 254 : Hume, S. F. i, p. 253 ; Adam, ibid. p. 399 ; Hume, S. F.
ii, p. 303 ; Walden, Ibis, 1874, p. 148 ; Hume, S. F. iv, p. 23 ;
Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 476 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 230 ; Hume, Cat.
jjo. 926; Doi(j,S.F. viii, p. 372; Leyye, Birds Ceyl. p. 1141;
Butler, S. F. ix, p. 433 j Reid, S. F x,'p. 75 j Davidson, ibid. p. 323 ;
HERODIAS. 387
Oates, B. B. ii, p. 247 : id. in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii. p. 240;
Sanies, Birds Bom. p. 379 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 144 ;
Hume $ Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 333.
Herodias egrettoides, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 745 ; Ball, J. A. S. B. xli,
pt. 2, p. 289 ; id. S. F. i, p. 87 ; Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 263.
Mesophoyx intermedia, Sharpe, Bull. B. O. C. iii, p. xxxviii (1894) j
id. Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 85.
Patanc/kha or Patokha bagla, Karchia-bagla, H. ; Puru-wallai-kokuy
Tarn. (Ceylon).
Coloration. Pure white. In the breeding-season a long dorsal
train is developed, reaching nearly to the ground and sometimes
17 inches long; pectoral plumes, also decomposed, are well developed,
but no crest.
Bill in breeding-season black, facial skin green, iris yellow, legs
and toes black (Gates) ; tibia yellowish brown (Legge). Out of the
breeding-season, the bill is yellow with the tip dusky, orbital
skin greenish yellow.
Length about 26 ; tail 5 ; wing 12 ; tarsus 4-5 ; bill from gape 3*75.
Distribution. Throughout India, Ceylon, and Northern Burma,
somewhat unevenly distributed ; not recorded from Tenasserim,
though found in the Andaman Islands, Malay Peninsula and
Islands to Java and the Philippines, and in China and Japan.
Allied races occur in Africa and Australia.
Habits, tyc. This Egret breeds in Northern India in July and
August, but in Ceylon about December. The nests are closely
packed together and are often on trees in towns. The eggs are pale
bluish green, four in number, and measure about 1-9 by 1-44.
1561. Herodias garzetta. The Little Egret.
Ardea garzetta, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 237 (1766) ; Hume, N. $ E.
p. 616 ; Doig, S. F. vii, p. 467.
Herodias garzetta, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 559; Blyth, Cat. ^. 279;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 746 ; Tytler, Ibis, 1867, p. 333 ; Hume, S. F.
i, p. 253 ; Adam, ibid. p. 399 ; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 304 ; iii, p. 190 ;
Butler, S. F. iv, p. 23 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 476 ; Ball, S. F.
vii, p. 230 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 307 ; Hume, Cat. no. 927 ; Scully, S. F.
viii, p. 360 ; Doig, ibid. p. 372 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1144 ; Anders.
Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 688 ; Vi'dal, S. F. ix, p. 88 ; Butler, ibid.
p. 433 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 75 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 323 ; Hume, ibid.
p. 416 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 248 ; id. in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii,
p. 242 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 380 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc.
vi, p. 144 ; Hume fy Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 333.
? Herodias immaculata, apud Blyth,J. A.S. B. xxi. p. 437 : id. Ibis.
1865, p. 37; ? nee Gould.
? Herodias eulophotes, apud Hume, S. F. vi, p. 478 ; id. Cat. no. 927
bis ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 249 ; nee Swinh. ?
Garzetta garzetta, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 118.
Kilchia or Karchia baylat H. ; Nella nucha konga, Tel. ; Sudu-koka,
€ing.
Coloration. Pure white, The dorsal plumes greatly elongated in
the breeding-season, decomposed and turned up at the end ; pectoraJ
2o2
388 -AEDEID^E.
feathers also lengthened and lanceolate, not decomposed, and a crest
of two long attenuated feathers. All of these are wanting at other
times.
Bill black at all seasons, base of lower mandible yellowish ; facial
skin greenish yellow ; iris yellow ; tarsus black, toes mixed yellow-
ish and black (Oates} ; toes yellow or greenish yellow (Jerdon).
Length about 25 : tail 3'75 ; wing 11 : tarsus 4 ; bill from gape 4.
Fig. 91.— Head of H. garzetta.
Distribution. Southern Europe, the whole of Africa and Southern
Asia to China and Japan, the Malay Archipelago and Australia
being inhabited by a doubtfully separable form. Common through-
out India, Ceylon, and Burma.
Habits, $c. The Little Egret breeds at the same time and in
the same manner as the other species, and in company with them.
Its eggs are more numerous, frequently 5 or 6 in a nest, they are
smaller and measure 1-73 by 1-32.
I have examined the skin from Amherst near Moulmein referred
to H. eulophotes by Hume. It is certainly not Lepterodius sacer
(with which H. eulophotes, Swinhoe, is identified, rightly I believe,
by Sharpe). It is probably an abnormally small specimen of H. gar-
zetta. having a tarsus only 3-1 in. long. H. nigripes, Temrn. (H.
immaculata,Qou\d), inhabiting the Malay Archipelago and Australia,
has been separated from H. garzetta for various reasons, none of
which, so far as I can ascertain, are valid.
Genus BUBTILCUS, Bonap., 1854.
This is distinguished from Herodias by shorter bill and feet, by
the nude portion of the tibia being shorter than the inner toe
without claw, and by the changes in the breeding-season being
quite different. The culm en is much shorter than the middle toe
and claw, and these are shorter than the tarsus. In non-breeding
plumage birds of this genus are pure white, but in the breeding-
season buff hair-like plumes appear on the head, neck, and back.
The habits of the present genus differ greatly from those ot Herodias.
Only two species are known ; they inhabit the warmer parts
o£ Europe and Asia, and the whole of Africa. One species is
Indian.
.BUBULCUS. 389
1562. Bubulcus coromandus. The Cattle Egret.
•Cancroma coromanda, Bodd. Tabl. PI. Enl. p. 54 (1783).
Herodias bubulcus, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 280 ; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 245 ;
nee Ardea bubulcus, And.
Buphus coromandus, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 749 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B.
xli, pt. 2, p. 254 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 23 ; Fairbank, ibid. p. 263 ;
Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 481 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 230.
Bubulcus coromandus, Hume, S. F. i, p. 256 ; Adam, ibid. p. 399 ;
Hume, S. F. ii, p. 309 ; Ball, ibid. p. 434 j Armstrong, S. F. iv,
p. 349 ; Cripps, S. F. vii, p. 307 ; Hume, Cat. no. 929 ; Scully,
S. F. viii, p. 361 ; Doig, ibid. p. 372 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1147 ;
Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 89 ;' Butler, ibid. p. 434; Reid, S. F. x, p. 75 ;
Davidson, ibid. p. 323 ; Hume, ibid. p. 416 ; Oates, B. B. ii,
p. 251; id. in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 247; Barnes,
Birds Bom. p. 381 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 145 ; Hume,
S. F. xi, p. 333 ; Skarpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 217.
? Herodias melanopus, apud Oates, S. F. iii, p. 190.
? Ardea bubulcus, apud St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 178, nee Aud.
Surkhia-bagla, Badami-bagla, Doria-bagla, H. ; Gai-bogla, H. & Beng. ;
Samti-tonga, Tel. ; Huni koku, Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Gehri-koka, Cingnalese.
Fig. 92. — Head of B. coromandus. £.
Coloration. In winter or when not breeding pure white. In
breeding-plumage the head, neck, and long dorsal plumes are
orange-buff, the latter varying to pinkish or brownish buff ; chin
and fore part of neck white ; the dorsal plumes decomposed and
scarcely extending or not extending beyond the tail.
Bill, loral skin, and eyelids yellow; loral skin tinged with
greenish; iris pale golden yellow ; tarsi and feet black, tibia yellow,
soles greenish yellow (Legge}.
Length 20 ; tail 3-75 ; wing 10 ; tarsus 3*5 ; bill from gape 3.
Distribution. India, Ceylon, and Burma ; South-eastern Asia,
and the islands as far as Corea, the Philippines, and the Moluccas.
^Habits, fyc. Common and resident throughout the better
watered parts of the Empire, but far less commonly seen about
swamps than other Herons. This Egret is a constant attendant
on cattle, either oxen or buffaloes, frequently perching on their
backs, and feeding mainly on the insects that are attracted
by cattle and on grasshoppers. Vast numbers of this species
breed together, often in company with Egrets, Pond Herons,
&c. ; they make the usual nest of sticks in trees, and lay 3 to 5
very pale greenish eggs, measuring about 1/71 by 1*32. The
breeding-season is from June to August in most parts of India,
but in the Carnatic in November and December.
390 AEDEID2E.
Genus LEPTERODIUS, Hemp. & Ehr., 1832.
This genus is very much like Herodias, and is distinguished by
having the dorsal train comparatively short, composed of lanceolate
feathers, not of plumes with the barbs widely separate, by the
pectoral plumes also being lanceolate, by these ornamental feathers
not being assumed at the breeding-season only, but being found on
adults throughout the year, by the nude portion of the tibia being
less than half its length, and by coloration. As a rule, the
species of this genus are of a nearly uniform dark grey or slaty
tint, with the remarkable peculiarity that certain individuals are
pure white at all times. The difference does not always, as was
formerly supposed, depend on age, for many white birds are
clearly adults ; but some young white birds of L. as7ia, kept by
Mr. Gumming in the Persian Gulf, changed to grey between the
fifth and eighth month.
The members of this genus, three in number, of which two
occur within Indian limits, inhabit the sea-coasts of Africa,
Southern Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.
Key to the Species.
a. Naked tibia longer than inner toe without claw ;
whole chin and throat white in dark birds ; crest
of two very long feathers L. asha, p. 390.
b. Naked tibia shorter than inner toe ; a white streak
in middle of chin and throat or none ; crest a short
tuft L. sacer, p. 391.
The members of this genus haunt the sea-coast and the mouths-
of rivers, and rarely occur elsewhere. They may commonly be
seen solitary on reefs of rock or coral at low tide, or on sand or
mud, and they feed on the fish, Crustacea, and rnollusca there
occurring in abundance.
1563. Lepterodius asha. The Indian Reef-Heron.
Ardea asha, Sijkes, P. Z. IS. 1832, p. 157 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1865, p. 38.
Herodias asha, Blytli, Cat. p. 280.
Denri-egretta asha, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 747 j Hayes Lloyd, Ibis,
1873, p. 418.
Deraigretta sacra, apud Stohczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 254, nee
Gmel.
Ardea gularis, apud Hume, N. fy E. p. 617 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl.
p. 1136 : nee Bosc.
Demiegretta gularis, apud Hume, S. F. i, p. 254 ; iv, pp. 23, 465 ;
p Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 263 ; Butler, S. F. v, p. 224 ; Hume, S. F.
vii, p. 453 ; id. Cat. no. 928 j Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 89 ; Butler, ibid.
p. 434 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 380 j Gates in Hume's N. $ E.
2nd ed. iii, p. 244.
Lepterodius asha, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 116.
The Ashy Egret, Jerdon ; Kola bagla, H.
Coloration. As a rule, bluish slaty ; the chin, throat, and lower
cheeks, almost to- the gape, white ; the long lanceolate plumes of
LEPTEROD1US. 391
the scapulars, interscapulars, and upper breast, and the two long
narrow feathers of the crest ashy grey.
Many birds, however, both old and young, are pure white
throughout. Birds of the year (if not white) are ashy grey, and
have no ornamental plumes. Young birds are often particoloured,
and a few instances have been observed of slaty-blue adults with
some of the quills and wing-coverts white. The African L. gularisr
with which the present species was for a long time supposed to be
identical, is quite distinct, being darker coloured, with a very
different crest of several comparatively short plumes.
Bill brownish yellow, yellowish at the tip, culmen between
nostrils dark brown, gape greenish ; irides golden yellow ; tibia
and just below the knee brown ; tarsus green, paling to greenish
yellow at the tips of the toes (Leyge). Coloration, especially of
legs, very variable.
Length of male about 20 ; tail 3*75 ; wing 10*5 ; tarsus 4; bill
from gape 4*5. Females rather less.
Distribution. Shores of the Indian Ocean from the Persian Gulf
(Muscat, Fao) to Ceylon and the Laccadives. Individual birds
may occasionally occur inland, but as a rule this species does not
leave the sea-coast or the tidal estuaries and backwaters at any
time.
Habits, $c. This Eeef-Heron breeds generally in May, making
the usual nest of sticks on mangrove or other trees near the
shore, but nests, made on the ground, have been found on barren
uninhabited islands. The eggs are pale sea-green, 3 to 5 in
number, and measure about 1'85 by 1-35.
1564. Lepterodius sacer. The Eastern Reef-Heron.
Ardea sacra, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 640 (1788) ; Hume, N. $ E.
p. 618.
Ardea jugularis, Forst., Wayler, Syst. Av. Ardea, no. 18 (1827) ;
Pelzeln, Novara Reise, Voy. p. 118.
Herodias jugularis, Blijth, Cat. p. 280.
Deinigretta concolor, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 372 (1846) ; Ball,
J.A, 8. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 243.
? Herodias eulophotes, Swinhoe, Ibis, 1860, p. 64 ; Blyth, Birds Burm*
p. 159.
Herodias adamanensis, Tytler, Beavan, Ibis, 1867, p. 333.
Herodias concolor, Bli/th, Ibis, 1868, p. 133; Ball, J. A. S. B. xli,
pt. 2, p. 289 ; id, S. F. i, p. 87 ; JSli/th, Birds Burm. p. 160.
Demiegretta sacra, Walden, Ibis, 1873, p. 318; Hume, S. F. ii,
p. 304 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 481 ; Hume, Cat. no. 928 bis j
Gates, B. B. ii, p. 2oO ; id. in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 246 ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 137.
Demiegretta greyi, Hume, S. F. i, p. 307 (1873).
Coloration, as a rule, dark slaty grey, less blue than in L. asJia, with
a white streak down the middle of the chin and throat ; this streak is-
not uncommonly represented by a few white feathers or wanting
altogether. There is a broad full nuchal cresr, about an inch
long, of ordinary feathers ; a dorsal train of lanceolate feathers,
392 A.RVEIDJE.
slightly disintegrated, extending nearly to the end of the tail, and
lanceolate pectoral plumes.
As in L. asha, some birds of all ages are white throughout, the
adults with crests and pectoral plumes, and with the feathers of
the dorsal train sometimes extending beyond the tail. Nestlings
vary, being white, grey, or pied.
Soft parts very variable. Bill brown, yellowish on lower man-
dible, sometimes, in white individuals, yellow throughout ; irides
yellow; legs and feet dark green, varying to paler green or to
black.
Fig. 93.— Head of L. sacer. $.
Length about 22; tail 3-7; wing 10-75 (9-62-11-75); tarsus
2-9 ; bill from gape 3'8.
Distribution. The whole Burmese coast, the reefs and shores of
the Andamans and Nicobars, the coasts of the Malay Peninsula
and Archipelago to China and Japan in one direction, and to Aus-
tralia and the islands of the Pacific in another.
Habits, fyc. Very similar to those of L. asha. Eggs taken in
Arrakan and the Andaman Islands from April to June do not
exceed three in number in each nest ; they are pale sea-green in
colour, and measure about 1-7 by 1-3. The nests were, as usual,
of sticks.
Genus ARDEOLA, Boie, 1822.
The Pond Herons, or, as they are often called by British orni-
thologists, Squaeco Herons, are smaller than the true Herons and
Egrets, and are somewhat intermediate in plumage between Egrets
and Herons. The head, neck, and back are always coloured, but
undergo a complete change of colour in the breeding-season ; the
posterior half of the body, with the wings and tail, is white. The
.species are scarcely distinguishable in non-breeding plumage,
though differing widely in their nuptial garb.
The feathers of the neck, back, and upper breast are elongate,
and those of the last two decomposed in breeding-plumage ; a crest
of elongate lanceolate feathers is only developed in the breeding-
.season. Both the neck and tarsi are shorter than in typical
Herons ; the bill is stout, the culmen about equal to the middle
toe and claw or to the tarsus ; wings ample ; tail short, of 12
feathers.
Four or five species are known, inhabiting the warmer parts of
the Old World ; of these two occur within our area.
ARDEOLA.
Key to the Species.
.a. Wing about 8 in. ; head and neck in breeding-
plumage brownish A. grayi, p. 393,
.b. Wing about 9 in. ; head and neck in breeding-
plumage chestnut A. bacchus, p. 394.
1565. Ardeola grayi. The Pond Heron.
Ardea grayii, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 153 ; Gray in Hardw. III. Ind.
Zool. ii, pi. 48.
Ardeola leucoptera, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 281 ; id. Ibis, 1865, p. 38 ;
1867, p. 172 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 751 ; nee Bodd.
Ardeola grayi, Humet N. $ E. p. 619 ; id. S. F. i, p. 256 ; Adam,
ibid. p. 399 ; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 309 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 23 ; Arm-
strong, ibid. p. 350 ; Hume, ibid. p. 467 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi,
p. 481 ; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 39 ; Ball, ibid. p. 230 ; Cripps, ibid.
p. 308 ; Hume, Cat. no. 930 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 361 ; Doig, ibid.
p. 372 ; Leyye. Birds Ceyl. p. 1150 ; Tidal, S. F. ix, p. 90 ; Butler,
ibid. p. 434; 'Barnes, ibid. p. 460 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 76 ; Davison,
ibid. p. 416 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 252 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 381 ;
Hume, S. F. xi, p. 334 ; Gates in Humes N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii,
p. 248 ; Barnes, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. i,p. 60 ; vi, p. 146 ; Munn,
Ibis, 1894, p. 69; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 207.
Bagla, Andha-bagla, Chama-bagla, Kani-bagla, H. ; Khonch-bogla,
H. & B. ; Ral-puchdke, Gond ; Kokku, Tana. ; Gudi konga, Tel. ; Sana
koka, Cing. ; Hbyein-ouk, Burin.
Coloration. In the breeding-season the head and neck are light
yellowish brown, the crown browner ; chin and throat white ; long
pointed lanceolate feathers, forming an occipital crest, also white ;
feathers of upper breast long, somewhat disintegrated, ashy brown,
with narrow whitish streaks ; back and inner scapulars very long,
decomposed, deep maroon, blackish or dark slaty towards the ends ;
outer scapulars brownish buff; remainder of body, wings, and tail
white, tips of first primaries tinged brownish.
In non-breeding dress the head and neck are dark brown,
streaked with pale yellowish buff, crown darker ; fore neck paler,
,and with the buff predominating ; chin and throat white ; upper
breast white, streaked with brown ; back, scapulars, and tertiaries
ashy brown, with pale yellowish shaft-stripes on the scapulars ;
rest of plumage white.
Bill blue at the base, yellowish in the middle and edges, and
black at the tip ; orbits greenish yellow ; irides bright yellow ;
legs and feet dull green (Jerdon).
Length 18 ; tail 3 ; wing 8 ; tarsus 2*25 ; bill from gape 3.
Distribution. Throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma, extending
west to the Persian G-ulf and south-east to the Malay Peninsula.
Also found in the Andaman, Nicobar, and Laccadive Islands.
Habits, Sfc. A common and familiar bird, often found about
paddy-fields, ditches, village tanks, and similar places, not easily
seen when sitting, and making a startling display of its white
wings, body, and tail when it flies up, often close by the intruder,
394
with a guttural croak. The native names in several languages-
mean Blind Heron. It feeds chiefly on frogs and crabs, occa-
sionally on fish, insects, &c., and is highly esteemed as food by
many of the inhabitants of India. It breeds in different parts of
the country from May to September, but in the Carnatic about
December, makes a stick nest on a tree, several pairs often
nesting in company, and lays from four to six greenish-blue eggsy
measuring, on an average, 1/48 by 1*17.
1566. Ardeola bacchus. TJ* Chinese Pond-Heron.
Buphus bacchus, Bonap. Consp. Av. ii, p. 127 (1855).
Ardeola prasinosceles, Sioink. Ibis, I860, p. 64 ; Hume, S. F. iir
p. 483; Walden in BlytWs Birds Burm. p. 160; Hume fy Dav.
S. F. vi, p. 481 ; Anderson, Yunnan Eaped., A.ves, p. 689 ; Hume,
Cat. no. 930 bis ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 253.
Ardeola leucoptera, apud Hume, S. F. xi, p. 334, nee Bodd.
Ardeola bacchus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 211.
Fig. 04. — Head of A. bacchus (winter plumage). \.
Coloration. In breeding-plumage the chin and throat are white j
remainder of head and neck, with long lanceolate nuchal cresty
dark chestnut ; elongate breast-plumes the same, but blackish
towards the ends ; back and some of the scapulars blackish slaty ;
remainder of body, wings and tail white, outer two or three
primaries brownish at the tip.
Winter plumage similar to that of A. grayi.
Bill yellow in middle, black on terminal inch, bluish at base ;
bare orbital skin greenish yellow ; irides golden yellow; tarsi and
toes pale yellowish green ; soles and tibia3 pale yellow.
Length 21 ; tail 2'3 ; wing 9 ; tarsus 2'3 ; bill from gape 3-1.
Distribution. Japan, China, Burma, Malay Peninsula, and Borneo.
Found together with A. grayi in Manipur, Karennee, and Tenas-
serim, also in the Andaman Islands.
Genus BUTORIDES, Blyth, 1849.
With this genus we pass to the crepuscular and nocturnal
Herons, leading to the Bitterns. Butorides is distinguished from
Ardeola by having no separate nuptial plumage, by being dark-
coloured throughout, by having the tibia feathered to within a
short distance (half an inch in the Indian species) of the joint,
and especially bv having a shorter tarsus and smaller feet, the-
middle toe and claw being about equal to the tarsus, but much
BUTORIDES. 395
shorter than the culmen. The head is crested ; scapulars and inter-
scapulars elongate and lanceolate, not disintegrated. Eectrices 12,
Six species are known, with a wide range in Asia, Africa, and
America ; only one occurs in India.
1567. Butorides javanica. The Little Green Heron.
Ardea javanica, Horsf. Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 190 (1821) ; Sykes,
P. Z. S. 1832, p. 158.
Egretta chloriceps vel virescens, Hodys. in Grays Zoof. Misc. p. 8(3
(1844), descr. nulla.
Butorides javanica, Blyth, Cat. p. 281 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 752 ;
Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 173 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix. pt. 2r
p. 274 ; xlv, pt. 2, p. 85 ; Stoliczka, J. A. 8. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 254 ;
Ball, ibid. p. 290 ; id. S. F. i, p. 88 ; Hume, N. 8f E. p. 620; id.
S. F. i, p. 256 ; Adam, ibid. p. 399 ; Walden, Ibis, 1873, p. 321 ;
Hume, S. F. ii, p. 310 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 24 ; Fairbank, ibid.
p. 268 ; Bourdillon, ibid. p. 405 ; Hume, ibid. p. 467 ; Anders.
Yunnan Exped,, Aves, p. 689 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 483 ;
Butler, S. F. vii, pp. 189, 191 ; Ball, ibid. p. 230 ; Cripps, ibid.
p. 308 j Hume, Cat. no. 931 ; id. S. F. viii, p. 410 ; Legge, Birds
Ceyl. p. 1153 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 90 ; Butler, ibid. p. 434 ; David-
son, S. F. x, p. 324 ; Damson, ibid. p. 416 ; Reid, ibid. p. 453 ;
Oates, B. B. ii, p. 254 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 382 ; Hume, S. F.
xi, p. 334 ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 249 ; Barnes,
Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 146 ; Sharps, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 177.
Butorides spodiogaster (subsp.), Sharpe, Bull. B. O. C. iii, p. xvii
(1894) ; id. Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 182, pi. ii.
Kancha bag la, H. ; Kana bogla, Beng. ; Ung Fa-o nang, Lepcha j
Dosi honga, Tel. ; Doshi koku, Tarn.
Fig. 95. — Head of B. javanica. £.
Coloration, forehead, crown down to the eyes, and long occipital
crest black glossed with dark green ; a short black line running
back from the lower part of the orbit, area between this and the
black cap whitish ; chin, throat, and a streak bordering the lower
mandible white ; rest of head arid neck ashy grey except a broken
Avhite band more or less streaked with brown down the fore neck ;
scapulars and interscapulars glossy bronze-green, the long ends of
the feathers ashy grey with whitish shafts ; rump dark grey washed
396 ARDEID^.
with green ; wing-coverts dark glossy green, narrowly margined
on the outer side with pale buff ; quills black, more or less glossed
with green, and with traces of whitish edges and tips ; upper tail-
coverts and tail black with a green gloss, lower parts ashy grey.
Hume points out that very old birds lose the white band on the
fore neck, the whitish patch behind the eye, and the buff margins
to the wing-coverts, whilst the lower parts are reddish, abdomen
chocolate-brown.
Young birds have the crown dark brown or black with some
whitish shaft-stripes ; upper parts, wwings, and tail brown, the
feathers with triangular buff terminal spots ; lower parts white,
streaked with brown.
Bill black above, greenish yellow below ; facial skin green ;
iricles yellow ; legs and toes green, front of tarsus and toes dusky,
soles orange (Oates).
Length about 18; tail 2'5; wing 7; tarsus 1*9; bill from
gape 3.
Distribution. Throughout the greater part of the Oriental Eegion,
with the Mascarene Islands. This bird occurs in most parts of
India, Ceylon, and Burma, except in dry or treeless regions and
the higher Himalayas.
The race inhabiting the Andamans and Nicobars is distinguished
as a subspecies by Sharpe under the name of B. spodiogaster, on
account of its darker grey coloration, especially on the under
surface.
Habits, fyc. During the daytime this little Heron conceals itself
in bushes arid trees by the side of wooded streams, rivers, and
canals, or in mangroves on the banks of creeks, and issues at dusk
to look for crabs, frogs, small fish, &c. It is less nocturnal than
the Bitterns, and may occasionally be seen fishing in the daytime
in shady places. It is resident, and breeds in most parts of India
between May and August, laying from three to five pale sea-green
eggs in a small stick nest on a tree. The eggs measure about
1-62 by 1-21.
Genus NYCTICOEAX, Eafin., 1815.
This genus contains the Night Herons, which are easily dis-
tinguished from all other Indian Herons by their stouter and
deeper bill, much compressed, with the culmen considerably
curved ; upper mandible distinctly notched near the tip. The neck
is short and thick ; the head is crested, with a few very narrow
elongate feathers from the nape; wings rounded ; tail short ; 12
rectrices ; only a small portion of the tibia is bare, tarsus re-
ticulated.
In the British Museum Catalogue eight species are described,
ranging over the warm and temperate parts of the world ; one is
Indian.
NYCTICOBAX. 397
1568. Nycticorax griseus. The Night Heron.
Ardea nycticorax & A. grisea, L. Syst. Nat. i, pp. 235, 239 (1766).
Nycticorax griseus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 373; id. Cat. p. 281 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 758 ; Hume fy Henders. Lah. to Yark. p. 296 ;
Ball, S. F. ii, p. 435 ; Butler, 8. F. iv, p. 24 ; Oates, S. F. vr
p. 168; Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 690; Hume fy Dav.
S. F. vi, p. 484 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 231 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 309 :
Hume, Cat. no. 937 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 361 ; Ley ye, Birds Ceyl.
p. 387 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 149.
Nyctiardea nycticorax, Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 254 ; Hume,
N. $ E. p. 624 ; id. S. F. i, p. 256 ; ii, pp. 315, 483 ; iii, p. 192 ;
Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 350 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 259 ; id. in Hume's
N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 258.
Nycticorax nycticorax, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 146.
Wdk, Kwdk, Tar bagla, Kokrai, H. ; Gadri, Sind ; Kowa dauk,
Batchka, Beng. ; Chinta wakha, Tel. ; Sannari, Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Ihz kana
koka, Cing. ; Lin-wet, Burm.
Fig. 96. — Head of N. griseus. ^.
Coloration. Crown and nape (the feathers of which are con-
siderably lengthened), back, and scapulars black, glossed with
metallic green ; a few narrow white feathers of great length from
the nape ; forehead, a streak over the eye, cheeks, chin, throat,
fore neck, breast, and abdomen white ; sides and back of neck,
sides of body, wings, rump, and tail light ashy with a pinkish
tinge, darkest on tertiaries.
Young birds are brown above, darkest on the crown, streaked
with buS shaft-stripes, and with triangular buff tips to the back-
feathers and wing-coverts ; lower plumage white streaked with
brown, quills and tail-feathers ashy brown with white tips.
Bill black, yellowish at the base, lores and orbits yellowish
green, irides blood-red, feet yellowish green (Jerdon) ; in the
breeding- season the bill is black, eyelids and facial skin dull livid,
legs and toes pale rufous (Oates}.
Length 23 ; tail 4; wing 11 -5 ; tarsus 3 ; bill from gape 3-8.
398 ARDEID.E.
Distribution. Central and Southern Europe and Asia, the whole
of Africa, and the greater part of North America with the West
Indies. The Night Heron is found throughout India, Ceylon, and
Burma, locally distributed in the better-watered tracts.
Habits, $c. This Heron passes the day in large trees such as
mangoes or tamarinds, or in palms, considerable numbers often
associating together. After sunset they fly off to feed on fish,
frogs, &c. Their flight is heavy, and they often, when flying, utter
a characteristic cry, something like qwdl ; from this call one name
by which they are widely known in India is taken. These Herons
breed, often in company with other species of Herons. Egrets, &c.,
in trees, especially those stauding in swamps, or sometimes in high
reeds or grass ; they make the usual stick nests, and lay four or five
pale sea-green eggs that measure about 1-92 by 1-35. The usual
breeding-season in India and Burma is July and August, but in
Kashmir it is earlier, April and May, and in Ceylon earlier still,
about March.
Genus GORSACHIUS, Bonap., 1855.
Bill stout and short, culmen shorter than middle toe and claw,
which measure considerably less than the tarsus ; groove on upper
mandible large and deep ; nostrils large and open. Eeet small ;
liind toe long ; toes bordered by a narrow membrane ; tarsus
reticulated. Neck short and densely feathered ; head crested ;
tail short, of 12 feathers.
Two species are known, both from the Oriental Region ; one is
Indian.
1569. Gorsachius melanolophus. The Malay Bittern.
Ardea melanolopha, Raffles, Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 326 (1822).
Tigrisoma melanolopha, Blyth, Cat. p. 281 ; Layard, A. M. N. H,
(2) xiv, p. 114.
Gorsachius melanolophus, Blyth, Ibis, 1865, p. 38; Holdsivorth,
P. Z. S. 1872, p. 478 ; Blyth, Birds Burin, p. 160 ; Hume $ Dav.
S. F. vi, p. 484 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xlvii, pt. 2, p. 21 ; Legge,
Birds Ceyl. p. 1169 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 260; Sharpe, Cat. B. M.
xxvi, p. 166.
Gorsakius melanolophus, Hume, S. F. ii, p. 312 ; Bourdillon, S. F.
vii, p. 524; Hume, Cat. no. 936 bis; id. S. F. ix, p. 230;
Hvme ST Inglis, ibid. p. 259 ; Butler, ibid. p. 435 ; Barnes, Birds
Bom. p. 386 ; Hume # Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 336 ; Davidson. Jour.
Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 340.
Coloration. In adults the crown and long nuchal crest are
black, washed with ashy grey ; sides of head to above the eyes,
and sides and back of neck light chestnut ; upper parts generally,
including wing-coverts, cinnamon speckled with black, the black
forming close imperfect wavy bars ; outer primary-coverts black,
tipped with white ; quills black, chestnut towards the ends and
tipped with white ; upper tail-coverts dark rufous-brown ; tail
blackish, rufescent towards the end ; chin and throat white ; fore
neck and upper breast isabelline brown with black streaks, passing
AHDETTA. 399
into white, with black and rufous spots and blotches, on the lower
breast and abdomen ; lower tail-coverts mostly white.
Young birds have a black crown with white or buff arrowhead-
shaped markings ; upper parts blackish brown with narrow wavy
and zigzag buff crossbars ; quills black, speckled with white at the
tips : lower parts rufous-buff, speckled and blotched with white
.and black, chin mostly white. There appears to be a gradual
passage into the adult plumage.
Fig. 97. — Head of (r. melanolophiis. \.
Culmen black ; sides of upper mandible and the lower mandible
fleshy ; sides of face greenish and slaty ; irides golden yellow ;
legs and feet greenish, brown in front (Legge).
Length 20 ; tail 3-8 ; wing 10-5 ; tarsus 2'75 ; bill from
gape 2-5.
Distribution. A rare bird in Ceylon and in the hill- forests near
the Malabar coast of India as far north as the hills west of
Belgaum. It is not known to occur elsewhere in the Indian
Peninsula, but is found in Assam, Cachar, Manipur, Arrakan,
Pegu, Tenasserim, the Nicobar Islands, the Malay Peninsula, and
as far east as Formosa and Hainan, the Philippines, and Borneo.
Habits, fyc. This Heron occurs chiefly in forests, and is said to
be a seasonal migrant to Ceylon, arriving about November, but if
so, it probably comes from India, not, as some ornithologists have
supposed, from the eastward. It breeds on the Malabar coast,
for Davidson, when in Kanara, obtained the young unable to fly ;
the nidification is, however, unknown. It is a bird of nocturnal
habits, roosting on trees in the day, and feeding at night on fish,
crabs, worms, &c.
Genus ARDETTA, Gray, 1842.
Bill straight, slight, culmen flat at the base; groove on each
side of the upper mandible broad and shallow; neck and legs
rather short, the back of the neck bare, but covered over by
lengthened feathers from the sides. Head with a short crest.
Scapulars and back-feathers normal, but the feathers of the upper
breast much lengthened and concealing the lower breast, though
not forming ornamental plumes.
400 ABDEID.E.
Sexes different in plumage. Only 10 tail-feathers. This is a
remarkable genus of small Bitterns, none of the ten species
enumerated in Sbarpe's Catalogue having a wing more than six
inches long. The genus is found in most parts of the world ;
three species are Indian.
Key to the Species.
a. Tibia feathered to tibio-tarsal joint.
a'. Culmen about equal to mid-toe and claw . A. minuta, p. 400.
b' '. Culmen longer than mid-toe and claw . A. sinensis, p. 401.
b. Tibia naked for some distance above jpint . . A. cinnamomea, p. 402.
The habits of all species of Ardetta are very similar. They hide
in thick grass or reeds in marsh, dense swampy thickets, or high
rice during the day, and can only be driven out by close beating ;
hence they are seldom seen. They climb about amongst bushes
or thick reeds just as Purple Moorhens do, or like huge Grass-
Warblers. They go out at dusk to feed at night on fish, frogs,
water-insects, and worms, and about the sea-coast on crabs and
other Crustacea. Some species occasionally feed during daylight.
The nest is a pad of grass or rush built on reeds with the tops
bent down, or sometimes in a bush, or more frequently in a
tussock of grass or a clump of reeds or bulrushes just above the
water.
1570. Ardetta minuta. The Little Bittern.
Ardea minuta, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 240 (1766).
Ardetta minuta, Blyth, Cat. p. 283; Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 508;
Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 756 ; Hume fy Henders. Lah. to Yark. p. 296 ;
Hume, S. F. i, p. 256 ; id. N. $ E. p. 624; id. Cat. no. 935 ; Doig,
S. F. viii, pp. 376, 379; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 592: Biddulph, Ibis,
1882, p. 289 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 178 ; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 385 ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 257 ; Sharpe, Cat.
B. M. xxvi, p. 222.
Coloration. Male. Forehead and crown, back, scapulars, ter-
tiaries, rump, and tail black, with bronze-green gloss ; sides of
head, including feathers above orbits, greyish or pinkish buff ; hind
neck bare, rest of neck greyish and isabelline behind, and yellowish
in front and on the throat, sides of throat white ; smaller and
median wing-coverts ochreous buff, the latter paler and passing
into very pale lavender-grey on the greater coverts ; primary-
coverts, primaries, and secondaries blackish brown ; upper breast
yellowish buff, the feathers greatly lengthened so as to cover those
of the lower breast, which are black with buff margins ; upper
abdomen buff, passing into the white of the lower abdomen and
lower tail-coverts ; flanks with narrow brown shaft-lines.
Females differ in having the neck more rufous along the sides of
the hind neck ; back and scapulars brown, with buff edges to the
feathers ; wing-coverts more isabelline than in males ; fore neck
and upper breast streaked with dusky, and the lower breast and
abdomen and flanks with broad blackish shaft- stripes.
Young birds resemble females, but have the upper surface
ABDETTA. 401
including the wing-coverts dark brown, with buff edges to the
feathers, and the lower surface streaked with dark brown
throughout.
Bill purplish yellow; legs greenish yellow; irides orange-
yellow (Doig}. Bill pale grey, dusky along culmen ; orbital skin
pale green ; irides bright pale yellow ; feet green, claws black
(Sadly).
Length about 14; tail 2; wing 5*75; tarsus 1*7; bill from
gape 2-5.
Distribution. Europe south of lat. 60°, Africa in winter, and
Central Asia as far east as Northern India. This Bittern is
common in Kashmir, where it breeds, and is found throughout the
Himalayas as far east as Nepal. It is also apparently a resident
in Sind, and has been obtained near Delhi and Etawah.
Habits, fyc. This Bittern breeds both in the Himalayas and in
Sind in May and June ; it places its nest, composed of grass and
reeds, amongst rushes or wild rice, and lays 4 or 5 white eggs,
measuring 1*34 by 1.
1571. Ardetta sinensis. The Yellow Bittern.
Ardea sinensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 642 (1788); Hume, N. & E.
p. 623.
Ardetta sinensis, Blyth, Cat. p. 282 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 755 ; Godw.-
Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 274 ; Hume, S. F. i, pp. 308, 422 ;
ii, p. 311 ; Butler, S. F. v, p. 216 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 484 ;
Oates, S. F. vii, p. 52 ; Sutler, ibid. p. 177 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 308 ;
Hume, Cat. no. 934 ; Doig, 8. F. viii, p. 378 ; Legge, Birch Ceyl.
p. 1156 ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 434; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 257 ; Barnes,
Birds Bom. p. 384 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 336 ; Oates in Hume's
N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 255 ; Barnes, Journ. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi.
p. 148 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 227.
Ardetta pulchra, Hume, S. F. i, pp. 305, 309, 422.
Jun-lagla, H. ; Kat-bogla, Beng. ; Manual Nari, Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Metti
koi-otvaka, Cing.
Coloration. Male. Crown and nape black, the grey edges of the
feathers often showing and forming streaks; sides of head and
neck vinous, becoming deeper rufous near the back of the neck,
and sometimes grey beside the crown ; back, scapulars, and ter-
tiaries yellowish to greyish brown ; wing-coverts yellowish tawny
to isabelline ; primary-coverts, primaries, secondaries, and tail
slaty black; rump ashy grey; chin, throat, and fore neck pale
yellowish buff, sides of throat white ; upper breast and abdomen
buff, lower breast-feathers blackish with buff edges, but concealed
by the long pectoral plumes.
Female more rufous above, crown streaked with dull rufous ;
beak and scapulars brown or rufous brown with buff edges; a
dark ochreous-buff band down middle of chin and throat, breaking
up into streaks 011 the fore neck ; flanks streaked with brown.
Young birds are even more streaked above and below, the pale
margins to the upper plumage are broader, and the streaks on the
YOL. iv. 2 D
402 ARDELD2E.
lower plumage browner and darker ; the crown is brown, streaked
with buff.
Bill dark brown on culmen, pinkish brown below ; facial skin
green; irides yellow; tarsus dull flesh-colour; toes and tibio-
tarsal joint pale yellow.
Length 15 ; tail 1*7; wing5'25; tarsus 1'8 ; bill from gape 2-75.
Distribution. Throughout South-eastern Asia and the Malay
Archipelago to Japan, New Guinea, and North Australia, also io
the Seychelles. Found throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma,
from Sind, where this species breads, to Tenasserim and the
Andaman Islands, but rare in most parts of India and only
recorded from a few localities.
Habits, fyc. Those of the genus. Nests have been taken from
May to August in various parts of Northern India and in Pegu.
The nest is a pad of reeds in the middle of a tussock of grass or a
clump of rushes in a swamp ; the eggs, 3 to 5 in number, are pale
greenish white, and measure about 1*3 to *95.
1572. Ardetta cinnamomea. The Chestnut Bittern.
Ardea cinnamomea, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 643 (1788) ; Hume, N. $ E.
p. 622.
Ardetta cinnamomea, Blyth, Cat. p. 282 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii. p. 755 ;
Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. 'B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 274 ; Hume, S. F. ii,
p. 311 ; Fairbank, S. F. iv, p, 263 ; Hume $ Inglis, S. F. v, p. 47 ;
Oates, ibid, p. 168 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 483 ; St. John, S. F.
vii, p. 171 ; Butler, ibid. p. 177 ; Ball, ibid. p. 231 ; Cripps, ibid.
p. 308 ; Hume, ibid. p. 490 ; id. Cat. no. 933 ; Doig, S. F. viii,
p. 372 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 91 ; Buti-er, ibid. p. 434 ; Reid, S. F. x,
p. 76; Hume, ibid. p. 417 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 256; Barnes, Birds
Bom. p. 384 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 335 ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E.
2nd ed. iii, p. 252 ; Barnes, Journ. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 148 ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 236.
Ardeiralla cinnamomea, Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1162.
Ldl-bagla, H. ; Khyri-bogla, Beng.; Kuruttu-koku, Tarn. (Ceylon);
Metti korowaka, Cing.
Fig. 98. — Head of A. cinnamomea. -|.
Coloration. Male. "Whole upper surface, with sides of head,
wings, and tail, chestnut ; wing-coverts slightly paler ; chin, throat,
and lower parts tawny ochreous, with a white stripe on each side
of the throat ; a more or less distinct broken brown stripe down
middle of fore neck; lower breast-feathers, concealed by long
breast-plumes, blackish brown with buff edges. Some birds have
DUPETOIl. 403
a wash of ashy grey on the crown, and. the tint of chestnut on the
upper parts varies.
Females are dull chestnut or brown above ; crown blackish ;
wing-coverts and scapulars paler, and with traces of buff margins,
spotted with brown ; quills chestnut, with some brown towards
the base ; tail-feathers dull chestnnt ; sides of head dull rufous ;
lower parts yellowish tawny, streaked with dark brown; a con-
spicuous dark broken band down the chin, throat, and fore neck.
Young birds resemble the female, except in having the back-
feathers, scapulars, and wing-coverts dark brown, with margins of
alternating buff and brown spots.
Bill yellow ; culmen dark brown to black ; facial skin reddish
purple in males, yellow in females ; irides yellow to pale red ; legs
and feet yellowish green, soles yellow.
Length 15 ; tail T7 ; wing 6 ; tarsus 2 ; bill from gape 2-6.
Distribution. China as far as the Amur, but not Japan ; thence to
Sind in one direction, and the Philippines and Celebes in another.
This Bittern, though local, is more generally distributed in India
and Ceylon than A. sinensis, but is only known to be found in
Sind, Eajputana, and the North-west Provinces during the monsoon,
It is common in Lower Bengal, Assam, and Burma, and has been
obtained in both the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Habits, $c. The Chestnut Bittern breeds in Bengal, Pegu, and
Ceylon, and probably in Sind, in June, July, and August. The
eggs, 5 or 6 in number, are dull white, sometimes with a faint
bluish tinge, and measure about 1/28 by 1.
Genus DUPETOR, Heine & Eeichen., 1890.
This genus is distinguished from Ardetta by its longer bill, the
culmen considerably exceeding the middle toe with its claw in
length, the tarsus being slightly shorter still. The back of the
neck is less conspicuously nude. The members of the present genus
are considerably larger birds than Ardetta, and have very different
plumage; but they are not, as is often stated, distinguished by
having the tibia partly naked, for Ardetta cinnamomea resembles
them in that respect. The generic name Ardeiralla, sometimes
used for the Black Bittern, belongs to a very distinct form, peculiar
to Africa.
Four species from the Oriental and Australian regions are referred
to the genus Dupetor, but only one is Indian.
1573. Dupetor flavicollis. The Black Bittern.
Ardea flavicollis, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, p. 701 (1790) ; Jerdon, HI. Ind.
Orn. pi. 16; Hume, N. $ E. p. 621.
Ardetta flavicollis, Blytli, Cat. p. 282 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 753 ;
Godw-Aust. J. A.8.B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 274; Hume fy Oates, S. F.
iii, p. 191 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 483 Cripps, S. F. vii, p. 308
2D2
404 ARDEIDJi.
Doig $ Sutler, ibid. p. 504 ; Hume, Cat. p. 932 ; Doig, S. F. viii,
p. 376 ; Bingham, S. F. ix, p. 198 ; Davison, S. F. x, p. 416 :
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 383 ; Littledale, Journ. Bom. N. H. Soc.
i, p. 200 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 335.
Ardeiralla flavicollis, Oates, S. F. v, p. 167 ; Leyye, Birds Ceyl.
p. 1159; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 255; id. in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed.
iii, p. 251.
Dupetor flavicollis, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 247.
Kdla-bagla, H. ; Nol-bogla, Beng. ; Ay-jan, Assamese ; Karu-Nari,
Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Karawal koka, Kalu koka, Cing.
Coloration. Male. Crown and upjjfer parts throughout, with the
wings, dark slaty grey, sometimes almost black ; tail nearly black ;
sides of head slaty black ; a band of ochreous yellow down each
side of the neck ; chin and throat white with chestnut blotches,
which become large and mixed with black on the fore neck, where
the feathers are parti-coloured, one web generally buffy white, the
other partly chestnut, partly black ; breast and abdomen blackish
slaty, with white streaks on the upper breast and whitish edges to
the abdominal feathers.
Females are browner. Young birds are dark brown, the feathers
of the upper parts with buff edges, the sides of the head chestnut,
more or less mixed with black, and the lower parts much browner
than in adults, and with broad whitish edges to the feathers of
the abdomen.
Bill dusky reddish brown, lighter below; facial skin purplish
brown ; eyelids bluish ; iris golden-brown or pale red ; legs dark
brown (Oates) ; irides yellow, in some with an outer circle of red
(Jerdori).
Length about 23 ; tail 2*7 ; wing 8 ; tarsus 2-5 ; bill from gape 4.
Distribution. This Bittern has been found on the Eastern Nara,
Sind, by Doig, also by the same observer near Ahmedabad, and by
Littledale near Baroda, by Jerdon in Malabar and near Madras,
by Davison on the Nilgiris and in the Wynaad, by Bourdillon in
Travancore, and by several people in Ceylon. It has not been
obtained elsewhere in India, so far as I am aware, west of Calcutta ;
but it becomes more common in Eastern Bengal, Assam, Sylhet,
and Burma, and ranges thence to China, the Philippines, and
Celebes.
Habits, fyc. The Black Bittern closely resembles the species of
Ardetta in habits, but is more exclusively nocturnal. It is said to
have a deep booming call. It has been found breeding in Sind by
Doig about June, and in Pegu by Oates in July and August ; it
makes a nest of twigs, leaves of grass or aquatic plants, generally
on a thorny bush in a swamp, and lays four very pale green eggs,
measuring about 1'66 by 1*26.
BOTAUftUS. 405
Genus BOTAURUS, Brisson, 1760.
This genus, containing the typical Bitterns, is easily recognized
by its comparatively short bill and large feet, and its long lax
plumage, beautifully mottled with yellow and black. The bill is
stout and deep at the base, much compressed, with the culmen
considerably shorter than the tarsus, which again is much inferior
in length to the middle toe and claw ; the nasal groove is broad ;
the claws are long, and the tibia naked for a short distance. Tail-
feathers 10. Sexes alike.
Five species of Bitterns are widely distributed ; one is a winter
visitor to India and Burma.
1574. Botaurus stellaris. The Bittern.
Ardea stellaris, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 239 (1766).
Botaurus stellaris, Blyth, Cat. p. 282 ; Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 508 j
1859, p. 188; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 246 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 757 j
Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 398 ; McMaster, J. A. S. B. xl, pt. 2, p. 215 ;
Hume, N. $ E. p. 624 ; id. S. F. i, p. 256 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 24 ;
v, p. 233 ; Hume, 8. F. vii, p. 490 ; Inverarity, ibid. p. 526 ; Hume,
Cat. no. 936 ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 434 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 76 ; Oates
B. B. ii, p. 258 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 385 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M.
xxvi, p. 253.
Nir-goung, Bdz, II.
Fig. 99.— Head of B. stellaris.
Coloration. Crown and nape black ; upper plumage generally
ochreous butf, with black or dark brown markings which cover the
greater part of the back and scapulars, and become broken into
angulate cross-bars on the wing-coverts, rump, and tail, and into
more distant narrow angulate bars on the sides of the neck ; quills
rather irregularly barred black and rufous ; a broad blackish stripe
runs back from the gape ; chin and throat whitish, with a median
tawny band; rest of lower plumage yellowish buff, with brown
mottled streaks on the fore neck, and black on the breast and
abdomen.
406 ARDEIDJE.
Bill greenish yellow ; bare space before eye yellowish green ;
irides yellow ; legs and feet yellowish green (Seebohm). Bill pale
yellow below and at the edges, brown above (Jerdon).
Length 28 ; tail 4'5 ; wing 13 ; tarsus 3'8 ; bill from gape *4.
Distribution. The Bittern breeds in the northern part of the
temperate zone throughout the Palsearctic region from Western
Europe to Japan, and migrates in winter to the countries round
the Mediterranean, to S.W. Asia, India, Burma, and China. It is
not common in Northern India, though found so far south as the
Deccan, Bombay, Kamptee, and even ifc is said Bangalore ; it is also
rare in Pegu. It has not been observed in Southern India, Ceylon,
or Tenasserim. Adams states that it is resident in Kashmir, but
this is very doubtful ; so far as is known it does not breed within
Indian limits.
Habits, $"c. A nocturnal bird, hiding in reeds or swampy grass
in the daytime. When seen it generally rises with a slow, noiseless
flight close to the person who disturbs it. It lives on fish, frogs,
water-insects, crustaceans, and worms, but, despite its diet, I can
from experience corroborate Jerdon's statement that it is (at all
^vents at times) good to eat. Its usual note is a croak, but in the
breeding-season it makes a loud booming sound.
Order XXII. PHCENICOPTERI.
Flamingoes have been classed alternately with the Ducks and
with the Storks, but recent writers on ornithology have for the
most part followed Huxley and arranged them as an intermediate
and independent group.
They have a remarkable bill, covered with a soft epidermis, and
bent downwards in the middle, the lower mandible very thick and
practically fixed, the upper mandible much smaller and highly
movable ; the margins of both mandibles furnished with lamellae.
Both the neck and legs are very long, and adapted, with the bill,
for feeding whilst the bird stands in shallow water with the neck
turned down and the head inverted, so that the lower mandible is
uppermost, the lamellae at the sides of the mandibles serving to
strain the food from water and mud as the head is moved from side
to side. The tarsus and long bare tibia are scutellated both in front
and behind ; the feet are short, the anterior toes fully webbed, the
hind toe small or wanting.
The skull is desmognathous and holorhinal, basipterygoid pro-
cesses are very rudimentary or wanting, nostrils pervious ; cervical
vertebrae 18 or 19. The carotids are peculiar, the right is much
larger than the left, and the two unite at the base of the neck.
The caeca are very large. The wing is aquincubital ; primaries 12 ;
the oil-gland tufted ; an aftershaft is present ; there are no bare
spaces at the side of the neck, and both dorsal and ventral apteria
are short. The ambiens muscle is present, and the femoro-caudal
absent ; accessory femoro-caudal, semitendinosus and its accessory
present. The deep plantar tendons unite completely, and then
divide to supply the anterior toes, as in most birds with the
hallux rudimentary or wanting.
The nidification is described under P. roseus. The young are
hatched with a straight bill; they are covered with do\vn and
able to run.
The order consists of a single family, and the two species found
in India may be kept in the typical genus Phoenicopterus. Tney
have been separated by some writers on account of the difEeient
form of the bill.
408
PHCENICOPTEKID^:.
Family PHCENICOPTERID^E.
Genus PHCENICOPTERUS, Linn., 1776.
Key to the Species.
a. Upper mandible convex above and overlapping
lower ; wing 14-18 in " P. roseus, p. 408.
I. Upper mandible flattened above and included be-
tween rami of lower ; wing about 13 in P. minor, p. 410.
1575. Phoenicopterus roseus. The Common Flamingo.
Phoenicopterus roseus, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. Ii, p. 207 (1811) ;
Blyth, Cat. p. 299 ; Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 509 ; Jerdoti, B. I.
iii, p. 775 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 257 ; Adam, ibid. p. 400 ; Butler,
S. F. iv, p. 25 ; v, pp. 234, 287 ; ix, p. 436 ; Fairbank, S. F. iv,
p. 264; Davidson $• Wend. S. F. vii, p. 92; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 91 ;
Leffge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1092 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 78 ; Davidson, ibid.
p. 325 ; Hume, ibid. p. 513 ; Parker, Ibis, 1886, p. 188 ; Salvador^
Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 12 ; Baker, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. xi, p. 2.
Phoenicopterus antiquorum, Temm. Man. d'Orn. ed. 2, ii, p. 587
(1820 ) ; Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 419 ; Blanf. Eastern Pers. ii, p. 300 ;
Hume, S. F. vii, p. 491 ; id. Cat. no. 944 ; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 392 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 285 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889,
p. 179; Lester, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. viii, p. 553.
Phoenicopterus andersoni, Brooks, P. A. S. B. 1875, pp. 17, 48 ;
Hume, S. F. iii, p. 414.
Bog-hdns, Rdj-hans, H. ; Kdn-thunti, Beng. ; Pu-konya, Samdrapa-
chilluka, Tel. ; Pimari, Tarn. ; Vrian, Tarn. (Ceylon).
Fig. 100.— Head of P. roseus
Coloration. Head, neck, body, and tail white, more or less
suffused with rosy pink ; upper surface of wing with the winglet,
tertiaries, wing-lining near the edge of the wing, and axillaries
deeper red, approaching cerise ; primaries, secondaries, and greater
under wing-coverts black.
SToung birds have the head, neck, and body whitish, tinged with
PH(EJfICOPTEEUS. 409
greyish brown, especially on the upper neck ; scapulars, inter-
scapulars, and wing-coverts more or less brown, with dark shaft-
stripes, axillaries pink ; quills brown. The adult dress is gradually
acquired, after more than one moult.
Skin near eye and base of the bill flesh-colour; end of bill and
edges of mandible black ; irides yellow ; legs and feet pinkish red.
Length of male about 50; tail 6; wing 17*5; tarsus 14; bill
from gape straight to point 4-5 : females are smaller, wing 15 ;
tarsus 10-5.
Distribution. Africa, Southern Europe, Southern and Central
Asia as far east as India and Lake Baikal. Common in the Punjab,
Sind, Guzerat, and parts of Bajputana and the N.W. Provinces,
about marshes and salt lakes ; rare in other parts of India, but
found near the sea-coast, both in the peninsula and in Ceylon,
though seldom seen inland ; very rare in Bengal, unknown further
east in Assam and Burma.
Habits, fyc. Flamingoes commonly occur in flocks, and haunt
large shallow marshes and lakes (especially salt lakes) or the sea-
shore. They generally wade, but they can swim well, and I once
saw a large flock in the Persian Gulf, resting on the sea, more
than half a mile from land. They fly with the neck and feet
stretched out, and flocks travel in a long wavy line, like Cranes.
The food of Flamingoes consists, according to most authors, partly
of small crustaceans, worms, and insects, with larvae and ova,
partly of vegetable matter ; but Gadow says essentially of organic
slime, conferva, &c.
Flamingoes breed in colonies, each pair building a small mound of
mud, hollow at the top, and rising a few inches above the shallow
water. The nidification is represented in the 'Ibis' for 1884,
pi, iv, p. 89. The eggs are white and chalky, and are said to be two
in number, about the size of a goose's egg. It is probable that
Flamingoes do breed in India, for recently a number of eggs, and,
it is stated, two newly hatched birds, were brought to the Rao of
Cutch from Khadir (Kharir or Kurreer) on the E-ann, and the Rao
was assured that the birds bred there in September and October.
Flamingoes undoubtedly breed in large numbers towards the head
of the Persian Gulf ; and Legge and Parker have obtained evidence
showing that they probably do so about March in South-western
Ceylon ; but it should be remembered that in North-western
India these birds are migratory, arriving about October, and
remaining, if there is water, till May or June, and that around the
Sambhar salt lake, where they abound in the cold season, their
eggs have frequently been found, irregularly scattered, about May,
and have occasionally been met with in November, but the birds
never sit on such eggs. It is possible that the Cutch eggs may
have been similarly dropped. Flamingoes are excellent eating
when in good condition.
410 PBXENICOPTERLDjE.
1576. Phcenicopterus minor. The Lesser Flamingo.
Phoenicopterus minor, Geoff")'. Bull. Soc. Philom. i, 2, p. 98, figs. 1, 2,
3 (1798) ; Temm. PL Col. pi. 419 ; Jerdon, Mad. Jour. L. S. xii,
p. 217 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 174 ; Jerdon, Ibis, 1869, p. 231 ; Hume,
ibid. p. 355 ; id. S. F. i, pp. 31, 258 ; Adam, S. F. i, p. 400 ; ii,
p. 339 ; Hume, S. F. iv, p. 25 ; id. Cat. no. 944 bis ; Butler, S. F.
ix, p. 436 ; Hume, S. F. x, p. 513 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 393.
Phoenicopterus blythi, Bonap. Consp. Av. ii, p. 146 (1857).
Phoenicopterus rubidus, Feilden, Ibis, 1868, p. 496; G. R. Gray,
Ibis, 1869, p. 442.
Phceniconaias minor, Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 18 ; Baker,
Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. xi, p. 8.
Coloration. Head, neck, and body rosy pink, feathers round base
•of bill tinged with crimson ; old birds have crimson central patches
on the feathers of the back and breast ; median wing-coverts
crimson with pale pink edges ; other wing-coverts rosy, except the
greater under wing-coverts, which, like the primaries and second-
aries, are black ; tertiaries and tail-feathers tinged with rosy ;
axiilaries crimson.
In young birds the head, neck, and breast are pale dusky ashy,
abdomen and lower tail-coverts white ; primaries black ; wing-
coverts brown, dark-shafted ; back brown, with pale edges to the
feathers ; wing-lining pale rose.
Bill claret-colour at base, shading off to lake, with the tip black ;
irides golden yellow, with an outer ring of orange-scarlet ; legs and
feet blood-red.
Length of males about 33 ; tail 4*5 ; wing 13'5 ; tarsus 8 ; bill
from gape to point straight, 3- 7 : females are smaller, wing 13 ;
tarsus 7*5.
Distribution. Eastern Africa and Madagascar, occurring occasion-
ally in North-western India and the Peninsula, sometimes at
Sambhar in large numbers, but irregularly, and apparently at all
seasons. This Flamingo is not known to breed in India, though
it occasionally lays eggs irregularly in May.
Fig. 101. — Sarcidiornis melanonotus.
Order XXIII. ANSERES.
The Anseres of Linnaeus (Natatores of IlHger) were a very large
group, comprising almost all web-footed birds ; but the term Anseres
as used by ornithologists at the present day is restricted to the
Ducks, G-eese, and Swans, which form a well -marked order without
any near relations.
In this order the three anterior toes are united by webs extend-
ing, except in one Australian genus, Anseranas, to the ends of the
digits ; the hind toe is always present, but is short and articulated
to the tarsus higher up than the other toes. The bill is more or less
depressed and flattened, except in the Merginw, and is covered with
n soft membrane, except on the dertrum or nail, which forms the
tip of the upper mandible ; both mandibles are fringed inside the
touiiae, or edges, with lamellae, which are variously developed
in different genera.
The skull is desmognathous and holorhinal ; basipterygoid pro
412
cesses are represented by oval facets, articulating with the pterygoids
close to the anterior extremity of the latter, as in Galling. The
angle or posterior extremity of the lower jaw is produced back-
wards beyond the articulation with the quadrate, and is curved
upwards. Nostrils pervious. Furcula U-shaped; posterior border
of sternum with a notch, represented in some genera by a foramen,
on each side of the keel. Two carotids ; caeca large ; oil-gland
tufted. Wing aquincubital ; primaries 11 ; aftershaft to body-
feathers rudimentary or wanting ; no bare spaces on the neck.
Ambieus muscle present, as also the f em oro- caudal, accessory
femoro-caudal (very large), and trie semitendinosus ; accessory
semitendinosus absent, as in most swimming-birds. The flexor
longus hallucis sends oil a slip to the hallux, and then fuses with
the flexor perforans diyitorum, which supplies the three anterior
digits. Tongue large and fleshy, denticulated laterally to corre-
spond with the Iamella3 of the mandibles. Males with a large
spiral intromittent organ. All the species are monogamous, and
the majority build nests of grass or rushes on the ground, a few
on trees or in holes. In cold climates the female lines her nest
with her own down, and surrounds with the same the eggs, which
are numerous, and white, cream-coloured, buff, or pale green
in colour; but in warmer countries, as in India, less precaution for
retention of heat is necessary, and the downy lining is imperfect
or wanting. The young are hatched covered with down, and able
to run or swim at once. In moulting, most, if not ail, of the
members of this order shed all their quill-feathers at once, and are
consequently, for a time, unable to fly.
There is but a single family.
Family ANATID^E.
The division of this family into subfamilies is by no means
a simple problem, there are almost as many systems as there are
writers on the subject. Salvador!, in the British Museum Catalogue,
from which many of the details here given are copied, admits
eleven subfamilies, four of which are not Indian ; other writers
adopt smaller numbers. The characters on which these sub-
families are divided are often of small importance, and appear
to me insufficient in some cases. One subfamily containing the
Swans is well distinguished by the great number of cervical
vertebrae, exceeding those in any other vertebrates. The true
Greese appear also fairly separated by their plumnge and by the
structure of the trachea in the male. Lastly, the Smew and
the Merganser may be easily recognized by their subconical or
compressed bills, even if, for the want of other well-marked
structural distinctions, their claim to separation as a subfamily is
somewhat weak. Four subfamilies are consequently here admitted,
thus distinguished : —
CYGXCTS. 413
«. Cervical vertebrae 23 to 25 ; neck as long as
body or longer Cygnince, p. 413.
b. Cervical vertebras less than 20 ; neck shorter
than body.
a'. Bill depressed and flattened towards the
tip.
a". Trachea of male not inflated into a
bulba ossea ; legs adapted to walking ;
sexes generally alike ; plumage as a
rule grey or brown „ Anserince^pAlo.
b". Trachea of male inflated at base into a
bulba ossea (see p. 421) ; legs modified
for swimming : sexes as a rule dis-
similar Anatince, p. 420.
6'. Bill not depressed, slender, hooked at
end Mergince, p. 46 7.
The brief account of the habits are chiefly taken from Hume's
descriptions in ' The Game Birds of India, Burma, and Ceylon.'
I can in many cases testify to the accuracy of Hume's account
from my own observations.
Subfamily CYGNIN^E.
Neck very long, as long as the body or longer ; cervical vertebras
23 to 25. Size large. Sexes alike. Hind toe not lobed.
Genus CYGNUS, Bechstein, 1803.
Bill of moderate size, raised at the base, of nearly equal breadth
throughout ; nostrils elliptical, about halfway down the bill ; lores
naked ; wing long ; tail short, well rounded at the end ; legs short,
stout, placed far back.
Swans are found in the temperate and subarctic portions of the
Northern hemisphere, in South America, and Australia. Two
species have been obtained, as rare stragglers, within Indian limits.
Key to tlie Species.
Culmen with a prominent knob at the base in adults ;
loral space black C. olor, p. 413.
No knob at base of bill : loral space yellow C. musicus, p. 414.
1577. Cygnus olor. The Mute Swan.
Anas olor, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, 2, p. 501 (1788).
Cygnus olor, VieilL Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. ix, p. 37 ; Blanf. S. F.
vii, p. 99 ; id. P. A. S. B. 1878, p. 138 ; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 101 ;
id. Cat. no. 944 ter ; Hume Sf Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 41, pi. ;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 394 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 35 ;
Baker, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. xi, p. 16.
414 ANATID^E.
Cygnus unwini, Hume, Ibis, 1871, p. 413.
? Cygnus sp., Stoliczka, J. A. S. E. xli, pt. 2, p. 229 ; Hume, S. F.
iv, p. 33.
A -knob at the base of the bill ; the trachea does not enter the
keel of the sternum.
Coloration. Adults pure white throughout. Young birds are
brownish grey, becoming whiter with age ; but the brownish tinge
is not entirely lost till the bird is about two years old.
Bill orange-red, except the commissure of both mandibles and a
considerable part of the lower near .the base, the nail at the end of
the bill, a patch around each nostril, the knob at the base, and the
lores, which are black ; irides brown ; legs and feet black. In young
birds the bill is lead-coloured, then flesh-coloured.
Length about 60; tail 9; wing 22; tarsus 3-9; bill from
gape 3*8. Females are rather smaller than males. In European
(tame ?) birds the wing measures as much as 27 inches.
Distribution. The greater part of Europe, Northern and Central
Asia. The Mute Swan is an occasional visitor to the North-
western Punjab, near Peshawar ; it has once been killed in Sind,
near Sehwan, where three were shot in February by the late
Mr. H. E. Watson out of a flock of five ; and Stoliczka thought he
saw some on the Runn of Cutch. Nearly all the Swans recorded
have been found in India in January and February ; but on two
occasions birds of this species were shot near Peshawar in June
and July.
Habits, fyc. Swans, as a rule, occur in small flocks and haunt
marshes, lakes, and rivers ; but they occasionally alight on the sea
near the coast. They but rarely come on land, and are seldom
seen on the wing. Their flight is heavy and noisy. They feed
chiefly on aquatic plants, partly on insects and their larvae,
mollusca, &c. They make a large nest close to the water, and lay
from 5 to 11 white, or nearly white, eggs, measuring about 4|
by 3.
1578. Cygnus musicus. The Whooper.
Cygnus musicus, Bechstein, Gem. Naturg. Vog. Deutschl. iii, p. 830,
(1809) ; Hume fy Marsh. Game S. iii, p. 47 ; Salvador
xxvii, p. 26 ; Baker, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. xi, p. 11.
; G.
pi. 35 (1809) ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 47 ; Salvadori, Cat.
B. M. xxvii, p. 26 ; Baker, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. xi, p. 11.
Cygnus ferus, Briss. Orn. vi, p. 292, pi. xxviii (1760) ; G. R. Gray,
"Cat. Mamm. etv. Coll. Hodcjs. 1846, p. 144 ; Brooks, P. A. S. B.
1872, p. 63.
Cygnus bewicki, apud Hume, S. F. vii, p. 464 ; id. Cat. no. 944
quint. ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 51, pi.
No knob on bill ; the trachea enters the keel of the sternum,
which is hollow.
Coloration of adults white, of young birds greyish brown, as in
C. olor.
Bill black, the lores and a space in front of them on each
side, extending forward beneath the nostril, yellow, as is the
ANSER. 415
lower mandible away from the commissure ; iris brown ; legs and
feet black.
Length 60 ; tail 8 ; wing 25 ; tarsus 4'5 ; bill from gape 4.
Distribution. The Whooper breeds in the extreme north of
Europe and Asia, and visits most parts of Europe and temperate
Asia in the winter.
A single specimen of a Swan was obtained by Hodgson in the
Nepal Valley in January 1829. The skin was lost ; but a drawing
was kept, and also the skull and a foot ; the latter two are now in
the British Museum, and the drawing in the Library of the Zoo-
logical Society. By G-. E. Gray and Brooks the species was recog-
nized as C.ferus (musicus)', but Hume identified the figure with the
smaller species C. lewicki on account of the coloration of the bill. I
have examined all the evidence, and whilst the drawing, on which
no dimensions are noted, appears to me less carefully drawn than
most of Hodgson's figures, and to leave some doubt as to which
species is represented, the skull and feet, which Mr. Grant has
been so good as to compare with me, are much too large for
C. beivicki, and undoubtedly belonged to C. musicus.
Subfamily ANSERINE.
The Geese live more on land and less on water than the
remainder of the family do ; they generally feed on grass or other
green vegetable food ; some forms, however, feed on marine plants.
They are heavily built birds, but good walkers, having the legs
more in the middle of the body than Ducks have. The sexes are
alike, or nearly so, and there appears to be only one moult of all
the feathers, which takes place soon after the young are hatched.
The plumage is dull, and there is no coloured speculum on the
wing-secondaries. The legs are strong, the tarsus considerably
longer than the bill and reticulated throughout.
The most important anatomical peculiarity is the absence of the
bony bulb (labyrinth or bulba ossea) that is found at the lower end
of the trachea in the males of nearly all Anatince and Mergince.
The Anserince comprise six genera, chiefly of Boreal distribu-
tion ; only one is known to occur in India.
Genus ANSER, Brisson, 1760.
Bill short and high at the base, subconical ; the nostrils nearly
halfway to the tip, a distinct nail-like dertrum at the end ; wings
ample ; tail short, rounded, of 16 or 18 feathers ; legs of moderate
length, strong, placed well forward and adapted for walking.
Geese both swim and walk well. They are generally found
in flocks, which fly with much speed in long V-shaped lines, and
they utter a peculiar cackling call that can be heard a long distance
off. All the species are migratory. They make nests of grass, &c.,
416 ANATIDJE.
on the ground, and line them with down ; the eggs, 6 to 12 in
number, are yellowish white.
Of the 8 or 9 species known, five have hitherto been obtained in
India.
Key to the Species.
a. Tip (nail) of upper mandible white or
whitish.
a'. No white on forehead A. ferus, p. 410.
b'. A white frontal band.
a". Frontal band not extending b^ck to
between eyes ; bill from gape 2 A. albifrons, p. 417.
b". Frontal band extending back to between
eyes ; bill from gape 1*4 A. erythropus, p. 418.
b. Tip of upper mandible black. [p. 418.
c'. Head and neck dark brown A. brachyrhynchus ,
Head white, with black bars and nap« • • A. indicus, p. 419.
1579. Anser ferus. The Grey Lag Goose.
Anser ferus, Schaeff. Mus. Orn. p. 67 (1789) ; Adams, P. Z. S. 1859,
p. 189.
Anser cinereus, Meyer fy Wolf, Taschenb.ii,^. 552 (1810) ; Blyth, Cat.
p. 300; Jerdon, B.I. iii, p. 779; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 174; Hume,
S. F. i, p. 258 ; Butler f Hume, S. F. iv, p. 26 ; Ball, S. F. vii,
p. 231 ; Hume, ibid. p. 491 ; id. Cat. no. 945 ; id. S. F. viii, pp. 408,
421 ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 55, pi. ; Legge, Birds Ceyl.
p. 1072, note ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 78 ; Butler, ibid. p. 163 ; Eden, ibid.
p. 163; Taylor, ibid. p. 531; Hume $ Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 339 ;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 394.
Anser rubrirostris, Hodgs., G. R. Gray, Cat. Mamm. etc. Coll.
Hodgson, p. 144 (descr. nulla) ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 91.
The Grey Goose, Jerdon ; Sona, Kurria-Sona, Hans, Rdj-hdns, H. ;
Kallauk ?, Kdr-hdns, Bhagulpur ; Moyala, Mogala-battak, Nepal Terai ;
Kangnai, Manipur.
Coloration. Head, neck, and upper back brown ; scapulars,
tertiaries, and some of the median wing-coverts darker brown with
pale edges ; lower back and rump ashy grey, brownish grey in
younger birds ; upper tail-coverts white ; outer two or three pairs
of tail-feathers white, middle pairs greyish brown with white
edges and tips ; all outer wing-coverts near the edge of the
wing, primary-coverts, wing-lining, and axillaries ashy grey ;
primaries grey at base, blackish brown towards the tip ; second-
aries blackish brown, all shafts of quills white ; lower parts from
neck greyish or brownish white, more or less blotched on abdomen
in old birds with blackish brown ; sides and flanks greyish brown,
with pale edges to the feathers, producing bars.
Bill, legs, and feet from creamy white to flesh-coloured, some-
times even purplish red: irides brown (Hume).
Length 32 ; tail 6 ; wing 18 ; tarsus 3-1 ; bill from gape 2'75.
Females run smaller.
Distribution. This Goose breeds in Europe north of about 50°
•lat., and in Central Asia and Southern Siberia, and migrates in
ANSER. 417
winter to Southern Europe, North Africa, South-western Asia, and
Northern Indin. Within our area it is common, from the end of
October to the beginning of March, in the Punjab, Sind, and the
North-west Provinces; it occurs, though rather less abundantly,
throughout Northern India, Assam, and Manipur, and it is common
in the Irravvaddy valley north of Myingyan. It is met with as far
south as the Nerbudda on the west, and the ChilkaLake, in Orissa,
on the east ; but is seldom found south of the Gangetic plain inland.
Salvadori and some others distinguish the Eastern race as A. rubri-
rostris, but the only difference is that old birds are rather darker
below, and I doubt if this is constant.
Habits, $c. In winter the Grey-Lag is generally found in flocks,
often large, of 200 to 1000 birds or more, which feed on grass and
green crops in the morning and evening, and pass the day on the
sands of one of the larger rivers, or the edge of a lake or marshr
rarely entering the water. Young birds, when well-fed on green
crops, are excellent to eat. Wild Geese if captured are easily
tamed, and from the present species is derived the Domestic Goose
of Europe ; but Blyth has stated that the tame Geese of India are
a mixed race, and hybrids between A. ferus and the Chinese
A. (or Gygnopsis) cygnoides.
1580. Anser albifrons. The White-fronted Goose.
Branta albifrons, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 69 (1769).
Anser albifrons, Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 509 ; Jerdon, B. L iii,
p. 780 ; Hume, Cat. no. 947 ; id. S. F. viii, p. 421 ; Hume Sf Marsh.
Game B. iii, p. 73, pi. ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 78 ; Barnes, Birds
Bom. p. 395; Lester, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vii, p. 553; Salva-
dori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 92 ; Baker, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. xi, pi. ii.
Anser erythropus, apud Flem. Brit. An. p. 127 (1828) ; Hume, S. F,
i, p. 259 ; nee Linn.
Coloration. A white frontal band extending across the lores to
the gape, and sometimes to the chin ; head, neck, and upper surface
dark brown, darker and ashy posteriorly and blackish on the
border of the frontal band ; wing-coverts greyer ; feathers of upper
back, scapulars, tertiaries, and some of the coverts pale-tipped ;
greater coverts with broad white edges, forming a white bar ; pri-
maries dark grey with blackish ends, secondaries black ; breast and
abdomen whity-brown, more or less blotched with black, sometimes
black almost throughout ; sides of breast brown, with pale tips to
the feathers ; vent, lower flanks, and upper and under tail-coverts
white ; tail-feathers dark ashy brown, with white edges and tips,
broadest on the outer feathers.
In young birds the white on the forehead is brownish or
wanting, and there is no black on the underparts.
Bill pale livid fleshy, nail whitish ; irides pale brown ; legs and
feet bright orange (Hume}.
Length 27 ; tail 4-5 ; wing 15*5 ; tarsus 2-5 ; bill from gape 2.
Distribution. Throughout the Pala3arctic region, breeding in the
far North, and migrating in winter to the Mediterranean, Egypt,
TOL. IT. 2 E
418 ANATIDJE.
where this species is common, the Caspian, and China. This Goose
is a rare cold-weather visitor to the Punjab, Sind, Catch, Bohil-
khand, and Oudh, usually occurring on rivers, singly or in parties of
two or three. 1 saw single geese of a small dark species, probably
the present, swimming on the Indus near Sehwan, as late as the
first week in April. Hume was informed by Col. Graham that
A. albifrons is found throughout Assam ; and Gates has recently
ascertained that it has been shot in Upper Burma.
1581. Anser erythropus. The Dwarf Goose or Lesser
White-fronted Goose.
Anas erythropus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 197 (1760).
Anser minutus, Naum. Vog. Deutschl. xi, p. 365, pi. 290 (1842) ;
Irby, Ibis, 186], p. 247 ; Hume, Cat. no. 948 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 79.
Anser erythropus, Newton, P. Z. S. 1860, p. 339; Jerdan, B. I. iii,
p. 781 ; Hume, S. F. viii, p. 421 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. iii,
p. 77, pi. ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 97.
Very similar to A. albifrons, but smaller, with a much smaller
"bill. The plumage is generally darker, and the white of the fore-
head extends to the top of the head between the eyes. The
•coloration of the soft parts appears to be the same in the two species.
Length 21 ; tail 4 ; wing 14-5 ; tarsus 2-4 ; bill from gape 1-4.
Distribution. Similar to that of A. albifrons, but more Eastern,
this species being rare in Western Europe and the Mediterranean
.-and common in China. It is a very rare cold-weather immigrant in
Northern India, but specimens have been obtained by Col. Trby,
Mr. A. Anderson, Dr. Bonavia, and Mr. Chill in the Eastern
Punjab near Delhi, in the North-west Provinces, and in Oudh.
1582. Anser brachyrhynchus (?). The Pink-footed Goose.
Anser brachyrhynchus, Baillon, Mem. Soc. R. d'Abbev. 1833, p. 74 ;
Blyth, Cat. p. 301 ; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 247 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii,
p. 780 ; Hume, Cat. no. 946 ; Hume 8f Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 71,
pi. ; McLeod, S. F. x, p. 168 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 339 ; Salvador*,
Cat. B. xxvii, p. 103.
Coloration. Head and neck brown, with a few whitish feathers
at the base of the bill; back and wings greyer, the feathers with
pale borders ; rump blackish grey ; primaries dark grey, blackish
at the tip ; secondaries blackish ; breast whity-brown, the sides
darker, with pale bands formed by the tips of the feathers ;
abdomen paler ; lower abdomen, flanks, and under and upper tail-
coverts white; tail-feathers dark brownish grey, with broad white
edges and tips on the outer feathers, diminishing on the middle
rectrices.
Bill black at the base, and the nail black, intermediate portion
pink ; irides brown ; legs fleshy to purplish pink, sometimes with an
orange tinge.
Length 28 ; tail 5-25 ; wing 16 : tarsus 3 ; bill from gape 2.
Distribution. This Goose breeds in the extreme North of Europe
and migrates, chiefly to Western Europe, in the winter. The
occurrence of A. brachyrhynchus in India has been repeatedly
AISTSEB. 419
announced, by Blyth, Irby, Hume, and McLeod ; but as no Indian
specimen appears to have been preserved, some doubts must remain
as to whether the species has been rightly identified, especially as
A., brachyrhynchus has not been observed elsewhere in Asia.
There can however, I think, be no reasonable doubt that either this
or some other species of the group of A. segetum with a black tip
to the bill does occur.
1583. Anser indicus. The Barred-headed Goose.
Anas indica, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, p. 839 (1790).
Bernicla indica, Gray, Gen. B. iii, p. 608 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 301.
Anser indicus, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 782 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B.
xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 70 ; McMaster, J. A. S. B. xl, pt. 2, p. 215 ;
Hume, S. F. i, p. 260 ; Adam, ibid. p. 401 ; Godiv.-Aust. J. A. S. B.
xliii, pt. 2, p. 175 ; Hume, S. F. iv, p. 499 ; Anders. Yunnan
Exped., Aves, p. 698 ; Cripps, S. F. vii, p. 310 ; Hume, ibid. p. 491 ;
id. Cat. no. 949 ; id. S. F. viii, p. 421 ; Hume # Marsh. Game B.
iii, p. 81, pi. ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 99 ; Reid, 8. F. x, p. 79 ;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 395 ; Taylor, S. F. x, pp. 528, 531 ; Hume,
S. F. xi, p. 340 ; Gates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 279 ;
Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 105.
Eulabeia indica, Reichenb. Naturl. Syst. Vb'gel, p. ix ; Ball, S. F. ii,
p. 436; vii, p. 231.
Hans, Kareyi Hans, Rdj Hans, JBirwa, H.; Paria, Nepal Terai ; Nang-
pa, Ladak; Nir-bathu, Tarn. (Coimbatore); Badi-hdns, Chittagong Kdng-
nai, Manipur.
Fig. 102.— Head of A. indicus.
Coloration. Head white, with two concentric black bars on the
•nape, one from eye to eye round the occiput, the other farther
hack ; a longitudinal white band down each side of the neck ; hind
neck dark brown, passing into the pale ashy tint of the upper plu-
mage generally, feathers of the upper back and scapulars with pale
tips ; lower back and rump pure ashy grey ; primaries pale ashy
with blackish tips, later primaries and secondaries black except at
the extreme base : tertiaries and coverts, both upper and under,
pale ashy, the greater coverts broadly edged with white ; fore
neck brownish ashy, passing gradually into whity-brown on the
breast ; sides of breast browner, darkest on the flanks, the feathers
pale-tipped, forming bars; lower abdomen and flanks and under
and upper tail-coverts pure white ; tail-feathers pale grey, white-
edged.
Young birds have a dark brown crown and nape, no black bars
on the nape, nor longitudinal white neck-stripes ; the back is grey,
:and the lower parts are nearly white.
420
Length 30; tail 6; wing 18 ; tarsus 3 : bill from gape 2'1.
Bill yellow ; irides brown ; legs orange (Jtrdon). Bill orange-
yellow to orange, rarely only pale lemon-yellow, the nail black or
blackish (Hume}.
Distribution. A winter visitor to India from October or Novem-
ber to March or April, common in the north, rare in the south;
breeding in Tibet and Central Asia. It abounds about the course
of the great rivers and near large marshes in the Punjab, Sind, and
the North-west Provinces, and is far from rare in parts of Bengal,
Orissa (it abounds at the Chilka Lake), and Assam. It occurs in
Manipur, and Anderson saw flocks on the Irrawaddy above Man-
dalay. It is of very rare occurrence in the Bombay Presidency
generally, and unknown on the Malabar coast.
Habits, <$fc. This is by far the commonest Goose of Northern
India, where it occurs in small or large flocks, with the usual
habits, feeding on grass and crops of wheat, barley, gram, &c.
in the morning and evening, and often at night, and passing the
day on the banks of a river or lake. The Barred-headed Goose
breeds in May and June on the lakes of Tibet such as the Tso-
inorari, but the young are generally hatched before the passes to
the southward are open.
Besides the Geese already enumerated, Anser segetum, the Bean
Goose, somewhat like A. brachyrliynclius, but larger, with orange
legs, is said to have been obtained in India, and is figured by Hume
and Marshall in their ' Game Birds.' Hume also had reason to
suspect that Anser cyynoides, the Chinese Goose, with a long black
bill and orange feet, occurs in Assam ; and Blyth has suggested
(Ibis, 1870, p. 176) that four birds seen near Nagpur, one of which
was procured, as recorded in the ' Bengal Sporting Magazine ' for
1836, vii, p. 247, were probably Berniclu ruficollis. I feel doubtful
whether the bird mentioned in the anonymous article quoted was
a goose.
Subfamily ANATIN^E.
This subfamily, as here denned, contains the typical Ducks
together with the Sheldrakes, the Spur-winged " Geese," the
Diving Ducks, and the Stiff-tailed Ducks, or the Plectropterince,
Fuligulince, and Erismaturince of many ornitholo-
gists. The principal character by which these
groups are distinguished, the lobation of the
hind toe, varies too much in different genera to-
be used as a criterion for the distinction of
larger groups, there being a considerable amount
of passage between forms in which the toe is-
Fig 103 —Hind simple, through typical Ducks with a narrow
toe of (a) Dafila lobe, to the broadly lobed Pochards and Diving
acuta with iiar- Ducks ; whilst neither the spiny tail of Ens-
row lobe, and matura nor the wing-knob of Plectropterusr
(^awithbroad" aPPears to entitle its owner to more than
lobe. }. generic rank.
421
As a rule, the drake in this subfamily assumes by moult
.a special nuptial plumage for a longer or shorter period, but
the exceptions are numerous, especially amongst resident Indian
species. There is, in the forms assuming a nuptial plumage,
a double moult of the body-feathers, the two moults some-
times, as in the Common Mallard, occurring at an interval of
only three or four months.
Another character found in almost all
drakes of this subfamily is the development
of a bulba ossea or labyrinth at the base of
the trachea, close to the bifurcation of the
bronchi. This bulba ossea is a bony, or
partly bony and partly membraneous, dila-
tation of the lower tracheal rings, and is
often lateral, as in the common Wild Duck
(tig. 104) ; but sometimes the expansion is
medial or in two directions, the different
forms being characteristic of particular
genera. This peculiar conformation is
found in the Merging but not in the
Anserine.
, The bill throughout the subfamily is
bulba ossea. \. depressed, and, especially near the tip, much
broader than high. The legs are rather
short and more adapted for swimming than for walking. In the
majority the exposed portions of the secondary quills, with their
larger coverts, are distinguished by conspicuous and often metallic
coloration. The brightly coloured patch thus formed is known as
the " speculum."
Key to the Genera.*
.a. Hind toe not lobed or narrowly lobed. Breadth
of lobe or web less than one-third length of toe.
a'. Nostril one-third length of bill from fore-
head.
a". Size large : wing over 10 inches.
a3. Breast and abdomen white ; male with [p. 422.
a large fleshy comb at base of culmsn SARCIDIORNIS,
b3. Breast and abdomen brown tinged with
rusty red ASARCORNIS, p. 424.
c3. Breast and abdomen dark brown, head
pink REODONESSA, p. 425.
d3. Abdomen black in the middle, white
at the sides TADORNA, p. 427.
e3. Breast and abdomen ruddy ochreous . . CASARCA, p. 428.
b". Size smaller : wing under 10 in. ; tarsus [p. 430.
reticulated throughout DENDIIOCYCNA,
b'. Nostril less than one-third length of bill
from forehead,
c". Size very small wing under 7 in. ; bill
high at base and short NETTOPUS, p. 433.
* This Key does not always serve for species not found in India.
422 A^ATTD^E.
d" '. Wing not less than 7 inches.
f3. A speculum present, either metallic or
black and white.
a4. Bill not spatulate, and but little if at
all broader near the tip.
a5. Upper wing-coverts not blue nor
bluish grey.
a°. Tail moderate, median rectrices
not lengthened.
a7. Lamellae tine, projecting con-
siderably beyond' mandibles; [p. 440.
speculum black and white .... CHAULELASMUS,
ft7 '. Lamellae moderate, not pro-
jecting ; speculum partly or
wholly green or purple. Bill
from forehead longer than
tarsus.
a8. Tail of 18 or 20 feathers ANAS, p. 435.
b». Tail of 14 or 16 feathers.
a9. Nail about one-third width
of bill ; head of male
crested and tertiaries falcate EUNETTA, p. 438.
ft9. Nail less than one-third
width of bill ; no crest nor
falcate tertiaries NETTIUM, p. 441.
c9. Nail more than one-third
width of bill ; no crest nor
falcate tertiaries MARECA, p. 445.
ft6. Median rectrices lengthened and
pointed DAFILA, p 447.
bs. Upper wing-coverts lavender-blue . . . QUERQUEDULA,
ft4. Bill spatulate, nearly twice as broad [p. 449.
near tip as near base SPATULA, p. 451.
g*. No speculum ; sexes alike ; plumage dull [p. 454.
greyish brown ." MARMARONETTA,
ft. Hind toe broadly lobed, breadth of lobe one-
third to one-half length of toe.
c'. Tail less than half length of wing.
en. Upper mandible at base not so high as broad.
A3. Bill viewed from above tapering
slightly from base ; tail-feathers 16 .... NETTA, p. 455.
i3. Bill not tapering ; tail-feathers 14 NYIIOCA, p. 458.
/". Upper mandible at base higher than broad . CLANGULA, p. 464.
d'. Tail half as long as wing ; bill much swollen [p. 465.
at base EIUSMATURA,
Genus SARCIDIORNIS, Eyton, 1838.
Size large, the plumage of the sexes differing very little, but the
male much larger than the female. Bill of moderate length,
considerably raised at the base and of nearly the same width
throughout, furnished above in the male with a fleshy knob that
becomes greatly developed in the breeding-season (fig. 101).
Wing with a prominent tubercle in front of the bend. Tail of 12
feathers, rounded. Lower end of trachea expanded on the left
side only. Hind toe with a narrow lobe.
This genus contains two species, one found in India and Africa,
the other in South America.
SAECIDIOKNIS. 423-
1584. Sarcidiornis melanonotus. The Comb Duck or Nukta.
(Fig. 101, p. 411.)
Anser melanotus, Penn. Faunula Indica, p. 12, pi. xii (1769) ;
Newton, S. F, viii, p. 415.
Sarcidiornis melanotus, Blyt1t9 Cat, p. 302 ; Barnes, Jour, Bom.
N. H. Soc. vi, p. 286.
Sarkidiornis melanonotus, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 785; A. Anderson,
Ibis, 1874, p. 2:20 ; Adam, S. F. i, p. 401 ; Sutler $ Hume, S. F.
iv, p. 27 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 231 ; Hume, ibid. p. 507 ; Sutler, S. F*
viii, p. 387.
Sarcidiornis melanonotus, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 175 ; Hume, S. F. vii,
p. 491 ; id. Cat. no. 950 ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 91,.
; Legge, Bi
Ceyl. p. 1063 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 79 ; Hume, ibid. p. 417 ; Taylor, ibid.
pi. ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 436 ; Parker, ibid. p. 486 ; Legge, Birds
pp, 528, 531 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 396; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 343;
Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 282.
Sarcidiornis melanonota, Sclat. P. Z. S. 1876, p. 694, pi. Ixvii ; Oates,
B. B. ii, p. 275 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 54 ; Baker, Jour.
Bom. N. H. Soc. xi, p. 172.
The Black-backed Goose, Jerdon. Nukta, H. ; Nakwa, Chutia Nagpur ;
Ndki hdnsa, Uriya ; Jutu chil-luwa, Tel. ; Dod sarle haki, Can. ; Neer
koli, Coimbatore ; Tau-bai, Burm. ; Bowkbang, Karen.
Coloration. Male. Head and neck white, spotted with glossy
black, the black prevailing on the crown and a band along the
hind neck : lower neck all round, breast, abdomen, and lower tail-
coverts pure white ; upper back, scapulars, wings, rump, upper
tail-coverts, and tail black, the secondaries and their greater coverts
glossed with bronze-green, the scapulars with purple, the other
parts with green and purplish blue ; lower back brownish grey,
sides of breast and flanks pale ashy grey ; a black bar from the upper
back to each side of the upper breast, and another from the rump
to the lower flanks.
Female much smaller, but similarly coloured, with less gloss on
the back and wings and more black on the head and neck.
Younger birds are brown instead of black, and the lower parts
are tinged with rusty red.
Iris brown ; bill and comb black ; legs and feet very dark brown
(Oates), greenish plumbeous (Jerdon).
Length of male about 30 ; tail 5'5 ; wing 15 ; tarsus 2-75 ; bill
from gape 2'7. Female : length 26 ; tail 4'5 ; wing 11*25 ;.
tarsus 2-1 ; bill from gape 2-2.
Distribution. India, Ceylon, and Burma in suitable localities ,
also Africa south of the Sahara, and Madagascar. Common in
well-wooded and well-watered parts of the country, rare or
wanting in India south of Mysore, in the Bombay Deccan, the
desert tracts, Sind and the Western Punjab, also in Tenasserim.
Habits, $c. The Nukta is generally found about large marshy
tanks and jheels with reedy margins in well-wooded countries. It
keeps in small flocks of 4 to 10 throughout the cold season and in
pairs at other times. Larger flocks are said to occur, but they are-
not often seen. It breeds on trees, and frequently perches on
them. The nest consists of a few sticks with dead leaves, grass,,
424
feathers &c., placed in a hole in the stem or a depression
between the larger branches. The eggs, laid in July, August or
September, are ivory-white, very close-textured, 7 to 12 in number,
and they measure about 2*41 by 1*72. In Ceylon this Duck is
said to breed in February and March. This is not one of the best
ducks for the table, though good at times.
Genus ASARCORNIS, Salvadori, 1895.
This appears to resemble Sarcidwmis both in structure and
plumage, and differs chiefly by having no knob on the bill of the
male. It is also distinguished by having the lower parts chestnut
instead of white. In this it resembles Pteronetta hartlaubi, an
African duck, the generic distinction of which from Asarcornis
appears open to doubt. There is only one species of Asarcornis.
1585. Asarcornis scutulatus. The White- winged Wood-Duck.
Anas scutulata, S. Mull. Verhand. Land- en Yolk. p. 159 (1839-44) ;
Hume, S. F. viii, p. 158.
Sarcidiornis (?) leucopterus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xviii, p. 820 (1849) ;
id. Cat. p. 302.
Casarca leucoptera, Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 793 ; Goihc.-Aust. J. A. S. B.
xliii, pt. 2, p. 176; Blyth, Birds Bunn. p. 105; Hume fy Dav. S.JF.
vi, p. 489.
Casarca scutulata, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 176; 1870, p. 176 ; Hume,
Cat. no. 955.
Asarcornis scutulata, Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 60; Baker,
Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. xi, p. 181.
Deo-hdns, A.'.sani.
Rg. 105. — Head of A. scutulatus. %.
Coloration. Head and neck white, speckled with black, more
thickly on the crown and hind neck ; lower neck blackish brown,
glossed with green all round, passing above into the olive-brown
of the back, scapulars, rump, tail, and primaries ; bend of wing
and upper and under wing-coverts white ; greater secondary
coverts blue-grey, broadly tipped with black ; secondaries blue-grey
on outer webs ; tertiaries brown, the first with a black border and
about half of the outer web inside the border white ; lower parts
brown tinged with rusty red. Sexes scarcely differing except in
size ; back in female less glossy, and the head more or less tinged
with ochreous.
RHODONESSA. 425
Upper mandible dusky orange-red, blotched with black at base
and tip and sparingly along commissure ; lower mandible pale
orange-yellow, blotched with black along the sides, nail at tip of
beak dusky pink ; irides crimson ; legs and feet orange-yellow
{Cripps}.
Length of male 32 ; tail 6 ; wing 15 ; tarsus 2-4 : bill from
gape 2-9. Female : length 29 ; tail 5-5 ; wing 13 ; tarsus 2 ; bill
from gape 2- 8.
Distribution. Assam (not rare in the Dibrugarh district), Ten-
.asserim, Malay Peninsula, and Java. The supposed occurrence of
this bird in Eastern Bengal appears to be doubtful, and a reported
capture in Singbhum requires confirmation.
Habits, tyc. A shy resident bird, found singly, as a rule, about
sluggish streams and swamps in high forest. It is very scarce in
collections; even in the British Museum there are but three skins
from Assam and Burma, and two of what is believed to be a
.domesticated variety, the original A. scutulata, from Java. Nothing
is known of the breeding habits except that young birds are said
to have been shot on the Dhansiri Eiver in Assam.
Genus RHODONESSA, Beichenb., 1852.
This genus is distinguished by plumage more than by structure ;
it differs from all other Ducks in having a pink head and a dark
body. The sexes differ but little from each other. The egg is
peculiar and very short, subspherical in fact. The bill is lower at
the base than that of Sarcidiornis, but otherwise similar. The
bulba ossea at the lower end of the male trachea is very peculiarly
formed, being swollen on both sides and anteriorly (see Garrod,
P.Z.S. 1875, p. 153).
Only one species is known.
1586. Rhodonessa caryophyllacea. Ttie Pink-headed Duck.
Anas caryophyllacea, Latham, Ind. Orn. ii, p. 866 (1790) ; Jerdon,
III. Ind. Orn. pi. 34 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 304 ; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 249 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 800 ; Hume, N. Sf E. p. 644 ; Blyth, Birds
Bunn. p. 165 ; Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 264 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 232 ;
Hume, ibid. p. 492 ; id. S. F. viii, p. 501 ; Simson, Ibis, 1884,
p. 271 ; C. Sivinh. $ Barnes, Ibis, 1885, p. 137 ; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 404.
Rhodonessa caryophyllacea, Reichenb. Natiirl. Syst. Voqel, p. ix, pi. 85 ;
Ball, S. F. ii, p. 438 ; Hume, Cat no. 960 ; Hume | Marsh. Game
B. iii, pp. 173, 435, pi. ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 437; Reid, S. F. x,
p. 81 ; Taylor, ibid. p. 531 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 284 ; Barnes, Birds
Bom. p. 404 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 344 ; Oates in Hume's N. Sf E. 2nd
ed. iii, p. 290 ; Barnes, Jour. Bom. N. H. Sue. vi, p. 21)0 ; Salvador*,
Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 61 ; Baker, Jour. Bom. N. H. Sac. xi, p. 185.
Ldl-sira, H. ; Golab Ldl-sir, Oudh ; Sdkndl, Beng. ; Dtimrdr, Dumdr,
Nepal Terai and Tirhoot.
Coloration. Male. Crown and sides of head, back and sides of
neck rosy pink, brightest on the occiput and nape, browner on the
forehead ; a band on the chin, throat, and fore neck, the body
426 . ANATID^E.
above and below, and the tail chocolate-brown ; minute whitish
specks on the feathers of the mantle ; wings brown outside, except
the edge which is whitish, and the secondaries which are pale fawn
with white tips ; primaries brown on outer, pale fawn on inner
webs ; tertiaries with a green gloss ; wing-lining pinkish white.
Female duller ; head paler pink ; chin and throat pale like sides
of head and neck, the pink passing gradually into the brown of
the body ; middle of crown and nape brown ; no gloss on the
tertiaries; wing-lining whitish.
Young birds resemble the female except that the head and neck
are duller and browner and the lower parts paler.
Bill reddish white, rosy at the base and bluish at the tip ; irides
fine orange-red; legs and feet blackish with a tinge of red
(Jerdori).
Length 23'5 ; tail 3-5; wing 11; tarsus 1-9; bill from gape
2*25. No difference in size between the sexes.
Tig. 106. -Head oi' K. caryophyllacea. \.
Distribution. Fairly common and resident in Upper Bengal, in
the districts of Purneah, Maldah, and Bhagalpur, and in Tirhoot ;
not common, but found throughout Assam, Manipur, the whole of
Bengal, Orissa, the Northern Circars, Oudh, and the North-west
Provinces, and to be met with as an occasional straggler as far
west as Delhi, Mhow, and Ahrnednagar, and south to Madras.
On the east this Duck has been recorded from north of Bhamo,
but nowhere else in the Irrawaddy valley, nor is it known to occur
in Tenasserim. It is peculiar to India.
Habits, fyc. The Pink-headed Duck haunts ponds and swamps
thickly overgrown with reeds and aquatic plants, and, as a rule, sur-
rounded by forest or grass jungle. In such places this species may
be found throughout the year, in small flocks of from 4 to 10 or
occasionally 20 to 40 in the cold season, and in pairs from April
to September. The flight is swift, and the rosy under wiog-
coverts make this species easily recognizable. R. caryopliyllacea
breeds in June and July, and lays about 9 white, nearly spherical
eggs, measuring on an average 1'78 by 1'66, in a circular nest of
dry grass and feathers, hidden in a tuft of high grass. Jerclon
says that this bird is excellent eating, but other observers, with
better opportunities for judging, condemn its flesh as inferior ;
Simson considers it worse than that of the Brahminy Duck or the
Whistling Teal.
TADORtfA. 427
Genus TADORNA, Fleming, 1822.
Bill short, high at the base, concave above, the tip flattened and
turned up, the nail small, abruptly turned down and inwards ; a
fleshy knob at the base of the bill in males ; nostrils less than one-
third the length of the bill from the base ; wings long, pointed :
tail rounded, of 14 feathers ; tarsus scutulate in front near the foot.
Only two species are known of the genus as restricted ; of
these one, chiefly Pala3arctic, visits Northern India in winter, the
other is Australian.
1587. Tadorna cornuta. The Sheldrake.
Anas tadorna, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 195 (1766).
Anas cornuta, S. G. Gmelin, Reis. Rnssl. ii, p. 185, pi. 19 (1774).
Tadorna vulpanser, Flem. Brit. An. p. 122 (1828) ; Blyth, Cat.
p. 303; Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 794; Butler, S. F. v, pp. 217, 234;,
Simsm, Ibis, 1882, p. 92.
Tadorna cornuta, Hume, S. F. i, p. 260 ; vii, p. 492 ; id. Cat. no. 956;
Hume # Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 135, pi. ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 80;
Eden, ibid. p. 164; M'Leod, ibid. p. 168 ; Forsyth, ibid. p. 169 j.
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 400 ; Salvador i, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 171.
Shdh-chaktca, Safaid-Surkhdb, Rararia, H. ; Niraji, Sind.
Fig. 107.— Bill of T. cornuta. £.
Coloration. Male. Head and neck deep glossy green ; a broad
white collar round the lower neck, followed by a broad band of
chestnut round the upper back and breast, in front of the wings ,
interrupted partly or wholly in front by a dark brown or black
longitudinal band, which passes along the middle of the breast and
abdomen to the vent ; scapulars black, the inner partly white or
vermiculated with black and white ; primaries black ; secondaries
bright metallic green on the outer webs ; tertiaries chestnut on
outer webs, white inside, with a black stripe between the two
colours ; tail-feathers white, tipped with black ; middle and lower-
back, rump, upper tail-coverts, sides of lower breast, and abdomen
white ; lower tail-coverts dull rufous.
Females are duller in tint. Young birds have dull dark brown
in place of black, and dull rufous brown for chestnut.
Bill in adults blood-red ; irides brown ; legs fleshy-red inclining
to crimson (Jerdon).
Length of male 24 ; tail 4-2 ; wing 13 ; tarsus 2-2 ; bill from
gape 2*3. Females are smaller, wing 12.
428
Distribution. The north temperate parts of Europe and Asia, in
the breediog-season ; Southern Europe, Northern Africa, Western
Asia, Northern India, Southern China, and Japan in winter. The
Sheldrake is generally, but very sparsely, distributed over Northern
India in the cold season from the Indus valley to Assam. A speci-
men has recently been obtained by Gates from Myitkyina on the
Upper Irrawaddy, and one was reported in the 'Asian ' for 28th
November, 1890, from Meiktila, also in Upper Burma. The only
places in India where Sheldrakes are fairly common are near the
sea-coast in Sind, and on some of Jhe larger inland broads or
shallow lakes like the Mauchhar.
Habits, $'c. In general the Sheldrake is a sea-coast bird, living
chiefly on mollusca, small Crustacea, and vegetable matter. It
keeps generally singly or in twos or threes, rarely in flocks, it
walks well and is, as a rule, found on shore. Its flesh is rank and
fishy. It does not breed in India ; in Europe it generally lays its
eggs in holes, often in rabbit burrows.
Genus CASARCA, Bonap., 1838.
Very similar to Tadorna, but the bill is straighter and less
concave above ; the nail less hooked beneath ; tail short, rounded,
-of 14 feathers. The sexes are slightly different. Four species are
recognized, of which one is Indian,
1588. Casarca rutila. The Ruddy Sheldrake or Brahminy Duck.
Anas casarca, Linn. Syst. Nat. iii, App. p. 224 (1768).
Anas rutila, Pallas, Nov. Com. Petrop. xiv, 1, p. 579, pi. 22, fig. 1
(1770).
Casarca rutila, Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. fy N. Amer. p. 56 (1838) ;
Blyth, Cat. p. 303 ; Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 509; 1859, p. 189 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 791 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 70 ;
Blanf. J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 73 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 260 ; Adam,
ibid. p. 401 ; Hume $ Renders. Lah. to Yark. p. 296 ; Hume, N. #
E. p. 641 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 489 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 232 ;
Cripps, ibid. p. 311; Hume, ibid. p. 492; id. Cat. no. 954; Scully,
S. F. viii, p. 362 ; Hume 8? Marsh. GameB. iii, p. 123, pi. ; Butler,
S. F. ix, p. 437 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 80 ; Davidson, ibid-, p. 325 ;
Hume, ibid. p. 417 ; Taylor, ibid. p. 531 ; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 4CO ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 342 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 179 ;
Salvador*, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 177.
Tadorna casarca, Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 699 ; Legqe, Birds
Ceyl. pp. 1070, 1222 ; Oates, B. B. ii. p. 277 ; Swinh. $ Barnes,
Ibis, 1885, p. 137 ; Oates in Humes N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 286.
Chakwa <$ , Chakwi £ , Surkhdb, Ldl, II. ; Mungh, Sind ; Buyri,
Beng. ; Sarza, Chakrawdk, Mahr. ; Bapana Chilluica, Tel.; Kesarpandia,
Pandahdnsa, Uriya ; Nir-batha, Nir-koli, South India; Hintha,tturm.
Coloration. Male. Head and neck buff, generally rather darker
011 the crown, cheeks, chin, and throat, and passing on the neck
into the orange-brown or ruddy ochreous of the body above and
below. A black collar round the lower neck is assumed about
March and disappears as a rule about November. Scapulars like
back ; lower back and rump ochreous and black, vermiculated ;
CASAKCA. 429
upper tail-coverts, tail, and quills black ; the secondaries metallic
green and bronze on their outer webs ; inner tertiaries orange-
brown on outer webs, grey on inner ; wing-coverts whitish buff ;
wing-lining white ; middle of lower abdomen to vent chestnut \
lower tail-coverts orange-brown like breast.
Fig. 108.— Head of C. rutila.
Females are, as a rule, duller in tint and the head whitish or
white ; the black collar is always wanting. The plumage in both
sexes varies considerably in depth of tint.
Bill, legs, and feet black or blackish ; irides dark brown.
Length of male 26 ; tail 5 ; wing 15 ; tarsus 2-5 ; bill from
gape 2-3. Females are smaller, wing 13.
Distribution. The Ruddy Sheldrake is a migratory bird, breeding
in Southern Europe, Northern Africa, Western and Central Asia.
Great numbers breed in Ladak and other parts of Tibet, also in
Yarkand. The bird is a winter visitor to India, arriving about
October, and leaving Southern India in March and Northern
India in April, a few pairs remaining later in each case ; it is
found in suitable places throughout the Peninsula, except on the
Malabar coast. It is of rare occurrence in Ceylon. It is found in
Baluchistan and Afghanistan, Assam, Manipur, and the Irrawaddy
valley, but not in Tenasserim nor the Malay countries, though it
is met with in China and Japan.
Habits, #c. In India this species is very common on all rivers of
any size, generally sitting in pairs on the sand by the riverside
during the day. It feeds partly on grass or crops like geese,
parti}' on mollusca and Crustacea ; it swims well, but is not often
seen on the water. The story that is told of its eating carrion is
very improbable, but it may visit carcases in order to feed on
insects. Occasionally the pairs collect into flocks, but this is
exceptional. Birds may often be seen about tanks or marshes,
but rivers are their regular haunt, by day or night, and it is diffi-
cult, so long as one is on an Indian river, *to get out of sight of
these birds or out of hearing of their peculiar clanging bisyllabie
call or alarm cry, which is uttered frequently on the slightest
excuse. The Euddy Sheldrake in Tibet breeds generally in May
and June at elevations of 12,000 to 16,000 feet, and makes a nest
in a hole, usually in a bank or cliff. The eggs are white, and
measure about 2'5 by 1'8. The young when hatched appear to be
carried to the water by their parents.
430 ANATIDJE.
No sanctity attaches to this Sheldrake in India, though there
are many traditions relating to it, but in Burma it is regarded as
an emblematic bird, and deserving of especial honour, and it is
.said to be sacred in Mongolia. It is an inferior duck for the
table.
Genus DENDROCYCNA, Swainson, 1837.
Bill of moderate size, raised at the base, nearly of the same
breadth throughout ; nail prominent, Suddenly bent down ; nostrils
about one- third the distance from base to tip ; wings broad and
rounded : tail short, rounded, of 16 feathers ; tarsus long and
stout, reticulated ; feet large.
Nine species, distributed throughout the tropical regions of the
world, are described in Salvadori's British Museum Catalogue ; of
these two are found in India. They are not truly migratory.
Key to the Species.
<i. Upper tail-coverts chestnut ; wing about 7*5 .... D. javanica, p. 430.
b. Upper tail-coverts whitish ; wing about 9 D.fulva, p. 432.
1589. Dendrocycna javanica. The Whistling Teal.
Anas javanica, Horsfeld, Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 199 (1821).
Anas arcuata, pt., Horsf. Zool. Res. Java, text of pi. 65 (1824).
Mareca awsuree, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 168.
Dendrocygna arcuata, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 301 ; id. Ibis, 1865, p. 39 ;
1867, p. 175 ; Stoliczka, J.A.S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 255 ; Hume, N. fy E.
p. 639 ; id. 8. F. i, p. 260 ; ii, p. 315 ; A. Anderson, Ibis, 1874,
p. 222 ; Wardl. Rams. Ibis, 1877, p. 472 ; Oates, S. F. v, p. 169 ;
nee Cuv.
Dendrocygna awsuree, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 789; Godw.-Aust.
J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 275.
Dendrocygna javanica, Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 486 ; Dav. $ Wend.
S. F. vii, p. 92 ; Ball, ibid. p. 232 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 311 ; Hume, Cat.
no. 952; Doiff, S. F. viii, p. 372; Leaae, Birds Ceyl. p. 1069;
Hume 8f Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 109, pi. ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 92 ;
Butler, ibid. p. 436 ; Parker, ibid. p. 486; id. Ibis, 1883, p. 194 ; 1886,
p. 188 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 80 ; Hume, ibid. p. 417 ; Oates, B. B. ii,
p. 273 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 398 ; Taylor, S. F. x, pp. 528, 531 ;
Hume, S. F. xi, p. 341 ; Barnes, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. i, p. 61 ;
vi, p. 288 ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 284.
Dendrocycna javanica, Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) iv,
p. 616 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 156.
Silhi, Silhdhi, H. ; Saral, Shareil, Beng. ; Hansrali, Uriya ; Horali,
Assam; Tingi, Manipur; Yerra Chillula, Tel. ; Yerrundi, Mai.; Chemba
Tar a, Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Saaru, Tatta Saaru, Cing. ; Si-sa-li, Burin.
Coloration. Eorehead, crown, and nape brown, darker behind,
fulvous or rufescent in front ; sides of head (including supercilia)
and the upper neck very light brown, almost \vhite on the chin
and throat, hind neck darker ; back and scapulars dark brown,
with broad pale transverse rufous tips to the feathers ; lower back
DENDKOCTCNA. 431
and rump blackish; smaller and median wing-coverts chestnut,
•greater coverts and quills black ; upper tail-coverts chestnut ;
tail dark brown; lower parts light ferruginous, becoming pale
yellowish brown on the upper breast, and whitish on the vent and
lower tail-coverts ; flanks light brown, the long feathers with broad
whitish shaft-stripes.
Younger birds have the under parts throughout very light brown.
Bill, legs, and feet brownish blue, the nail of the bill nearly
black ; iris brown ; eyelids bright yellow (Oates).
Length 17 ; tail 2 ; wing 7'5 : tarsus T75 ; bill from gape 1'9.
Fig. 109.— Head of D.javanica. ^.
Distribution. A resident almost throughout India, Ceylon, and
Burma in suitable localities ; also in the Andaman and Mcobar
Islands, Malay Peninsula, Siam, Cochin, Southern China, Sumatra,
Borneo, and Java. This Duck is very rare or wanting in the Hima-
layas and the Panjab ; it is of course absent from the desert region,
and in many parts of the country it is only found in the rains
generally, because the ponds and marshes are dry at other times.
It does, however, move about considerably at different seasons.
Habits, fyc. This common and familiar bird is chiefly found
about well wooded and weedy ponds and marshes. It is not
generally seen on rivers, nor on large open pieces of water, and
it delights in trees, on which it often perches and roosts, and
mostly makes its nest. It keeps in flocks, sometimes large, during
the winter and spring, and these flocks are well known to duck-
shooters in India, for they fly round and round rather slowly,
uttering their peculiar whistling call, long after all other ducks
and teal, except the Cotton Teal, have deserted the water.
The Whistling Teal breeds in most parts of India and Burma in
.July and August : it either makes a nest of sticks in a tree, occupies
an old nest of a crow, heron, or cormorant, or builds in grass or
thorny scrub near the water's edge. In Ceylon the breeding-
season varies, being from June to August in the south, February
to April in the north-west of the island. From 8 to 14 white
eggs (usually 10 to 12) are laid, measuring on an average 1-86 by
1-49. The young are carried down to the water in the claws (or,
according to some observers, on the backs) of the old birds. The
flesh of this Teal is very poor eating. Whistling Teal are good
swimmers and divers, and Mr. Finn has observed them diving for
food regularly like Pochards.
432
1590. Dendrocycna fulva. Tlie Large Whistling Teal.
Anas fulva. Gmel Syst. Nat. i, p. 530 (1788).
Dendrocygna major, Jerdon, Madr. Jour. L. S. xii, p. 218 (1840) ; id,
III Ind. Orn, pi. 23 ; Bh/th, Cat. p. 301 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 790 ;
Sclater, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 300; 1866, p. 148: Blyth, Ibis, 1865,
p. 39; 1867, p. 175; Hume, N. $ E. p. 640; James, S. F. i,
p. 421 ; Hume 8>- Oates, S. F. iii, p. 193 ; Fab-bank, S. F. iv,
p. 264 ; Sutler, S. F. v, p. 328.
Dendrocygna fulva, Blyth, Ibis, 1870, p. 176 ; Sclat. fy Salv.
P. Z. S. 1876, p. 372 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi, p. 488 ; Dav. $
Wend. S. F. vii, p. 92 ; Hume, ibi$. p. 492 : id. Cat. no. 953 ; Hume
8? Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 119, pi. ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 437;
Parker, ibid. p. 487 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 80 ; Eden, ibid. p. 164: Taylor,,
ibid. pp. 528, 531 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 274 ; Barne*, Birds Bom.
p. 399 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Sloe, vi, p. 289 ; Hume, S. F. xi,
p. 342 ; Oates in Hume's N. & E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 286.
Dendrocycna fulva, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1880, p. 509 ; Salvation, Cat.
B. M. xxvii, p. 149.
Coloration. Forehead and crown brownish ferruginous, passing
on the nape into a black stripe that extends down the hind neck,
and on the sides into the dull light brown with pale shaft-stripes
of the rest of the head and upper neck ; short feathers in front
and at sides of middle neck white with dark brown edges and bases ;
back, scapulars, rump, and tail black, the feathers of the upper
back and scapulars with broad pale transverse rufous ends ; median
and some of the smaller wing-coverts dark chestnut, remainder of
the wings above and below black ; lower neck and uuderparts
rufous ochraceous, passing into cinnamon, especially on the flanks,
where the longer feathers are whitish with dark brown lateral
edges ; vent and upper and lower tail-coverts whitish.
Bill plumbeous ; irides brown ; orbits pale livid ; legs and feet
dark plumbeous (Jerdon).
Length 20 ; tail 2 ; wing 9 ; tarsus 2'25 ; bill from gape 2*4.
The females are rather smaller.
Distribution. The larger "Whistling Teal is not a common bird
anywhere, but may be found at times throughout India south of
the Himalayas. It has been observed in Ceylon by Parker, and
by Oates and Wardlaw Earn say in Pegu and Toungoo. It is,
however, very rare in the Madras Presidency and the Deccan, and
is perhaps commonest in Lower Bengal. To the westward it is
found in Sind. This species has not been recorded elsewhere in
Asia, but it has a remarkable range, being found in Africa south
of the Sahara, Madagascar, and Central and South America.
Habits, 6fc. Similar to those of D. javanica, except that the flight
is stronger and more rapid ; the present species occurs in small
flocks and often perches on trees. Very little is known of the
nidification, which is believed to be the same as that of the smaller
species. Eggs measure about 2*18 by 1*7. As an article of food
this "Whistling Teal is said to be better than its smaller relative.
NETTOPUS. 433
Genus NETTOP.US, Brandt, 1836.
This well-marked genus, containing four species — one African,
one Indian, and two Australian— is distinguished by its small size
and short goose-like beak. The bill is very high at the base and
narrows gradually in front ; the nostrils are small, near the base,
and oval ; wings pointed ; tail short, rounded, of 12 feathers.
Feet placed far back ; hind toe with a narrow, but distinct lobe.
The sexes differ but little in winter, but in the breeding-season
the male assumes a somewhat brighter and more distinctive garb.
Although the bill is shaped somewhat like that of a goose, " Cotton
Teal," as they are called in India, differ widely from geese in
structure and habits. Geese feed almost entirely on land, walk
well, are rarely seen swimming, and seldom dive, whilst members
of the genus Nettopus are very poor walkers (though by no means,
as stated by some writers, unable to walk) and are always found
on the water, whether feeding, resting, or sleeping, except when
they perch on trees, and they dive freely. Neither in flight,
voice, structure of the trachea, nidification, nor plumage is there
any resemblance between Anser and Nettopus.
Fig. 110. — Head of N. coromandelianus. ^.
1591. Nettopus coromandelianus. The Cotton Teal.
Anas coromandeliana, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 522 (1788).
Anas girra, Gray in Hardw. III. Ind. Zool. i, pi. 68 (1830-32).
Nettapus coromandelianus, Blyth, Cat. p. 302 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 786 ;:
Blyth, Ibis, 1867, pp. 175, 310 ; Hayes Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 419^
Walden, Ibis, 1874, p. 149 ; A. Anderson, ibid. p. 222 ; Butler, S. F.
iv, p. 27 ; Hume, ibid. p. 294 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 486 ; Ball,
S. F. vii, p. 231 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 311 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1066 ;
Vidal, 8. F. ix, p. 92 ; Simson, Ibis, 1882, p. 86 ; Kelham, ibid.
p. 200 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 272 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 397 ;
Oates in Hume'sN. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 280; F. Finn, P. A. S. B.
1897, p. 81 ; Baker, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soe. xi, p. 191.
Nettapus coromandelicus, Hume, S. F. ii, p. 315.
Nettopus coromandelianus, Hume, 8. F. vii, p. 491 ; id. Cat. no. 951 j
Butler, S. F. ix, p. 436 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. iii. p. 101, pi. ;
Reid, S. F. x, p. 79 ; Hume, ibid. p. 417 ; Taylor, ibid. p. 531 ;
Hume 8f Cripps, 8. F. xi, p. 341 ; Barnes, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc.
vi, p. 287 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 68.
The White-bodied Goose-Teal, Jerdon. Girri, Girria, Girja, H. ;
Gur-gurra, Etawah ; Ghangariel, Ghanganij Beng. : Bullia-hdns, Dacca,
Faridpur, Sylhet ; Dandana, Uriya ; Leniyet-perriget, Merom-derebet,
Kol. ; Ade, Adla, Ratnagiri ; Kalagat, Burmese. Most of these names
are imitations of the bird's cry.
Coloration. Male in summer. Forehead and middle of crown
extending to the nape dark brown ; remainder cf head, including
VOL. IY. 2 ¥
434 ANATID.E.
super cilia, all the neck and lower plumage white, except a black
collar, glossed with green behind, all round the lower neck ; upper
parts behind the neck dark brown, glossed with metallic green or
purple, especially on the mantle and wings ; primaries dark brown
on basal halves, then white with the tips black, secondaries like
mantle with white tips ; upper tail-coverts dark brown, with narrow
white bars and mottling ; sides of breast and flanks white, finely
vermiculated with brown ; wing-lining and under tail-coverts dark
chocolate-brown.
In winter the male loses its collar and resembles the female,
except that it retains the white on the quills and some of the
green gloss on the mantle and wings.
In females the crown and a line through the lores and eye on
each side are brown; narro \vforehead and supercilia, sides of head
below eye, neck, and lower parts white, more or less sullied and,
on the head and neck, speckled with brown marks that become
denned wavy lines on the breast and neck ; upper parts, wings,
and tail brown ; secondaries and inner primaries tipped white ;
upper tail-coverts white mixed with brown. Young birds resemble
females ; nestlings are clad in down of a blackish-brown tint with
white stripes and spots.
In breeding males the bill is black, iris bright red ; legs, toes,
and webs black, tarsus and toes at sides dusky yellow ; in winter
the upper mandible is brownish and the lower yellowish : in
females the bill is brown above, yellowish below ; iris brown ; legs
and toes greenish yellow (Oates).
Length 13; tail 2*5 ; wing 6-5 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from gape !•!.
Females are a little smaller.
Distribution. Throughout the greater part of India, Ceylon, and
Burma, also the Andaman s, Malay Peninsula, and the Malay
countries to China, the Philippines, Borneo, Java, and Celebes.
In India this Teal is rare in Malabar, the Bombay Presidency, and
Kattywar, and wanting in the desert parts'of Eajputana, in Sind,
and the Western Punjab. It is especially common in Lower
Bengal, and is brought to the Calcutta market, according to Hume,
in larger numbers than all the other Ducks together. It is common
in Pegu and Northern Ceylon, rare in Tenasserim, and generally
most abundant in well-wooded country with numerous small ponds
and marshes, not in forest tracts.
Habits, fyc. "This pretty little Groslet," as Jerdon says. " frequents
weedy and grassy tanks in moderate or rather large flocks, flies with
great rapidity, uttering a peculiar cackling call, and is, when un-
disturbed, very familiar and unwary. It breeds generally in old
trees, often at some distance from water, occasionally in ruined
houses, temples, old chimneys, and the like, laying eight or ten
small white eggs." It would be difficult to give a better account
in the same space, though it is a mistake to call this duck a goslet.
Cotton Teal are common in small weedy ponds around villages ; they
dive well, but walk badly ; their call somewhat resembles the words
*' Fix bayonets/'' and they are sometimes known by that name. The
eggs arelaid in July and August, and measure about 17 by 1-29.
ANAS. 435
Genus ANAS, Linn., 1766.
Bill of moderate length, but little higher at the base, flat
anteriorly, the sides parallel or nearly so ; nostril about a quarter
of the distance from the forehead to the end of the bill ; wings
long and pointed, a metallic speculum formed by the outer webs
of the secondary quills ; tail rather pointed, of 18 or 20 feathers ;
tarsus shielded in front, hind toe with a small narrow lobe.
The species of this genus and its near allies, such as the Gad-
wall and the Teals, have a habit of feeding on the bottom in shallow
water, with the hinder half of their bodies sticking up vertically
above the water. None of the Pochards do this.
To this cosmopolitan genus 17 species are referred by Salvadori ;
only two are Indian, and these two differ in characters that are
often regarded as generic.
Key to the Species.
a. Sexes different ; speculum purple-blue . . A. boscas, p. 435.
b. Sexes alike ; speculum green A. pO3cilorhynchus, p. 436.
1592. Anas boscas. The Mallard.
Anas boschas, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 205 (1766) ; Theobald, J. A. S. B.
xxiii, p. 602 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 303 ; Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 510 ;
1859, p. 190 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 798 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 176 ;
Hume, N. $ E. p. 642 ; id. S. F. i, p. 261 ; vii, pp. 67, 492 ; id.
Cat. no. 958; Sutler t S. F. ix, p. 437; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 402.
Anas boscas, Wharton, Ibis, 1879, p. 453 ; id. S. F. viii, p. 499 ;
Hume fy Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 151, pi. ; Biddidph, Ibis, 1881, p. 99 ;
Scully, ibid. p. 592 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 81 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 344 ;
Oates in Hume's N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 288; Salvadori, Cat. B. M.
xxvii, p. 189.
Nilsir, Nir-rugi, H. ; Lily S > Lilgahi $ , Nepal.
Coloration. Male after autumnal moult. Head and upper neck
glossy emerald-green ; a white ring, slightly interrupted behind,
round the lower neck, followed by a broad gorget of deep chestnut,
covering most of the breast ; upper back and scapulars finely
vermiculated white and brown, some outer scapulars tinged with
chestnut ; middle of back dark brown, lower back black ; rump,
upper tail-coverts, and the four middle tail-feathers the same,
glossed with purple or green, and the four middle rectrices curled
upwards at the ends ; rest of tail-feathers white, greyish brown
near the shafts ; quills dark brown, the secondaries white-tipped,
their outer webs anteriorly metallic purple, with a subterminal black
band ; tertiaries greyish brown, tinged on outer webs with chest-
nut ; wing-coverts brown, greater secondary coverts with a white
subterminal band and black tips ; wing-lining white ; abdomen
and flanks white, finely vermiculated with brown ; lower tail-coverts
velvety black.
436 ANATID^E.
After the breeding season the drake moults in June into a
plumage like that of the female : when the body-moult is complete,
the bird loses its quills and is for a time unable to fly. The
ordinary male plumage is reassumed by a second moult in
September.
Female. Brown above, the feathers edged with buff; scapulars
and feathers of upper back with concentric buff bands ; sides of
head paler than crown, chin and throat brownish buff, unspotted ;
wing as in male ; underparts buff, with brown centres to feathers,
upper breast browner; tail-featheie brown, with whitish-buff
edges.
Nail of bill black, remainder of upper mandible generally dull
olive, yellower at base ; irides brown ; legs and feet orange-red.
Sometimes the bill in females is black on the culmen, elsewhere
orange-yellow (Hume). Tail-feathers 20 in the male, 18 in the
female.
Length of males 24 ; tail 3'5 ; wing 11 ; tarsus 1-8 ; bill from
gape 2-6. Eemales are smaller : wing 10; tail 3'3 ; tarsus 1-6.
Distribution. Resident throughout the temperate regions of the
northern hemisphere, and breeding in Europe, Asia, and America,
some birds migrating to the southward in winter. The Mallard
breeds in the Himalayas, and especially in Kashmir, where it is
resident, and is, in winter, common in the Western Punjab and
Sind, not uncommon in the North-west Provinces, Oudh, and
Behar, and of occasional occurrence in Guzerat, the Central Indian
Agency, the Deccan, Bengal, and Northern Burma, but unknown
in Southern India, Ceylon, Pegu, and Tenasserim.
Habits, <$fc. This, the common wild duck of Western Europe,
is generally found in flocks, small or large ; it haunts rivers, brooks,
lakes, marshes, or sea-coasts, and lives chiefly on vegetable food,
though it occasionally feeds on Crustacea, mollusca, frogs, or fish.
In the Punjab it is common on the banks of rivers. It is a swift
flyer, a fair walker, and an excellent swimmer and diver. It
breeds in Kashmir in May and the first half of June, and lays six
to twelve greenish-white eggs, measuring on an average 2'23 by
1-6, in a nest of dried grass or flag, lined with a little down. The
Mallard is one of the best of all ducks for eating, and is the
original source from which tame ducks are derived.
1593. Anas pcecilorhyncha. The Spotted-billed Duck.
Ind. Zool p. 23, t. xiii, fig. 1
Zool. i, pi. 67 ; Blyth, Cat.
Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 165 ;
"Hume fy Dav.
p. 699 ; Dav.
ibid. p. 492;
fy Marsh. GameB. iii,p. 165, pi. ; Butler, S. F. ix/p. 437; Legge,
Birds Ceyl. p. 1073 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 81 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 325 ;.
Davison, ibid. p. 418 : C. J. W. Taylor, ibid. p. 466 ; J. H. Taylor,
ibid. pp. 528, 531 ; bates, B. B. ii, p. 282 ; Barnes, Birds Bom
ANAS. 437
p. 403 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Sac*]., p. 61 ; vi, p. 290 ; Salvadori,
Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) iv, p. 616 j Hume, 8. F. xi, p. 344 ;
Oates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 289 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M.
xxvii, p. 209.
Anas pcekilorhyncha, Gtnel. Syst. Nat. i, 2, p. 535 (1788) ; Hume,
N. $ E. p. 643 ; id. S. F. i, p. 261 ; Adam, ibid. p. 402 ; Butler fy
Hume, S. F. iv, p. 29.
Garm-pai, JBata, Guyral, H. ; Hunjur, Sind ; Naddun, Nepal Terai ;
Kara, Manipur ; Vum-be, Burmese.
Fig. 111.— Bill of A. pcecilortyncha. £.
Coloration. Forehead aud crown, and a broad band on each side,
including lores and eye, dark brown with pale streaks ; superciliary
bands, sides of head, and all the neck whitish, with minute brown
streaks, passing on the lower neck into larger brown spots ; chin
and throat immaculate ; upper back and scapulars brown, with
pale edges to the feathers ; lower back, rump, upper and under
tail-coverts, and tail black, a slight gloss of metallic green on the
rump and upper tail-coverts ; quills dark brown, outer webs of
secondaries metallic green, changing to purple, with a sub terminal
black band and narrow white tip ; outer webs of tertiaries white ;
greater coverts with a broad subterminal white band and black
tip ; smaller and median coverts brown, pale towards edge of
wing ; wing-lining white ; breast and abdomen white or fulvous
white, with brown centres to feathers forming spots; lower abdomen
dark brown. Sexes alike.
Bill black, base of upper mandible orange, tip of both mandibles
(except the nail, which is generally black in part) yellow to orange ;
irides brown ; legs and feet orange to vermilion, the latter in old
males. Rectrices 18 in females, and apparently 20 in males*.
Length about 24; tail 4-1; wing 11; tarsus 1-9; bill from
gape 2-5. Females are rather less in size : wing 10.
* I can find but one male specimen with the tail perfect. This skin is
dated August 1st, and shows no sign of moulting. It has never been ascer-
tained whether the drake of this species moults after breeding. It is evidently
advantageous for drakes that wear a gaudy plumage in the nuptial season to
438 ANATIDJE.
Distribution. Resident throughout India south of the Himalayas,
and in Assam, Manipur, the Upper Irrawaddy Valley above Man-
dalay, and the Shan States, but not known to occur in Pegu or
Tenasserim. This Duck is found in Ceylon, but is not common.
It has not been met with outside the Indian Empire.
Habits, <$fc. The Spotted-billed Duck, sometimes called the G-rey
Duck, is a freshwater bird, generally met with on tanks and
swamps in small parties of from six to a dozen in the winter, and
in pairs in the breeding-season. The food, flight, and voice differ
but little from those of the Mallard, And A. pcecilorTiynclia*Ls, in the
cold season, an excellent bird for the table. The breeding-season
varies with locality, but in Northern India generally it is from
July to September. The nest, of grass or rushes, is usually in
low dense cover near water, occasionally on a low branch of a tree ;
the eggs are greyish white, 6 to 12 in number, and measure 2-15
by 1-70.
G-enus EUNETTA, Bonap., 1856.
The generic characters are confined to the male, and are the
presence of a bushy nuchal crest, elongate sickle-shaped tertiaries,
and long upper and under tail-coverts equalling or exceeding the
tail-feathers in length. Fourteen rectrices.
Sexes distinct. Females do not differ in structure from those of
Nettium. A single species.
1594. Eunetta falcata. The Crested or Falcated Teal.
Anas falcata, Georgi, Reise Russ. Reichs, i, p. 167 (1775) ; McLeod,
S. F. x, p. 168,
Querquedula falcata, G. R. Gray, Gen. E. iii, p. 616 ; Hume, S. F.
iv, p. 225 ; vii, p. 494 ; viii, p. 411 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped.,
Aves, p. 701 ; Hume, Cat. no. 966 bis ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B.
iii, p. 231, pi. j Reid, S. F. x, p. 84.
Eunetta falcata, Bonap. C. R. xliii, p. 650 ; Scdvadori, Cat. B. M.
xxvii, p. 218.
Kola Sinkhur, H. (Oudh, teste Eeid).
Coloration. Male. A white spot on the forehead, crown chestnut;
a band round the nape from eye to eye, including the mane-like
crest-feathers, metallic green ; lores and cheeks coppery bronze ;
chin, throat, and fore neck white, followed by a dark green
collar, and below that again a white ring round the lower neck ;
feathers of upper back concentrically marked with grey and white
bars which pass on the scapulars into fine vermiculation ; a jet-
exchange the same for the more sober livery of the female when assisting her
to take charge of the young; but in the case of the present species, and of
others in which the sexes are similarly attired throughout the year, there is no
reason for the double moult. It is much to be desired that this question should
be cleared up by the preservation of dated skins of both sexes collected at
intervals of about a month (in the breeding-season and immediately after,
about a fortnight) throughout the year.
EUNETTA. 439*
black patch formed by the tips of some of the outer scapulars ;
longer scapulars with white edges ; lower back and rump brown,.
shorter upper tail-coverts vermiculated, grey and white, longer
coverts velvety black, glossed with green ; tail-feathers brown ;
primaries greyish brown, outer webs of secondaries black glossed
with green, especially on the inner feathers ; the falcate tertiaries
black, slightly glossed with green, the shafts white, and the outer
edge grey, a light brown terminal shaft-stripe ; wing-coverts greyr
passing into white on the larger coverts ; breast and abdomen
white, the breast with broad crescentic dark brown bands that
break up on the abdomen and pass on the sides and flanks into
narrow vermiculate bars ; lower tail-coverts black in the middle,
with a large buff patch on each side, separated from a white spot
on the lower flanks by black. After the breeding-season the male
moults into a plumage much like that of the female.
Fig. 1 12.— Head of E. falcata.
Female. Head and neck brown streaked with whitish, much,
paler beneath ; back and scapulars brown, with concentric pale
rufous bands ; lower back and rump blackish : upper tail-coverts
brown, with concentric pale bands ; tail-feathers brown ; quills
brown ; speculum black, slightly glossed with green ; wing-coverts
greyish brown, with pale edges, especially the greater coverts;
upper breast and sides dull rufous, with concentric brown bars ;
abdomen whitish, with a few bars or spots ; under tail-coverts
rufescent, with brown marks.
Bill black in the male, greenish black in the female; irides
brown ; legs and feet drab with an olive tinge (Hume).
Length of male 20; tail 3; wing 10; tarsus 1-5 ; bill from
gape 2*1. Females are smaller : wing 9.
The female of this species may be distinguished from other forms-
by its speculum.
Distribution. A common migratory bird of Eastern Asia, rarely
met with to the westward and in Europe, but an occasional winter
visitor to Northern India, individuals having been recorded from
Bahawalpur, Karnal, Ferozepore, Delhi, Lucknow (several speci-
mens), Purneah, probably the Calcutta bazaar, and Upper Burma,
near Bhamo.
440
Genus CHAULELASMUS, Gray apud Bonap., 1838.
This is a genus generally admitted, but distinguished from Anas
by characters of secondary importance. The bill is similar in shape,
though smaller, and the lamellae are more developed. The speculum
is black and white. Tail of 16 feathers.
One species with a wide range occurs in India. The only other
species referred to the genus is very little known.
-
1595. Chaulelasmus streperus. The Gadwall.
Anas strepera, Linn. Si/st. Nat. i, p. 200 (1766) ; Bluth, Birds
Burm. p. 166; Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 264; Scully, Ibis, 1881,
p. 592.
Chauliodus strepera, Swains. Jour. Roy. Inst. ii, p. 19 (1831) ;
Jerdon, Madr. Jour. L. S. xii, p. 220.
Chaulelasmus streperus, Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. fy N.Amer. p. 56
(1838) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 304 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 802 ; Godw.-Aust.
J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 275 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2,
p. 255 : Hume $ Henders. Lah. to Yark. p. 296 ; Hume, S. F. i,
p. 261 ; Adam, ibid. p. 402 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 29 ; Davids, fy
Wend. S. F. vii, p. 92 ; Ball, ibid. p. 232 ; Hume, ibid. p. 493 ;
id. Cat. 110. 961 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 362 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game
B.iii, p. 181, pi. ; Vidal,S.F. ix, p. 92; Butler, ibid. p. 438;
Reid, S. F. x, p. 82 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 325 ; Hume, ibid. p. 418 ;
Taylor, ibid. p. 531 ; Oates, B. B. p. 283 ; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 405 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 345 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 179 j
Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 221.
Mila, Bhuar, Beykhur, H. ; Peing-hdns, Beng. ; Mail, Nepal ; Burd,
Sind.
Fig. 113. — Bill of C. streperus. £.
Coloration. Male. Head and neck greyish white, speckled with
brown, crown chiefly brown ; a slight dark band running back from
each eye ; lower neck and upper back dark brown, with concentric
whitish bars ; scapulars brown, most of them vermiculated with
white or fulvous, the longest not vermiculated, pale-edged ; lower
back brown, sometimes vermiculated, passing into black on the
rump and upper tail-coverts ; tail-feathers and quills greyish brown,
outer webs of middle secondaries black, of last two or three white,
NETTIUM. 441
forming a speculum ; smaller wing-coverts brown, median chestnut,
greater velvety black ; wing-lining and lower parts white, the upper
breast with crescentic brown bars, sides and flanks with narrow-
wavy brown bars ; lower abdomen with dusky markings ; under
tail-coverts black. After the breeding-season the drake assumes
female plumage.
Female. Head and neck streaked brown and white, brown pre-
dominating above, white beneath ; upper parts dark brown, with
rufous-buff edges to feathers ; rump blacker ; wings as in the
male, except that the chestnut is wanting or confined to a few of
the median wing-coverts ; breast pale rufous, spotted with brown ;
abdomen white. In young birds the lower parts are spotted
throughout.
Bill in male black or brownish, reddish or yellow on the
lower mandible; in female brownish orange, blackish on the
tip and culm en ; irides brown ; legs yellowish brown to dull
orange.
Length of male 20 ; tail 3-4 ; wing 10 -5 ; tarsus 1*5 ; bill from
gape 2-1. Females are smaller : wing 9'5.
Distribution. Throughout the greater part of the northern hemi-
sphere, breeding in the temperate zone and migrating in winter
to the southward. The Gadwall is common from October to
March throughout Northern India, from the Punjab and Sind to
Assam, Manipur,and in Upper Burma; but it has not been observed
in Pegu or Tenasserim, nor in the Peninsula of India south of
Mysore, nor in Ceylon.
Habits, fyc. Gadwalls are common Ducks in Northern India,
and may be found in small or large flocks wherever there are
rivers, tanks, or marshes, but they do not in general resort to the
sea-coast. Their call and food are very similar to those of the
Mallard, and their flight is rather more rapid. They are not known
to breed within our limits. As a rule they are good to eat.
Genus NETTIUM, Kaup, 1829.
This genus, containing the Common Teal and some allied species,
differs from Anas in having a smaller number of tail-feathers,
14 or 16 as a rule, in the narrower bill, and in the smaller size of
the birds. The differences from Chauldasmus and Mareca are
also slight.
Key to the Species.
a. Sexes different in plumage.
a' . Secondaries bronze-green near coverts, black
towards ends N. formosum, p. 442.
b'. Outer secondaries black, inner green N. crecca, p. 443.
b. Sexes alike.
c. Outer web of 1st secondary white > of 7th-9th
bronze, of others black " N. albigulare, p. 444.
442 ANATID.E.
1596. Nettium formosum. The Baikal Teal or Clucking Teal.
Anas formosa, Georyi, Reise Russ. Reich, p. 168 (1775).
Anas glocitans. Pallas, Kon. Svensk. Vet.-Ak. Handl. xl, p. 26, pi. i
(1779).
Querquedula glocitans, Blyth, Cat. p. 305 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 808 ;
Hume, S. F. viii, p. 412.
Querquedula formosa, Hume, S. F. vii, p. 494 ; viii, p. 494 ; id. Cat.
no. 966 ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 225, pi. ; Barnes, Birds-
Bom. p. 411.
Nettion formosum, Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 240.
Coloration. Male. Forehead and crown, a band from beneath
the eye to the throat, chin and throat black, the crown-feathers
often with brown tips ; a crescentic green band from eye to eye
round the nape, widening behind ; three black streaks from behind
it, one on the hind neck and one on each side, the latter converging
but not meeting below ; sides of head and upper neck buff, the
two areas meeting behind the throat across the fore neck, but
each divided by the black line from the eye ; narrow borders to
all black areas on head and neck white ; back, shorter scapulars,
sides of breast, and flanks very finely vermiculated with dark
grey and white; longer scapulars lanceolate, the outer webs rufous
outside, black inside, inner webs silky brownish white; inter-
scapulars (sometimes the middle of the upper back also) brown,
the feathers pale-edged; lower back and rump greyer; upper
tail-coverts brown, with whitish edges inside ; tail-feathers and
quills dark brown, speculum formed by outer webs of secondaries,
greenish bronze near the coverts, then black and with pure white
tips, tertiaries with some velvety black on the outer webs,
narrowly bordered by brownish buff; wing-coverts brown, the-
greater secondary coverts with rufous tips ; breast pale brownish
vinous with small round black spots ; on each side of the breast is
a transverse white band just under the bend of the wing; abdomen
white ; under tail-coverts black, with pale reddish-brown outer
edges, the longest coverts whitish.
Female. Upper parts, wings, and tail brown, with paler edges to
the feathers, crown darkest ; speculum as in the male, but the
rufous and bronze-green bands duller ; a buff spot on each side of
the head in front of the lores, another under each eye ; sides of
head and neck buff' or pale rufous speckled with brown ; lower
parts white, except lower fore neck and upper breast, which are
light rufous brown with dark brown spots.
Bill dark bluish brown ; irides chestnut-brown ; feet light
greyish blue. Tail-feathers 14.
Length 15'5 ; tail 3*1 ; wing 8-25 ; tarsus 1*4 ; bill from gape
1*9. Female rather less.
The female may be distinguished from that of N. crecca by its
speculum and by the whitish loral spot.
Distribution. Chiefly Eastern Siberia, China, and Japan, breeding
in the north of the area ; an occasional straggler is found in
Western Asia or in Europe. Only a few cases of this bird's
NET HUM.
occurrence in India have been recorded. A male was obtained in
the Calcutta bazaar by Blyth in 1844, another by Mr. Chill near
Delhi in November 1879, a third by Mr. E. James in Sind, and a
fourth, probably of this species, by Col. McMaster in the Northern
Circars. The bird is also said to have been seen, or its peculiar
loud clucking note heard, in other places, but specimens have not
been kept for comparison.
1597. Nettium crecca. The Common Teal.
Anas crecca, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 204 ; Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 166
Legge, Birds Ccyl. p. 1083 ; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 593.
Querquedula crecca, Blyth, Cat. p. 305 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 806 ;
Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 255 ; Hume fy Henders. Lah.
to York. p. 297 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 262 ; Adam, ibid. p. 402 ;
Butler, S. F, iv, p. 30 ; v, p. 234 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 489 ;
Anders. Yunnan Exped., Axes, p. 700 ; Davids, fy Wend. S. F. vii,
p. 93 ; Ball, ibid. p. 232 ; Hume, ibid. p. 494 ; id. Cat. no. 964 ;
Scully'S. F. viii, p. 363 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 205, pi. ;
Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 100 j Swinhoe, Ibis, 1882, p. 124 ; Tidal,
S. F. ix, p. 93 ; Butler, ibid. p. 438 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 83 ; Damson,
ibid. p. 418 ; G J. W. Taylor, ibid. p. 467 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 285 ;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 409 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 346.
Nettion crecca, Kaup, Natilrl. Syst. p. 95 (1829) ; Sakadori, Cat.
B. M. xxvii, p. 243.
Chota Muryhdbi, Kerra, Lohya Kerra, Putari, Souchuruka, H. ;
Naroib, Tulsiabigri, Beng. ; Baigilayairi, Nepal ; Kardo, Sind ; Killowai,
Tarn. ; Sorlai-haki, Can.
Fig. 114.— Head of N. crecca.
Coloration. Male. Head and upper neck chestnut : a broad
metallic-green band on each side running back from the eye, a
buff line from the side of the chin passing in front of the lores
and thence back to the eye, where it divides, and one branch runs
above the green band, the other below ; chin and a narrow band
in front of the loral buff line black or blackish brown ; lower neck
all round, upper back, inner scapulars, and sides of the body
narrowly barred with black and white; outer scapulars buff,
broadly and diagonally edged on the outer web with black; lower
back and rump brown, frequently with traces of barring ; upper
tail-coverts black with fulvous edges ; tail and wing-feathers
brown, the outer secondaries velvety black with white tips, inner
secondaries bright emerald-green on outer webs, forming aspeculum;
first tertiary black, externally narrowly edged with buff; greater
444 ANATID^E.
secondary coverts buffy white to pale cinnamon, other coverts
brown ; breast white, more or less sullied, spotted with round
black spots ; abdomen white ; under tail-coverts black in the middle,
buff at the sides, the longer white-edged.
As with other true Ducks, a plumage resembling that of the
female is assumed after breeding, about June, and the full male
garb is only regained in October. The buff and black lanceolate
scapulars are generally wanting in winter and appear in January
or February.
Female. Upper parts, wings, an4 tail dark brown, with pale
edges to the feathers ; wing-speculum as in the male, but the
larger secondary coverts are white or buffy white ; lower parts
white or whitish, sides and lower surface of head and neck speckled
and marked with brown ; breast with larger spots.
Bill nearly black ; irides brown ; legs and feet brownish grejr.
Length of male 15 ; tail 2-7 ; wing 7*5 ; tarsus 1*2 ; bill from
gape 1*7. Females are rather smaller : wing 7. Tail-feathers
16, occasionally 18.
Distribution. Europe, North Africa, and Asia. This Teal breeds
in the north temperate zone or in tracts with the same temperature
and comes south in winter. It is probably found throughout
India, Ceylon, and Burma in the cold season, but does not appear
to have been observed in Southern Tenasserim, the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands, nor in Malabar.
Habits, §c. The Teal is perhaps the most generally spread of ail
the migratory Ducks in India, and may be found from early in
October till April generally in small flocks, but often in pairs or
singly, in almost any rushy or weedy pond or stream or swamp,
as well as on larger pieces of water or on rivers. Large flocks are
.also met with, though less frequently. The usual note is a subdued
" quack," but Teal also have a whistle, used chiefly at night.
Their flight is very swift. They feed chiefly on plants and are
always good eating. In Upper India large numbers both of this
species and of Querquedula circia are caught in nets in the early
spring and kept in " Tealeries," small covered buildings with a good
supply of water, through the hot season, being fed on grain and
grass or lucerne. They become very fat and delicious. Teal are
not known to breed in India, nor even in the Himalayas.
1598. Nettium albigulare. The Andaman Teal.
? Querquedula andamanensis, Tytler, Ibis, 1867, p. 333 (descr. nulla).
Mareca punctata, apud Sail, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 290 ; id. S. P.
i, p. 88 ; nee Anas punctata, Cuv.
Mareca albogularis, Hume, S. F. i, p. 303 (1873).
Mareca gibberifrons, apud Walden, Ibis, 1873, p. 321 ; Hume, N. fy E.
p 644 ; id. S. F. ii, p. 316 ; A. L. Butler, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc.
xi, p. 332; nee S. Miill.
Querquedula gibberifrons, apud Hume, Cat. no. 966 ter ; Hume fy
Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 243, pi. ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed.
iii, p. 290.
Nettion albigulare, Salvador*, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 257, pi. ii, fig. 1.
MAEECA. 445
Coloration. Upper part of head very dark brown, almost uniform,
passing below the eye into the white of the lower cheeks, chin,
throat, and fore neck ; round the eye is a ring of white feathers,
much broader in some specimens than in others ; upper parts,
wings, and tail dark brown, the edges of the back-feathers and
scapulars slightly paler ; wing-speculum formed by the outer webs
of the secondaries ; these are velvety black, except two or three,
the 7th to the 9th, in the middle, which are greenish bronze, all
except the last two or three tipped with buffy white, the first
broadly bordered with the same ; greater secondary coverts also
white or buff ; lower parts from the neck dull brown with broad
pale edges to the feathers. Sexes alike, except that the bronze of
the speculum is more coppery in the female.
Bill greenish to plumbeous lilac, nail black ; irides reddish
brown ; legs and feet greenish blue to plumbeous (Hume).
Length of male 17 ; tail 2-9 ; wing 7'5 ; tarsus 1'4 ; bill from
gape 1*7. Females are slightly smaller : wing 7*25. Bectrices 16.
Distribution. This species has hitherto only been found on
South Andaman Island, where it is a permanent resident. It
has not been observed on the North Andaman, the Cocos, or
the Nicobar Islands. It was supposed by Lord Tweeddale to be
identical with N. yibberifrons of Java, Timor, Flores, and Celebes,
but Salvadori has separated the two, and I agree with him after
comparing them.
Habits, fyc. The Andaman Teal is not a common bird and is
generally found either in flocks or in pairs frequenting both salt
water and fresh, sometimes hiding amongst the mangroves in
creeks during the day and feeding on freshwater pools or in rice-
fields at night. The nest was found by Captain Wimberley in
August ; it was of grass and placed in a paddy-field. The egg is
cream-coloured, close-grained, and smooth, and measures 1'93
by 1-43.
Genus MARECA, Stephens, 1824.
Bill small, shorter than the head, depressed and slightly
narrowing towards the tip, nail large ; wings long, pointed ; tail
short, cuneate, of 14 feathers ; tarsus scutellate in front, hind toe
small with a narrow lobe.
Three species are referred to this genus, two being peculiar to
America.
1599. Mareca penelope. The Wigeon.
Anas penelops (err. typ.), Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 202 (1766).
Anas penelope, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 527 ; Blyth, Birds Bunn.
p. 166; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p, 593.
Mareca penelope, Blyth, Cat. p. 305 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 804;
Hume, 8. F. i, p. 261 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. 2, p. 176 ;
Butler fy Hume, S. F. iv, p. 30 ; Davids. # Wend. S. F. vii, p. 93 ;
Hume, ibid. p. 494; id. Cat. no. 963; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 363;
Hume $ Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 197, pi. ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 92;
446 ANATIDjE.
Butler, ibid. p. 438 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 82 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 326 ;
Oates, B. B. ii, p. 278 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 408 ; Hume, 8. F.
xi, p. 345 j Salvador*, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 227.
Peasan, Patdri, Pharia, CJtota-Ldlsir, H. ; Cheyun, Nepal; Parow,
Sind.
Fig. 115.— Bill of M. pcnelope. f .
Coloration. Male. Forehead and top of head buff, rest of head
.and neck dull chestnut, more or less spotted with greenish black ;
chin and sometimes throat chiefly or wholly dull black ; back,
scapulars, rump, sides of breast, and flanks vermiculated black and
white ; some of the longer tail-coverts black ; tail-feathers blackish
brown; quills brown, outer webs of secondaries green, forming a
speculum, broadly tipped black, outer web of last secondary
white, outer webs of tertiaries black edged with white, and the
shafts white ; primary and smaller coverts greyish brown, re-
maining coverts white ; greater secondary coverts black-tipped ;
lower neck and upper breast deep vinaceous red, lower breast and
abdomen white ; lower tail-coverts black.
After the breeding-season the male moults into a dress much
resembling the female, except that the head and neck are dull
chestnut spotted with black, without the buff patch; upper
breast and flanks dull ferruginous. Young birds have a similar
plumage.
Female. Head and neck above brown, with fulvous bars or edges
to the feathers, beneath rufescent speckled with brown, lower fore
neck almost entirely brown ; upper parts brown, the feathers with
whitish or pale rufous edges ; wings and tail brown, green
speculum generally wanting; secondaries tipped white and last
secondary with a white outer web ; the greater and some of the
median coverts tipped white ; breast and abdomen white ; under
tail-coverts brown, with white edges or bars.
Bill plumbeous blue, black at the tip ; irides red-brown ; legs
dusky lead (Jerdon). In females the bill and legs are duskier
than in the male.
Length 19 ; tail 4 ; wing 10 ; tarsus 1-5 ; bill from gape T7o.
Females are very little smaller than males.
Distribution. Europe, North Africa, and Asia, breeding in the
colder regions and wintering in the South. An irregular but
fairly common migrant to India and Burma, not recorded from
DAFILA. 447
Ceylon, nor south of Mysore in the Indian Peninsula, nor in
Tenasserim, but locally and in particular years abundant from
October till March in parts of Sind, the Punjab, Kashmir,
Rajputana, the North-west Provinces, Oudh, and the Deccan,
though rare in Bengal, and not recorded from Orissa, Assam,
Sylhet, or Cachar. Gates did not meet with it in Pegu, though
McMaster found it common there. Hume saw large numbers in
Manipur, and Yidal observed Wigeons numerous in some years
near Katnagiri.
Habits, §c. Wigeon may be found in large flocks or scattered
parties, or even singly, keeping much to the larger pieces of water,
and as common near the sea-coast as inland. They are seldom
seen on rivers or on tanks of moderate or small size ; they differ
from the true Ducks also in grazing on land like Creese, and in
having a peculiar whistling note ; they feed on grass, aquatic
plants, insects, Crustacea, and mollusca. In India Wigeon are, as
a rule, inferior in flavour to the best ducks, such as Mallard, Teal,
Pintail, and Pochard, and are often muddy, coarse, or fishy ; still
they are, at times, excellent. They are not known to breed
within Indian limits.
Genus DAFILA, Leach apud Stephens, 1824.
This genus may be recognized by its elongate form, long neck,
and lengthened and pointed middle tail-feathers. There are 16
rectrices as a rule (I have found one skin with 18). The bill is
rather narrower than in Anas and a little broader towards the
point than at the base ; the wings are long and pointed. It is a
well-marked type.
Three species are referred to this genus : of these two are
•confined to the Southern hemisphere ; the third is Indian.
1600. Dafilaacuta. The Pintail.
Anas acuta, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 202 (1766) ; Blyth, Birds Burm.
p. 166 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1076; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 593.
Dafila acuta, Blyth, Cat. p. 304 ; Adams, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 190 ;
Jerdon, B. I. 'iii. p. 803 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 255 ;
Hume, S. F. i, pp. 136, 261 ; Adam, S. F. ii, p. 338 ; Godw.-Aust.
J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. 2, p. 176 ; Hume, S. F. iii, p. 193 ; Butler,
S. F. iv, p. 29 ; v, p. 234 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 489 ; Ball,
S. F. vii, p. 232 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 312 ; Hume, ibid. p. 493 ; id.
Cat. no. 962 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 362 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B.
iii, p. 189, pi. ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 92 ; Butler, ibid. p. 438 : Reid,
S. F. x, p. 82 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 326 ; Hume, ibid. p. 418 ; Taylor,
ibid. p. 531 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 279 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 407 ;
Hume, S. F. xi, p. 345 ; Gates, Ibis, 1888, p. 73 ; St. John, Ibis,
1889, p. 179 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 270.
Sanh, Sink-par, H. (N. W.P.) ; Kokarali, Drighush, Sind ; Dig-hdns,
Sho-lon-cho, Beng. ; Digunch, Nepal ; Nanda, Nanja, Uriya ; Laitunga,
Manipur.
448 ANATID^E.
Coloration. Male. Head and upper fore neck umber-brown,,
with a purple gloss on each side of the occiput ; hind neck black,
a white band from each side of the nape down the neck joining
the white of the lower parts ; lower hind neck, back, shorter
scapulars, and sides of body finely barred and vermiculated with
black and white ; longer scapulars lanceolate, velvety black, edged
with light brown ; upper tail-coverts black edged with grey, the
longest black on the outer web, grey on the inner ; median long
tail-feathers black, the outer feathers brown ; wings greyish
brown, the greater secondary coverts with rufous tips ; secondaries
Fig. 116.— Head of D. acuta.
bronzed, changing from purple to green on the outer webs, with
a subterminal velvety- black band and white tips ; outer web of
innermost secondary black with a whitish bar on the inside; tertiaries
grey, part of the inner web and inside of outer web black ; breast
and abdomen white, lower abdomen speckled with grey ; lower
tail-coverts black, white at the outside ; lower flanks buff.
The drake moults all feathers except the primaries, secondaries,
wing-coverts, and 6 pairs of outer rectrices at the end of June, and
assumes plumage very like that of the female, the usual male
plumage being resumed by a complete moult in October.
Female. Greyish brown above, with concentric buff or white
bars on the feathers of the back and scapulars, and pale streaks
elsewhere ; no speculum ; the secondaries and greater secondary
coverts tipped with whitish, making two distinct bars on the wing ;
chin and throat white ; sides of head and neck and the fore neck
white, speckled brown, lower neck more distinctly spotted ; lower
parts whitish, much streaked and tinged with dusky.
Bill black, the sides of the upper mandible, not the culmen,
bluish plumbeous ; irides dark brown ; legs and feet greyish
black.
Length of male 22 to 29 ; tail 5 to 8-5; wing 11 ; tarsus 1-6 ;
bill from gape 2*25. Eemales are smaller, wing about 10, and
have shorter tails. The tail usually consists of 16 feathers, but
sometimes contains 18.
Distribution. Nearly the whole Northern hemisphere. The
Pintail breeds chiefly in the neighbourhood of the Arctic circle,.
and in winter is found throughout India, Burma, and Ceylon in
suitable localities, though by no means universally distributed.
Habits, $"c. Pintails in India arrive about the beginning of
November and leave in March ; whilst in this country they are
QCERQUEDULA. 449
generally seen in flocks, which are sometimes very large, and
occasionally composed of male birds only. They keep in the day
chiefly to large open pieces of water, especially those in which
water-plants rise a few inches above the surface, not so much
amongst the rushes or in the shallows at the side as some ducks
do, and they feed, mainly at night, on vegetable food chiefly, but
also on mollusca and insects. They have a peculiar appearance
when swimming, with their long necks arched and their tails
raised ; their flight, which is very swift, is equally characteristic.
As a rule they are silent birds, but when alarmed utter a peculiar
soft quack. Pintails are excellent eating, and appear in India
never to be coarse or fishy, as most other species are at times ;
have even found Mallards uneatable, though shot on a " bund
far from the sea in December.
Genus dUERdUEDULA, Stephens, 1824.
The members of this genus, though often regarded as congeneric
with the Common Teal, differ considerably from that species in
structure, plumage, and habits. The bill is broader, and instead
of being the same width throughout, is wider towards the end,
the nail is broader and larger. The labyrinth or bony enlarge-
ment of the lower portion of the trachea in the drake is
differently shaped, being swollen on both sides and downward,
whilst in the genera Anas, Nettium, and several others the
inflation is on one side and upward. The flight is different, and
all members of the present genus may be recognized by their blue
or bluish-grey wing-coverts.
Of the five species referred to this generic group, four are
American and mainly South American, the fifth is one of our
migratory ducks.
1601. Querquedula circia. The Garganey or Blue-winged Teal.
Anas querquedula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 203 (1766) ; Blyth, Ibis.
1859, p. 464 ; Tickell, J. A. S. B. xxviii, p. 416.
Anas circia, Linn. t. c. p. 204 (1766) ; Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 166 ;
Legge, Birds Ceyl p. 1080 ; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 593.
Querquedula circia, Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii, pt. 2. p. 143,
pi. 51 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 305; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 250 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii,
p. 807 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 262; Adam, ibid. p. 402; Le Messurier,
S. F. iii, p. 382 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 30 ; v, p. 234 ; Hume fy Dav.
8. F. vi, p. 489 ; Sutler. S. F. vii, p. 188 '; Ball, ibid. p. 232 ; Cripps,
ibid. p. 312 ; Hume, ibid. p. 494 ; id. Cat. no. 965 ; Scully, S. F.
viii, p. 363 ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 215, pi. ; Vidal, S. F.
ix, p. 93 ; Sutler, ibid. p. 438 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 100 ; Reid,
S. F. x, p. 83; Hume, ibid. p. 418; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 286;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 410; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 346; Gates in
Hume's N. fy JE. 2nd ed. iii, p. 291 ; Salvador i, Cat. B. M. xxvii,
p. 293.
Chaitwa, Khira, Patari, II. ; Ghang-roib, Giria, Beng.
VOL. IT, 2 G
450 AtfATID^E.
Coloration. Male in full plumage. Crown and nape brownish
black ; a broad white superciliary stripe from above the front of
the eye to the side of the nape ; forehead, lores, sides of the head
and of the upper neck, throat, and fore neck rufous, or nutmeg-
brown, streaked with white, chin black ; back, rump, and upper
tail-coverts dark brown, the feathers with pale greyish edges ;
scapulars lanceolate, black, with broad white shaft-stripes, the outer
webs of the outer scapulars ashy grey ; tail-feathers and quills
dark brown ; speculum formed by outer webs of secondaries glossy
greyish green, between two white bands formed by the tips of the
secondaries themselves and of their greater coverts, tertiaries with
narrow white borders; wing-coverts lavender-grey; feathers of
breast and sides of breast barred with concentric bands of dark
brown and buff ; abdomen \vhite, speckled with brown towards
vent ; flanks finely and wavily barred with dark brown, longest
Fig. 117.— Bill of Q. drew.. \.
flank-feathers with a broad subapical white band, then a narrow
brown bar and a dark grey tip ; under tail-coverts buffy white
with brown spots.
After breeding, the drake moults into a plumage resembling
that of the female, except that he retains the speculum and pale
grey wing-coverts. The passage from this into the full plumage
appears to take place somewhat gradually, the dark breast being
assumed before the feathers of the head and neck are changed.
The change is not, I believe, completed in India till about the
end of February. Certainly in parts of India where this Teal
abounded, though birds with the dark breast-feathers were
common in December, I never saw drakes with white supercilia
and nutmeg-brown sides of the head till about March. I may
have only seen young birds, but I cannot find a single winter skin
of a drake Garganey in fall plumage in the Hume collection ;
and the only specimen I can find in the British Museum (a very
bad one) is that of a Norfolk bird that has evidently been in con-
finement, and is consequently worthless as evidence.
Female. Upper parts dark brown, the feathers with pale edges ;
sides of head and neck and the fore neck whitish, finely streaked
with dark brown ; a superciliary stripe from above the eye and a
band from the lores below the eye paler, a buff spot on the lores ;
SPATULA. 451
chin and throat white ; lower fore neck and upper breast blackish,
with whitish edges to the feathers ; wing-coverts greyish brown,
sometimes ashy in old birds ; speculum wanting, or merely a wash
of greenish bronze on the secondaries between the two white bars,
formed, as in the male, by the ends of the secondaries and of
their greater coverts ; breast and abdomen white, more or less
sullied and spotted towards the vent, under tail-coverts, and flanks.
Young males resemble the females.
Bill blackish brown, paler beneath ; irides brown ; legs and feet
plumbeous to greenish ( Oates).
Length of male 16; tail 2*7; wing 8; tarsus !•! ; bill from
gape 1*8. The female is rather smaller, wing about 7*25.
Distribution. The Garganey breeds throughout a great part of
the north temperate zone in Europe and Asia, and passes the
winter in North China and Southern Asia as far east as the
Philippines and Celebes. It is found at that season throughout
India, Ceylon, and Burma in suitable areas.
Habits, dfc. This is one of the earliest ducks to arrive in
Northern India, being often seen in large numbers at the end of
August and beginning of September, and staying after most of the
other migrants, in many places until the beginning of May, or
even later. It is almost always in flocks, often large, which keep
much during the day to the edges of large tanks and swamps, or,
late in the season, the banks of rivers, generally huddled together,
and which feed chiefly at night. The food of this Teal is chiefly
vegetable ; the flight is swift, though not equal to that of the
Common Teal, and the call is a harsh quack. It is probable that
Garganeys breed in the Himalayas, as birds have been seen there
in summer, and they must occasionally lay in the plains, for
young birds half-fledged were caught by Col. Irby in Oudh,
and others were brought to Col. Tickell at Moulmein. Eggs,
at first supposed to belong to this bird, but subsequently
referred to the Marbled Duck, were taken by Captain Butler near
Ormara on the Baluchistan coast. In Europe the Grarganey lays
6 to 13 creamy white eggs, each measuring about 1*87 by 1*37, in
a grass nest lined with down, placed amongst rushes near water.
Eor the table this is a good bird, though not equal to the Common
Teal.
Genus SPATULA, Boie, 1822.
This genus is readily distinguished by its disproportionately
large spatulate bill, its long lamellae, and its blue-grey wing-
coverts. The bill is longer than the head, depressed, twice as
broad near the tip as at the base, and the sides of the upper
mandible are much turned down near the tip. The lamellae are
not only very long, but very closely set. Wings and tail pointed.
Tail-feathers 14.
Four species are referred to Spatula in Salvadori's Catalogue :
one is Australian, one South African, and one South American ;
the fourth, a widely ranging migratory bird, occurs in India.
2o2
452 A>TATIDJE.
1602. Spatula clypeata. Tlie Shoveller.
Anas clypeata, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 200 (1766).
Spatula' clvpeata, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 564 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 303 ;
Layard, A. M. N. H. (2) xiv, p. 270 ; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 249 ;
Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 796 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2,
p. 275 ; Stoliczka, J.A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 255 ; Layard, P. Z. S.
1873, £. 205 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 260 ; Adam, ibid. p'. 402 ; Butler,
S. F. iv, p. 28 ; Fairbank, ibid. p. 264 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped.,
Aves, p. 700 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 232 ; Hume, ibid. p. 492 ; id. Cat.
no. 957 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 3«2 ; Leffffe, Birds Ceyl. p. 1086 ;
Hume $ Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 141, pi.; Vidal, S. F, ix, p. 92 :
Butler, ibid. p. 437; Biddulph. Ibis, 1881, p. 99; Scully, ibid.
p. 592 ; Swinhoe, Ibis, 1882, p. 124; Reid, S. F. x, p. 80 ; David-
son, ibid. p. 325; Hume, ibid. p. 417; Macgregor, ibid. p. 442;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 401 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 343 ; Salvadori,
Ami. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) iv, p. 616; id. Cat. B. M. xxvii,
p. 306.
Tidari, Punana, Tokanvala, Ghirah, H. ; Panta-mukhi, Beng. ; Dho-
baha, Sankhar $ , Khikheria Sankhar $ , Nepal ; Alipdt, Sind.
Fig. 118.— Bill of 8. clypeata. \.
Coloration. Male in full plumage. Head and upper neck glossy
green ; lower neck, except behind, and upper breast, sides of the
breast, and shorter scapulars pure white; hind neck and back
dark brown, the feathers pale-edged ; rump and upper tail-coverts
black, glossed with green; tail dark brown, the outer feathers
broadly edged with white ; wing-coverts and outer webs of two
of the longer scapulars bluish grey, remainder of long scapulars
black, all with broad white shaft-stripes ; quills brown; speculum
formed by outer webs of secondaries bright green, bordered in
front by a bar of white formed by the larger coverts ; tertiaries
blackish, slightly glossed with green, each with a fusiform white,
or whitish, stripe along the shafts ; lower breast and abdomen
chestnut ; some of the feathers of the flanks and about the vent
finely barred with buff; lower flanks white; under tail-coverts
black, glossed with green.
SPATULA. 453
Like other allied forms, the drake of the present species dons
the female dress, except on the wings, after the breeding- season,
and resumes the male garb at the autumnal moult. But it is rare
in India, so far as my experience goes, to see a male in full
plumage before the end of February : either the green head or
the white breast, or both, are not completely assumed. Male birds-
of the year in this and other species of Duck do not assume the
full plumage till the spring.
Female. Brown above, each feather with a pale reddish border ;
the feathers of the back and rump, the scapulars and upper tail-
coverts with concentric buff or rufous bands : wing-coverts grey
to greyish brown ; speculum on secondaries duller than in male ;
lower parts brownish buff, more rufous on abdomen, speckled with
dark brown on fore neck ; feathers of upper breast and of flanks
distinctly, lower abdomen and lower tail-coverts less strongly,
marked with crescentic brown bars.
Bill in males in full plumage black ; in females and young, upper
mandible dark brown, lower mandible dull orange ; irides yellow
or orange in the male, brown in the female ; legs orange to red
(Hume).
Length of male 20 ; tail 3-25 ; wing 9'5 ; tarsus 1/4 ; bill from
gape 3. Females are a little smaller : wing 8-75 ; the bill is-
shorter, measuring from gape 2*75.
Distribution. Throughout the greater part of the Northern
hemisphere, between lat. 10° and lat. 68° N., breeding in the-
north temperate zone. A winter visitor to India, Ceylon, and
Northern Burma, arriving in the latter end of October and staying
till late in April, after most of the other migratory Ducks have
left. It is common throughout Northern India, but rarer to the
southward and in Ceylon ; it is found in Assam, Manipur, and
the Upper Irrawaddy Valley above Myingyan ; but noc, so far
as is hitherto known, in Pegu or Tenasserim. Gates recently
obtained a specimen in the Shan States. Layard came across
young birds in Ceylon, but this must have been exceptional, no
other instance of the Shoveller's breeding within Indian limits
being known.
Habits, $*c. In India the Shoveller is a freshwater bird, and
is generally found in small parties, in pairs or singly, haunting
shallow water on the edges of tanks and marshes, and sometimes
rivers, and often in little ponds of dirty water about villages,,
where it becomes very tame. It is almost omnivorous, but feeds
principally on insects and their larvae, worms, molluscs, and on
various organic substances that are found on the borders of swamps
and ponds, and which its fine lamellae enable it to sift out from the
mud. The Shoveller has also the peculiarity, described by Newton,
of swimming in circles with irs bill in the water above the spot
where Pochards are diving and feeding beneath, and sifting out
the substances that float up wThen disturbed by the operations of
the Diving Ducks. It appears never to feed like other ducks,,
with its head and breast immersed and its tail sticking up
454 ANATIDJE.
vertically. It flies and walks well, but is not a fast swimmer.
As regards its value for food, there may be differences of opinion
as to which is the best duck for the table, but there is no question
that of all the true ducks this is the worst ; at the same time, it is
sometimes eatable, and its rankness is much diminished by its being
skinned before it is cooked.
Genus MARMARONETTA, Eeichenb., 1852.
The Marbled Duck has been bandied about from one generic
group to another, and has been referred in turn to Dafila, Anas,
Querquedula , Chaulelasmus, and even Faliyula, with none of which
has it any real affinity. It clearly must be placed in a genus by
itself, if only on account of its peculiar dull greyish plumage,
without any coloured speculum.
The bill is about equal to the head in length, and shaped as in
Nettium — rather narrow, with the two sides parallel, and the
nostril near the base. The wings are short and rounded ; tail
moderately long, pointed, of 14 feathers. Head with a short but
full occipital crest, more developed in the drake. Labyrinth of
trachea lateral, very similar to those of Anas and Nettium.
A single species.
Fig. 119.— Bill of M. avgustirostris. £.
1603. Marmaronetta angustirostris. The Marbled Duck.
Anas angustirostris, Menetr. Cat. Rais. Cauc. p. 58 (1832) ; Blanf.
East. Pers. ii, p. 301.
Anas marmorata, Gould, P. Z. S. 1 836, p. 59.
Marmaronetta angustirostris, Reichenb. Natilrl. Syst. Voyel, p. ix
(1852) ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 179 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii,
p. 821.
Querquedula angustirostris, Hume, S. F. i, p. 262; A.Anderson,
S. F. iii, p. 273; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 30; v, p. 234; Hume *
Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 237, pi. ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 82 ; McLeod.
ibid. p. 168 ; Hume, ibid. p. 174.
Chaulelasmus angustirostris, Hume, S. F. vii, p. 493 ; id. Cat.
no. 961 bis; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 405 ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E.
2nd ed. iii, p. 291 ; Barnes, Journ. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 291.
Coloration. Crown and hind neck buff, with irregular dark brown
cross-bars on the feathers ; a dark brown patch, including the
NETTA. 455
orbit and extending some distance behind it ; lores, sides of head
and neck, chin, throat, and fore neck whitish, regularly and
minutely streaked with brown ; upper back and scapulars greyish
brown, each with a subterminal darker bar or spot and with a
large greyish-buff spot at the end; the pale spots are large on the
.scapulars ; lower back and rump similarly coloured, but more
uniform ; upper tail-coverts with a dark brown subterminal spot
and a yellowish-buff tip ; tail-feathers greyish brown, middle pair
darker with whitish tips ; wings greyish brown outside, the outer
webs of both primaries and secondaries frosted with grey, which
becomes silvery on the primaries towards the tips ; lower parts
.sullied white, with transverse brown bars on the feathers of the
breast, sides of body, lower abdomen, and lower tail-coverts, and
sometimes with faint markings on the middle of the breast and
abdomen.
The female only differs in being smaller, with less crest, and
with the eye-patch and other markings duller.
Bill bluish-grey, black on culmen and tip ; irides brown ; legs
and feet dusky olive (Hume).
Length of male 18-5 ; tail 3-25 ; wing 8-25 ; tarsus 1/4 ; bill
from gape 2-1. Females have the wing about 8.
Distribution. Southern Europe, especially Spain, Northern
Africa and South-western Asia. The Marbled Duck breeds in the
Canary Islands, Spain, Morocco, and Palestine, and is a common
winter visitor throughout Sind, arriving about the end of October
and leaving in April. It has also been observed near Dera
Ghazi Khan in the South-western Punjab, in Bahawalpur and
Northern Guzerat, and occasional occurrences in Eajputana, the
North-west Provinces, and Oudh, and in one case near Calcutta,
have been recorded.
Habits, #c. This small duck keeps in Sind to rush-covered
swamps, in which it is found in large numbers, but it does not,
as a rule, when disturbed, rise in flocks, as most ducks do, but
two or three at a time. Lord Lilford describes its call as a low
croaking whistle, but Mr. Hume says it also gives a distinct but
hoarse quack. It is not known to breed in Sind, but Captain
Butler obtained eggs, very probably of this species, from near
Orrnara on the Baluchistan coast, and he shot a young bird at
Karachi on September 27th. The eggs were cream-coloured, and
measured on an average 1%85 by 1/4.
Genus NETTA, Kaup, 1829.
The Diving Ducks, including the Pochards*, Scoters, Eiders,
j&c., which obtain their food principally by diving beneath the
water, — not merely as the true ducks do, by searching in shallow
* Pronounced Pockards. These birds are also known in parts of England
as Pokers.
456
water with the posterior half o£ their body projecting vertically
above the surface, — are often separated as Fuligidince, and are dis-
tinguished by having a broad lobe, or expansion, beneath the hind
toe. They have a stout body, thick plumage, and rather short
wings, which appear as if attached farther backward than in other
ducks, causing the birds to have a somewhat peculiar flight. They
swim and dive well and fast, but walk badly on land in consequence
of the backward position of the legs. Jerdon and Legge appear
to have been misled by some authority into stating that they
have only one moult, but they do not differ from other Ducks in
this respect. They have no brilliantly coloured speculum on the
secondaries. Although easily recognized as a group their differences
do not, I think, entitle them to distinction as a subfamilj-.
Amongst the Pochards, one species known as the Eed-crested
Pochard is distinguished from the rest by its peculiar plumage,
by the form of the bill, and by the number of rectrices. It is the
only member of the present genus. It has a long bill, not much
raised at the base, and tapering slightly throughout ; the culmen
is nearly straight; the nostrils are situated about one-third of the
distance from base to tip, and the border of the feathered face
above the gape is straight and approximately at right angles to
the commissure. The lamellae are broad, prominent, and distant.
Wings of moderate length, pointed. Tail short and cuneate, of
16 feathers. Hind toe broadly lobed ; feet large. Male with a
full occipital crest.
1604. Netta rufina. The Eed-crested Pochard.
Anas rufina, Pallas, Reise, ii, App. p. 713 (1773).
Branta rufina, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 564 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 306 j Jerdon,
B. 1. iii, p. 811 ; Me Master, J. A. S. B. xl, pt. 2, p. 215 ; Layard,
P. Z. S. 1873, p. 203 ; Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 166 ; Butler, S. F.
iv, p. 30 ; v. p. 234 ; Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 264.
Fuligula rufina, Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii, pt. 2, p. 188, pi. 54
Birds Ceyl p. 1087, footnote ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 438 ; Reid, S. F.
x, p. 84 ; Taylor, ibid. pp. 528, 531 ; C. Swinh. Ibis, 1882, p. 125 ;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 412 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 180 ; Hume,
S. F. xi, p. 346.
Netta rufina, Kaup, Naturl. Syst. p. 102 (1829) ; Salvadori, Cat.
B. M. xxvii, p. 328.
Ldl-chonch, Ldl-sir, II.; He ro-hdns <$ , Chobra-hdns § , Beng. ; Dumar
c? , Sanwa $ , Nepal ; Ratoha, Sind.
Coloration. Male. Head and upper neck dull reddish bay with
a greyish or pinkish tinge, the feathers of the crown paler, and
the crest rufous buff ; hind neck, lower neck all round, and upper
breast glossy brownish black ; middle of back brown ; scapulars
slightly paler and more rufous ; lower back darker brown ; rump
and upper tail-coverts blackish brown or black glossed with green ;
KETTA. 457
tail brown ; primaries whity-brown, white towards the base, the
tips of all, the outer borders of the first five, and the greater part
of the first dark brown; secondaries creamy-white, each with a
subterminal brown bar and white tip ; tertiaries and most of the
wing-coverts greyish brown, the coverts near the edge of the
wing, sides of body, and sides of back at the junction of the
wings, under wing-coverts, and axillaries white; lower plumage
from breast to under tail-coverts glossy brownish black, browner in
the middle of the abdomen.
Fig. 120.— Bill of N. ruf.no. ^.
Female almost uniform greyish brown above, scapulars rather
paler ; tail and quills as in male, except that the secondaries are
greyish white ; sides of head below eye and of neck, chin, throat,
and all lower parts whitish. This bird may be known from
females of other Pochards occurring in India by having the lower
surface white throughout.
The adult male has the bill vermilion red, the nail whitish or
pink ; irides reddish brown ; legs and feet orange-red. Females
and young males have the bill black, reddish or orange towards the
tip ; irides brown ; legs brownish orange to yellow.
Length of male 21 ; tail 3 ; wing 10-5 ; tarsus 1*75 ; bill from
gape 2'25. Females are slightly smaller.
Distribution. This Pochard breeds in Southern Europe, Northern
Africa, the neighbourhood of the Black and Caspian Seas, Persia,
and Eastern Turkestan, It is a winter visitor throughout
Northern and Central India, but rare in the Deccan and farther
south. Layard, however, believed he saw it in Ceylon. It is-
found in Assam and Manipur, but has only been recorded from
Burma by Blyth, who quotes it, on unknown authority, from.
Bhamo.
Habits, fyc. The Red-crested Pochard appears in Northern India
in the latter part of October or in November, and leaves about the
end of March. It often arrives in very large flocks, but when
settled for the winter keeps usually in moderate sized or very
small parties. It dives and swims well, has a strong heavy flight,
and is found chiefly on large jheels and tanks, or on rivers,
keeping to fairly open water. Its food is chiefly vegetable, though-
458
it feeds largely on insects, worms, frogs, and fish ; and, despite
Jerdon's high opinion of it as a bird for the table, my own
experience coincides with Hume's — it is sometimes excellent but
more often, in India, rank and inferior. The call-note is said to
be a deep grating "Jcurr." No one has yet found this Pochard
breeding within our limits.
Genus NYROCA, Fleming, 1822.
The five species of Pochard, besides Netta rujina, that occur in
India may either be kept in one g«nus or divided amongst two,
three, or four genera on account of differences in the form of the
bill and the presence or absence of a crest. The first plan is more
convenient. All have the bill of moderate length, slightly raised
at the base, and either equally broad throughout or slightly
broader near the tip, with the culmen concave and the border of
the feathered base above the gape convex ; the nostril is situated
;about one-third the length of the bill from the base, and the
lamellae are short and distant, less prominent than in Netta. Wings
rather short, pointed ; tail cuneate, of 14 feathers. Hind toe
broadly lobed.
The breeding habits of all the species are very similar.
Key to the Species.
a. Males in ordinary plumage.
a'. Back and scapulars distinctly barred or
vermiculated.
a'. Head and neck chestnut N. ferina, p. 458.
b". Head and neck black, glossed green .... N. marila, p. 462.
b'. Back and scapulars merely speckled,
c". No crest.
a3. Head and neck dull chestnut N.ferruginea, p. 460.
b*. Head and neck black A7, baeri, p. 461.
d". A. nuchal crest ; head and neck black. . . . N.fuliyula, p. 463.
b. Females.
.<?'. No crest.
e". No white on forehead or lores.
c3. No white speculum on secondaries .... N.ferina, p. 458.
d3. A white speculum on secondaries.
a4. Head and neck rufous-brown N.ferruginea, p. 460.
b1. Head and neck blackish N.' baeri, p. 461.
f". Forehead and lores white -AT. marila, p. 462.
d. A crest N.fuliyula, p. 463.
1600. Nyroca ferina. The Pochard or Dun-bird.
Anas ferina, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 203 (1766).
Nyroca ferina, Fkming, Phil. Zool. ii, p. 260 (1822) ; Salvadori,
Cat. E. M. xxvii, p. 335.
Aythya ferina, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 564 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 812 ;
Stuliczka, J.A.S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 255 ; Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 420 ;
Hume, S. F. i, p. 264 ; Adam, ibid. p. 402 ; ii, p. 341 j Butler,
S. F. iv, p. 30; v, p. 234 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 232.
SYEOCA. 459
Fuligula ferina, Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii, pt. 2, p. 193 (1824) ;
Blyth, Cat. p. 306 ; Davids. $ Wend. S. F. vii, p. 93 ; Hume, ibid.
p. 496 ; id. Cat. no. 968 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 247, pi. ;
Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1090, note ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 438 ; Reid,
S. F. x, p. 84 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 326 ; Taylor, ibid. p. 531 ;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 412 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 346.
The Red-headed Pochard, Jerdon ; Burdr-nar, Ldl-sir, H. j Ldl-
muriya, Beng. ; Cheun, Nepal ; Thordinynam, Manipur.
Coloration. Male. Head and neck rufous chestnut ; base of
neck all round, with upper back and upper breast, glossy black ;
back, scapulars, tertiaries, and sides of body finely vermiculated
with black and greyish white ; lower breast and abdomen the
same, but with the dark vermiculation growing fainter on the
upper abdomen ; lower back, rump, upper and under tail-coverts,
.and vent-feathers black ; tail dark brown ; wing-coverts grey,
more or less vermiculated with white ; primaries greyish brown,
darker at tip and on outer webs ; secondaries grey, more or less
vermiculated with white on outer webs.
Female. Head, neck, upper back, and upper breast rufous-brown,
blackish on crown, mixed with white to a varying extent on sides
of head, throat, and fore neck ; back and scapulars grey, vermicu-
lated with black, but less distinctly than in the male ; the wing-
coverts are sometimes vermiculated, sometimes grey throughout;
rump and upper tail-coverts black, indistinctly speckled with grey ;
tail and quill feathers as in male ; lower parts sullied white ;
flanks, lower abdomen, and under tail-coverts brownish and
vermiculated.
Bill bluish grey, the tip and base black : irides orange-yellow ;
legs bluish grey (Jerdon).
Length of male 18*5 ; tail 2*25 ; wing 8*5 ; tarsus 1*5 ; bill
from gape 2'2. Female a little smaller, wing about 8.
Distribution. Throughout the Palaearctic region from the British
Islands to Japan, breeding chiefly in the western part of the
north temperate zone, and migrating south in winter. This
Duck visits Northern India in large numbers, and is found in the
Peninsula as far south as Bellary, though less common to the
southward, but it has not been obtained in Mysore or farther south,
nor in Ceylon. It has recently been recorded from Northern
Burma near Mandalay, and it is far from rare in Assam and Manipur.
Habits, <Sfc. The Pochard arrives in India in the latter half of
October or beginning of November, and leaves in March, as a rule.
Its favourite haunts during the day are in large jheels (broads) or
tanks with open water in the middle. On these it occurs generally
in large flocks, less often in very small parties or singly. It may
also be found on rivers or on the sea-coast. Pochards swim and
•dive well, but walk badly. They generally sit on the water when
resting, not on land, keeping the body low and the neck drawn
in. They feed largely by night, but also in the day, and obtain
much of their food, which is chiefly vegetable, by diving. Their
flight is strong and accompanied by a peculiar rustling sound ;
480
but they rise slowly and heavily. The call-note of this bird is a
low harsh sound like "Icurr" In India, away from the sea-coast,
this is one of the best ducks for the table, nearly, if not quite,
equal to Pintail. It has not been detected breeding within the
Empire. Its breeding habits in northern lands much resemble
those of N. ferruyinea.
1606. Nyroca ferruginea. The White-eyed Duck.
Anasnyroca, Gilldenst. Nov. Com. Petrop. xiv, pt. 1, p. 403 (1770).
Anas africana & A. ferruginea, Qm. Syst. Nat. i, 2, pp. 522, 528
(1788).
Anas leucophthalmus, Borkhausen, Deutsche Fauna, i, p. 564 (1798).
Aythya nyroca, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 564 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 813 -T
Hume fy Renders. Lah. to Yark. p. 297 ; Hume, N. fy E. p. 645 ;
Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 420 ; Hume, 8. F. i, p. 265 ; Adam, ibid.
p. 402 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 30 ; v, p. 234 j Davids. # Wend. S. F.
vii, p. 93 ; Ball, ibid. p. 232.
Fuligula nyroca, Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii, pt. 2, p. 201, pi. 55-
(1824) ; Bluth, Cat. p. 307 ; Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 510; Blyth,
Birds Burm. p. 166; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 493; id. Cat. no. 969;
Scully, S. F. viii, p. 363 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 263, pi. &
pi. iv (egg) ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 100 ; Scully, ibid. p. 593 ; Vidalr
S. F. ix, p. 93 ; Hume, ibid. p. 259 ; Butler, ibid. p. 439 ; Eeid,
S. F. x, p. 84; Davidson, ibid. p. 326 ; Taylor, ibid. pp. 528, 531 ;
Oates, B. B. ii, p. 287 ; id. in Hume's N. fy 77. 2nd ed. iii, p. 292 ;
Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 413 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 347.
Nyroca ferruginea, Sharpe fy Dresser, B. Eur. vi, p. 581, pi. 438 ;
Swinh. $ Barnes, Ibis, 1885, p. 138; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 180;
Sharpe, Yark. Miss., Axes, p. 132.
Nyroca africana, Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 345.
Karchiya, Burar-mada, H. ; Ldl-bigri, Bhuti-hdns, Beng. ; Burnur
Sind ; Malac, Nepal Terai.
Coloration. Male. Head, neck and breast, and sides of breast
dull chestnut, a white spot on chin, and a blackish-brown collar
round lo\ver neck, joining the upper back ; upper plumage
generally blackish brown ; back and scapulars minutely speckled
with rufous- brown ; tail dark brown ; outer primaries dark brown,,
with an increasing amount of white on the basal portion of the
inner web: inner primaries and secondaries white, each with a
broad brown tip ; tertiaries blackish brown, slightly glossed with
green; wing-coverts on edge of wing white; other wing-coverts
dark brown ; abdomen white ; sides of body reddish brown ;
lower flanks blackish ; lower abdomen more or less brown ; under
tail-coverts white.
Female similar but much duller, the head and neck reddish
brown ; upper plumage brown ; the reddish brown on the breast
is mixed with white, and passes into the sullied white area of the
belly instead of, as in the male, ending abruptly against it.
Young birds have the head and neck ochreous brown, darker
above ; otherwise like the female, but paler.
Bill bluish black ; irides white ; legs and feet plumbeous or
dusky grey ; claws and webs dusky to black.
NYEOCA. 461
Length 16 ; tail 2-2; wing 7'25 ; tarsus 1-2 ; bill from gape 2.
Females a little less.
Distribution. The Mediterranean area, Central and Eastern
Europe, and South-western Asia, breeding as far east as Kashmir,
where this species is a permanent resident. It is, however, only a
winter visitor, so far as is known, to the plains of India ; it is
common at that season throughout Northern India, as far east as
Bengal ; less abundant, but still far from rare, in Northern Burma,
Assam, Manipur, Central India, the Central Provinces, and the
Bombay Presidency ; of occasional occurrence only about Ratnagiri,
and not recorded from Southern India or Ceylon.
Habits, $c. Generally in Northern India the White-eyed Duck
arrives about the end of October and leaves in March ; but some
birds are said to remain later in Sind, and may possibly breed
there. This Pochard is generally met with in scattered small
parties, or singly, dispersed over weedy and rushy pieces of water
of all sizes, and it rises, when disturbed, in twos or threes, not in
flocks. In places it is met with on the sea-coast. It is a splendid
diver, and a wounded bird is very difficult to capture. Practically
omnivorous, like most ducks, it appears to feed to a considerable
extent on insects and their larvae, Crustacea and mollusca, and its
flesh in India is of very inferior flavour. The call somewhat
resembles that of the Pochard. These ducks breed abundantly in
the Kashmir lakes in June, and lay 9 or 10 eggs in a nest of dry
rushes placed amongst thick reeds or water-plants, close to the
water. The eggs have a faint brownish tinge, and measure about
2-1 by 1-49.
1607. Nyroea baeri. The Eastern White-eyed Duck.
Anas (Fuligula) baeri. Radde, Reis. S.O. Sibir. ii. p. 376. pi. 15
(1863).
Nyroea baeri, Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 344.
Fuligula baeri, F. Finn, P. A. S. B. 1896, p. 61 ; id. J. A. S. B.
Ixvi, pt. 2, p. 525 ; Sclater, P. Z. S. 1896, p. 780.
This Duck is a very near ally of N. ferruyinea, but is dis-
tinguished by both sexes having the head and neck black, glossed
with green in the male, but brownish and with very little gloss in
the female, in which sex also the lores are rufous-brown. The
basal portion of the primaries, too, in the present species is light
greyish brown, not white. In other respects the two species are
similar, there is the same white speculum on the secondaries, and the
same sharp division between the chestnut breast and white abdomen
in the male, whilst the two pass into each other in the female.
Bill bluish, the base and nail black ; irides white or pale yellow ;
feet lead-grey (David}.
Length 18 ; tail 2-4 ; wing 8'25 ; tarsus 1-3 ; bill from gape 2.
Distribution. Eastern Siberia, China, and Japan. Although
specimens appear to have been obtained in Bengal by Duvaucel,
the occurrence of this Pochard in India had been completely
overlooked until Mr. Frank Finn, in February 1896, obtained
462 ANATIDvE.
several specimens in the Calcutta bazaar and identified them.
He then, on examining the specimens of Fuligula nyroca collected
by Mr. Blyth, found that one of them, which had been in the
Asiatic Society's Museum since 1842, was a female of N. baeri. I
learn from Mr. Finn that in the present year (1897) this Duck
has again been obtained commonly in Calcutta, so it is probable
that this species has hitherto been confounded with the nearly
allied N. ferruginea.
1608. Nyroca marila. The Scaup.
Anas marila, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 196 (1766).
Fuligula marila, Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii, pt. 2, p. 198 (1824) ;:
G. R. Gray, Cat. Mamm. fyc. Cull. Hodgson, p. 147 ; Blyth, Cat.
p. 306 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 814 ; Hume, Cat. no. 970 ; Hume Sf
Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 271, pi. ; Hume, S. F. x, pp. 158, 174;
Stoker, ibid. p. 424 ; Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 305 : Barnes,
Birds Bom. p. 413 ; Salvador), Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 355.
Coloration. Male in breeding-plumage. Head, neck, breast,
and upper back black, the head and neck glossed with green ;
rest of back and scapulars white with narrow zigzag black bars ;
rump and upper tail-coverts black ; tail blackish ; wing-coverts;
brownish black, speckled and vermiculated with white ; quills-
brownish black, inner webs of primaries except at the tip brownish
grey, secondaries white with brown tips, tertiaries glossed with
green ; abdomen and flanks white, lower abdomen much mixed or
vermiculated with dark brown ; vent and under tail-coverts
blackish brown.
Males in moulting-plumage closely resemble females. Immature
males have white at the base of the bill like females, but are
darker in colour than the latter.
Female. Forehead, lores, and more or less of the chin white,
encircling the base of the bill ; rest of head, neck, upper back,
and upper breast brown, the last mixed with white and passing
into the white of the abdomen, not sharply denned as in the male ;.
back and scapulars vermiculated browrn and white, flanks the
same but with more white ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail
dark brown ; wings as in the male but duller and browner.
Young birds are browner still.
Bill and legs light lead-grey ; webs and nail of the bill blackish ;.
irides yellow (Salvadori).
Length of male about 18: tail 2-2; wing 9; tarsus 1'5; bill5
from gape 2-1. Females slightly less.
Distribution. The Scaup is a very rare winter visitor to India.
Isolated occurrences have been recorded from Kashmir, Kulu and
Nepal in the Himalayas, and the neighbourhood of Attockr
Gurgaon near Delhi, and Karachi in the plains of India, and even
Bombay (Jour. Bom. 1ST. H. Soc. ii, p. 97). Col. McMaster is of
opinion that he saw several birds of this species near Berharnpore
in the Northern Circars. The Scaup is chiefly a bird of the north
XTROCA. 463
temperate zone, breeding in Europe, Asia, and America as far
north as lafc. 70°, and visiting in winter the shores of Western
Europe, the British Islands, the Mediterranean sparingly, the
Black Sea, Caspian, China, and Japan, and corresponding latitudes
in North America.
Habits, $c. The Scaup, Scaup-Duck, or Scaup-Pochard derives its
name from feeding on mussels (Mussel-scaups or Mussel-scalps are
the beds on which mussels are aggregated, see Newton, Diet. Birds,
p. 815). In Europe it is chiefly a salt-water bird, seldom found
inland except at the breeding-season.
1609. Nyroca fuligula. The Tufted Dude.
Anas fuligula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 207 (1766).
Anas cristata, Leach, Syst. Cat. p. 39 (1816), nee Gmelin.
Nyroca fuligula, Flem. Phil, Zoil. ii, p. 260 (1822).
Fuligula cristata, Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii, pt. 2, p. 190 (1824) ;
Blyth, Cat. p. 306 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 815 ; AfcM aster, J. A. S. B.
xl, pt. 2, p. 215 ; Godtv.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. 2, p. 176; Butler,.
S. F. iv, p. 31 ; v, p. 234 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 232 ; Hume, ibid.
p. 496 ; id. Cat. no. 971 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 277 ;
Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 93; Butler, ibid. p. 439; Scully, Ibis, 1883,
p. 593 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 85 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 326 ; Barnes, Birds
Bom. p. 414 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 347.
Fulix cristata, Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 256 ; Hume, S. F.
i, p. 265 ; Davids, fy Wend. S. F. vii, p. 93.
Fuligula fuligula, Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 363.
Dubaru, Ablak, Rahwdra, H. ; Turdndo, Sind ; Mdlac, Nepal Terai ;.
Nella chilluwa, Tel.
Fig. 121.— Head of N. fuligula.
Coloration. Male. Head, neck, breast, upper parts, wings, and
tail black, sides of head and of upper neck glossed with green ;
occiiput and long pendent occipital crest glossed with purple ; back
and scapulars finely speckled with whitish ; primaries greyish
brown, dark brown on outer borders and tips, secondaries white with
black tips, tertiaries glossed with green ; abdomen and sides of
body white ; under tail-coverts black.
In the female the head, neck, and upper parts are brown as is
the upper breast, but this colour passes gradually into the white
or pale ashy brown of the abdomen ; flanks brown ; crest present
but smaller than in the male.
Young birds resemble females but are paler. Males after the
464
summer moult are brown instead of black, and have the back and
lower neck indistinctly powdered widh greyish white.
Bill, legs, and feet from dull leaden to light greyish blue ; tip of
bill black ; irides golden yellow (Hume).
Length 17 ; tail 2-2 ; wing 8 ; tarsus 1-4 ; bill from gape 1*9.
Females slightly smaller.
Distribution. Throughout the Palsearctic region, breeding far
North and migrating South in winter, when this duck is found in
North Africa as far south as Shoa, and in India. It perhaps breeds
in Lake Ashangi on the highland^ of Abyssinia, but it has not
hitherto been observed so doing in the Himalayas, where it is not
common. It has not been recorded from Pegu, Tenasserim, Ceylon,
or the southern portion of India, the most southern locality known
being the northern part of the Coimbatore district, but it is common
in the Deccan, Central Provinces, and Chutia Nagpur"; Hume found
it in great abundance in Manipur, and it has recently been met
with near Mandalay in the Irrawaddy valley. Throughout the
Indo-Gangetic plain it occurs, but in no great abundance.
Habits, fyc. The Tufted Duck arrives in India in October or
November and leaves generally about March, but some birds
remain longer, and Jerdon relates having shot one at Hyderabad
(Deccan) in June. Birds of this species in India are generally
found in small scattered parties or singly, occasionally in large
flocks, on open sheets of water in the middle of tanks or jheels.
They dive very well and both swim and fly rapidly. Their food
appears to be largely animal, though of course they feed partly on
vegetables, and they afford as a rule indifferent food. They are
not known to breed within Indian limits.
Genus CLANGULA, Leach, 1816.
Bill short, higher than broad at the base, not much flattened at
the tip, tapering slightly throughout, more rapidly and rounded at
the end ; culmen nearly straight ; nostrils rather nearer to the
tip of the bill than to the base ; lamellae short, stout, not close
together. "Wings pointed ; tail rather long, much rounded, of 16
stiff feathers ; legs short, placed far aft ; tarsus scutellate in front,
hind-toe broadly lobed. The posterior end of the sternum is
prolonged as in Merganser.
This genus of Diving Ducks contains three species, all of
northern range, and all, as a rule, keeping to the sea, except in the
breeding-season. One species has occasionally been obtained in
Northern India.
1610. Clangula glaucion. The Golden-eye.
Anas clangula & A. glaucion, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 201 (1766).
Clansula glaucion, myth, Cat. p. 307 ; id. Ibis, 1867, p. 176; Hume,
&>. iv, p. 225; vii, pp. 441, 464,505; id. Cat. no. 971 bis ;
Hume $ Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 285, pi. : Reid, S. F. x, p. 85 ;
Stoker, ibid. p. 424 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 415 ; Scully, J.A.S. B.
Ivi, pt. 2, p. 89.
EEISMATUEA. 465
Coloration. Male. Head and upper neck dark glossy green ;
feathers of crown slightly lengthened ; chin and throat sooty black,.
a large round white spot on each cheek close to the gape ; lower
neck all round, lower parts, and sides of body white ; long flank-
feathers with black edges, feathers of lower flanks brown ; back,.
Fig. 122.— Head of C. glaucion.
inner and longer scapulars, upper tail-coverts, tail, smaller wing-
coverts, primaries and their coverts, and tertiaries and their coverts
black or blackish brown ; outer scapulars white, some of them
black-edged on the side ; a large white patch on each wing,
consisting of the secondaries and their greater and median coverts ;
basal portions of greater coverts black.
Female. Head and upper neck brown ; an imperfect white collar ;.
upper breast greyish ; upper parts, wings, and tail blackish brown,
upper back, upper scapulars, and wing-coverts with greyish edges ;
secondaries white, terminal portions of their greater coverts white,
with some brown at the tips and the basal portions dark brown ;
lower parts white, lower flanks partly brown.
Bill bluish black in male, brownish in female ; irides golden-
yellow ; legs and feet orange-yellow, the webs dusky (Salvadori).
Length 18 ; tail 3*5 ; wing 9 ; tarsus 1'5; bill from gape 1*8 r
females are a little smaller, wing 7'75.
Distribution. In north temperate and subarctic zones. This
Duck breeds far to the North and migrates to South Europe, North
Africa, Persia, China, and the United States of America in winter.
Specimens have been obtained in the Indus valley by Sir A. Burnes,
Col. Yerbury, and Mr. E. N. Stoker, and one was procured in
Oudh by Dr. Bonavia.
Genus ERISMATURA, Bonap., 1832.
This genus may be recognized by its remarkable stiff tail,
almost recalling that of a Woodpecker, and by its equally singular
bill, of which the upper mandible is much swollen at the base and
as far forward as the nostrils ; the culmen is concave, the anterior
part of the bill broad and flat, the nail very small, the upper
mandible overlapping the lower. The nostrils are large, nearer
VOL. iv. 2 H
466
to the base of the bill than to the tip ; lamellae coarse. The
wings are short ; the tail about half the length of the wing,
euneate, composed of 18 very stiff, narrow, pointed feathers ; tarsi
short ; feet large, hind toe broadly lobed.
Seven species are known, widely distributed, but the majority
are peculiar to the (Southern hemisphere. One species is an
occasional visitor to India.
1611. Erismatura leucocephala. Tlie White-headed Duck.
Anas leucocephalus, Scop. Ann. I.mHist. Nat. p. 65 (1769).
Erismatura leucocephala, Blyth, Cat. p. 308 ; Hume fy Marsh. Game
B. iii, p. 289 ; Hume, S. F. viii, p. 456 ; ix, p. 296 ; x, p. 158 ;
St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 179 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 442 ;
F. Finn, P. A. S. B. 1896, p. 62 ; Sherwood, Jour. Bom. N. H.
Soc. xi, p. 150.
Fig. 123.— Head of E. leucocephala. £.
Coloration. Male. Crown black ; forehead, sides of head to
above eye, chin, and nape white ; a blackish ring round the neck
beneath the white, passing on the breast and sides into dull
ferruginous barred irregularly with black ; back, scapulars, rump,
and sides of body buff, more or less rufous, speckled and verinicu-
lated with black ; upper tail-coverts chestnut ; tail blackish (often
faded); wings brown, the coverts and the outer webs of the
secondaries speckled with buff ; lower parts from breast pale buff,
the dark bases of the feathers showing.
Females and young males have only the chin, lower cheeks, and
a stripe from above the gape, running back under the eye towards
the nape, white, rest of the head black mixed with rufous ; the
tipper tail-coverts are like the rest of the upper parts, and the
breast is dull rufous without black bars. Otherwise the plumage
resembles that of adult males. Some specimens are much more
rufous than others.
Bill pale ultramarine (in life) in adult males, dull plumbeous in
females and young birds ; irides dark brown ; legs plumbeous
black.
Length about 18 ; tail 3'5 (3 to 4'5) ; wing 6-3 ; tarsus 1 ; bill
from gape 1'9.
Distribution. From the Mediterranean to Central Asia, generally
resident. Stragglers have been found from Western Europe to
India. Specimens have been obtained in Kashmir, also at Peshawar,
MEEGUS. 467
near Ludiaua, in the neighbourhood of Delhi, near Roorkee, and
lastly near Hurdoi between Lucknovv and Bareilly. The specimen
from the last locality, shot January 22nd, 1896, was in full moult
.and incapable of flight.
Habits, fyc. The habits of this bird are very peculiar. It is a
freshwater form, more given to diving than to flying, and it swims
rapidly with its curious stiff tail erect at right angles to its body.
It lays 7 to 9 dull white eggs in a nest amongst reeds or grass, and
the eggs are remarkable for their rough, coarse surface.
Subfamily MERGING.
Bill subconical or subcylindrical, not depressed ; the tip hooked;
lamella? replaced by tooth-like serrations ; feet large, hind toe
broadly lobed.
Key to the Genera.
a. Culmen not longer than tarsus ; tail of 16
feathers MEBGUS, p. 467.
b. Culmen much longer than tarsus ; tail of 18
feathers MERGANSER, p. 468.
Genus MERGUS, Linn., 1766.
An occipital crest, small in females. Bill about as long as the
head, tapering throughout, culmen straight ; nostril large, about
one-third the distance from base to tip of bill. Wing short, pointed ;
tail rounded, of 16 feathers (occasionally 18 may be found) ; legs
situated far back ; tarsus very short, foot large. A single caecum,
only according to Blyth.
There is but one species.
1612. Mergus albellus. The Smew.
Mergus albellus. Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 209 (1766) ; Irby, Ibis, 1861,
p. 251 ; Salvation, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 464.
Mergellus albellus, Blyth, Cat. p. 340 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 818 ;
Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 176 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 265 ; Butler $ Hume,
S. F. iv, p. 31 ; Butler, S. F. vii, p. 188 ; Sail, ibid. p. 233 ; Hume,
Cat. no. 973 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 293, pi. ; C. Swinh.
Ibis, 1882, p. 125 : Reid, S. F. x, p. 85; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 417.
Nihenne, H. (Etawah, N.W.P.).
Fig. 124.— Head of M. albelliLS. %.
Coloration. Male. Greater part of plumage white; a black
patch on lores including the eye and gape ; the hinder feathers of
468
the crest, the back, and a crescentic band on each side of the
breast all black, passing on the rump into the grey of the upper
tail-coverts ; tail grey-brown ; scapulars mostly white, an outer
black border to those on the outside ; primaries dark brown,
secondaries and their greater coverts black, both with white tips,
tertiaries grey with white borders, the first with the outer web
white edged with black ; marginal wing-coverts blackish, central
coverts white ; sides of body and flanks barred with wavy black
lines. After breeding the female plumage is assumed for a short
time.
Female. Lores, including the eye, dark brown ; crown and nape
ferruginous ; upper parts brown, greyish on upper back : wings as
in the male; tail brown; lower parts white, breast greyish.
Young males resemble females except that they want the brown
patch on the lores.
Bill bluish lead-colour ; nail generally brown, often paler ; irides
brown ; legs and feet lavender-grey.
Length 17*5 ; tail 3 ; wing 8 ; tarsus 1/3 ; culmen 1*2 ; bill
from gape 1'7. Females smaller ; wing 7'25.
Distribution. The breeding quarters of this bird are in the
extreme North of Europe and Asia ; but in winter it visits Central
and Southern Europe, Central Asia, China, and Northern India.
Within our limits the Smew is fairly common in winter in the
Punjab, and is found in Sind, Northern Guzerat, the North-west
Provinces, and Oudh. Jerdon records it from Cuttack, and I met
with it more than once near Eaniganj in Bengal, but it has not
been observed farther east nor in Southern India.
Habits, 6fc. The Smew is generally found in India from
November to March in small or moderate sized flocks, which
haunt the larger jheels. It is a splendid diver and swimmer, and
when it takes to flight — it generally prefers to dive — a rapid flyer ;
its food, chiefly fish and water insects, is obtained by diving. The
majority of the birds seen in India are immature.
Genus MERGANSER, Brisson, 1760.
Bill much longer than in Mergus, narrow and strongly hooked
at the end ; nail as broad as the bill ; nostril situated about § to
| the length of the upper mandible from the base : the serrations
representing lamellae with their points directed backwards.
Head crested. Tail cuneate, of 18 feathers. Two caeca.
About six species are known, ranging throughout the greater
part of the Northern hemisphere and certain tracts in the Southern ;
two occur in India.
Key to the Species.
a. Head and upper neck black glossed with
green (Males).
a'. Lower parts white throughout M. castor, p. 469.
b'. Upper breast rufous with blackish marks. M. serrator, p. 470.
MEEGANSEE. 469
>•&. Head and upper neck rufous (Females}.
c'. Chin white, back grey ................ M. castor, p. 469.
a. Ohm streaked with rufous, back brown. . M. serrator, p. 470.
1613. Merganser castor. The Goosander.
Mergus merganser, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 208 (1766); Hume, Cat.
' & F' Viii' P- 364 5 Hume $ Manh, Game B. iii,
' F' Xl' P' 34?
.
Mergus castor, jm. i c p. 209 (1766) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 308 ; Jerdon,
B I. m p 817 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 275
Hume $ Henders. Lali. to York. p. 297 ; Hume, S F. i p. 423 •
Parker & F. ii? p. 336 . BM ibid 439 jy & ^ .; ^ |
-ffo«, e^^. p. 233; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 101
Merganser castor & M. comatus, Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, pp. 472,
The Merganser, Jerdon.
Fig. 125.— Bill of M. castor. %.
Coloration. Male. Head with a slight crest and upper neck
black, glossed with dark green except on throat ; lower neck all
round, lower parts, and sides oE body pure white ; upper back and
scapulars glossy black, a few of the outer scapulars white ; middle
and lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts ashy grey with dark
shaft-stripes, especially on the longer tail-coverts ; sides of rump
vermiculated grey and white ; tail-feathers ashy brown ; primaries
and outer secondaries brownish black, remaining secondaries with
the secondary-coverts white, inner coverts near the back and
primary-coverts greyish brown, the primary-coverts black-tipped ;
tertiaries white, with narrow black outer borders. The male
moults into the female plumage after breeding,
Female. Head with long crest-feathers (longer than in male)
and neck ferruginous red, crown browner, chin and throat white ;
upper parts from neck, with tertiaries, scapulars, wing-coverts, and
tail ashy grey ; primaries and outer secondaries and their coverts
blackish brown, most of the secondaries and their coverts white,
greater coverts black at base ; lower parts white, with some grey
on the sides of the body.
470 AKATIDJE.
Bill lighter or darker red, more or less dusky on the ridge and
the nail ; irides reddish brown ; legs and feet vermilion (Hume).
Length about 25 ; tail 4-25 ; wing 9-5 ; tarsus 2 ; bill from
gape 2'7 : in females the wing measures about 9.
Distribution. The north temperate region, the American race
being regarded as distinct by some ornithologists. The Indian
bird is distinguished by Salvadori as M. comatus, but although just
recognizable as a rule by its slightly shorter bill and rather
narrower black borders to the tertiary quills in the male, the
differences are scarcely of specific«value. The head of the female
is duller and browner in the Indian specimens preserved in the
Hume collection than in most European skins, but this may be
due to almost all the Indian birds having been collected in the
cold season. This Indian race breeds throughout the higher
Himalayas and in winter migrates to the base of the range, the
hills south of Assam, and the country between the Ganges and
Godavari. A specimen has recently been obtained by Mr. Gates
from Myitkyina in Northern Burma, and a female was shot by
Mr. Aitken on the east side of Bombay harbour in December
1886. The last may possibly, however, have belonged to the next
species, which has occurred at Karachi, whilst M. castor has not
been recorded previously from Western India.
Habits, <$fc. In winter the Goosander occurs usually in small
parties, frequenting rivers and lakes. In summer it is found in
pairs on the Himalayas at 10,000 feet and upwards. It rises
heavily from the water, but when on the wing flies well and
swiftly ; it lives on fish, which it obtains by diving. The eggs
have not been as yet obtained within Indian limits ; the nest is on
the ground or the stump of a tree, and from 7 to 12 buffy-white
eggs are laid.
1614. Merganser serrator. The Red-breasted Merganser.
Mergus serrator, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 208 (1766) ; Hume fy Marsh.
Game JB. iii, p. 305; Hume, S. F. ix, p. 268; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 416.
Mergus castor, apud Hume, S. F. iv, p. 496 ; Butler, S. F. v, pp. 291r
323 ; nee Linn.
Merganser serrator, Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 479.
Coloration. Male. Head and upper neck black glossed with
green except in front, the crest longer than in M. castor • a collar
of white round the neck, interrupted behind by a black longitudinal
median stripe ; upper breast and sides rufous, blotchily streaked
with black ; the black back is much broader than in M. castor, and
just in front of the shoulder there is a patch of white feathers,
each surrounded by a broad black border, behind these the sides
and the lower back, rump, and tail-coverts are white with finely
undulating black lines ; tail brownish grey ; marginal wing-covert s
brown ; primaries, outer secondaries, and last tertiaries blackis b
MEEGANSER. 471
brown ; remaining secondaries and tertiaries and their greater and
median coverts white, but the secondaries and their greater coverts
are black at the base, forming two bars, and the tertiaries have
black outer borders ; lower parts from breast white.
Female with crest shorter than in male ; crown and nape dull
brownish rufous, sides of head and neck brighter rufous ; chin and
throat white, tinged and streaked with rufous ; upper parts, tail,
and wing-coverts dull brown, with greyish edges to the feathers
primaries and tertiaries blackish brown; secondaries and their
greater coverts white, dark brown towards the base ; lower surface
white.
Bill in male bright vermilion with the nail black, the ridge of
upper mandible dusky ; irides bright red ; feet bright vermilion. In
females and young birds the colours are duller. The bill is
longer, narrower and much less hooked at the end than in
M. castor.
Length of male about 22 ; tail 3*3 ; wing 9*75 ; tarsus 1*8 ;
bill from gape 2*75. Females are smaller : tail 3, wing 9.
Distribution. Pretty well throughout the north temperate zone,
both on the sea-coast and in fresh water, breeding to the north-
ward and wintering in the Mediterranean area, Central Asia, the
United States, &c. Probably this bird is fairly common on the
coast of Baluchistan, but only two captures have been recorded
within Indian limits and one of these erroneously*. There are,
however, in the British Museum the wings of a bird obtained at
Karachi by Major Terbury. The Merganser shot in Bombay
harbour by Mr. Aitken may possibly, as already suggested, have
been this species.
* The bird stated in « Stray Feathers ' (I. s, c.) and the British Museum Cata-
logue to have been shot by Captain Bishop at Manora, Karachi harbour, was
really obtained by him at Cuahbar in Persian Baluchistan. This correction i&
founded on a letter from Captain Bishop to Mr. Camming, which I have seen.
Order XXIV. PYGOPODES.
The last order of Indian birds to be described contains the
•Grebes, with which the Loons or Divers (Colymbidce) are usually,
though not always, associated ; the latter are not represented in
India, being restricted to more northern regions. The Auks
(Alcidce\ originally comprised in the Pygopodes by Illiger, are now
by most ornithologists regarded as allies of the Gulls.
In the present order the skull is schizognathous and holorhinal ;
the nostrils pervious ; basipterygoid processes wanting. Plumage
very short and dense ; an aftershaft is present, the feathering of
the neck is continuous, the wing is aquincubital ; the oil-gland
tufted. Caeca are present. Posterior border of sternum with one
incision on each side. Flexor tendons as in Anseres.
The anterior proximal (cnemial) process of the tibia is greatly
developed, being very high and pyramidal ; the legs are situated
very far back ; the tarsus compressed. Bill straight and pointed.
Family PODICIPEDID.E.
All the front toes furnished with broad lateral lobes coalescing
.at the base and not contracted at the joints of the digits ; hind toe
raised and lobed, fourth toe longest ; nails broad and flattened.
Tail rudimentary or wanting. Cervical vertebrae 17 to 21; several
of the dorsal vertebrae anchylosed. Angle of lower jaw not
produced. Twelve primaries. Ambiens muscle wanting; accessory
femoro-caudal and semitendinosus present, but not the other
•characteristic thigh-muscles. Only the left carotid is developed.
Fig. 126.— Left foot of Podicipes cristatus. -|.
Nest a mass of floating herbage, usually amongst reeds ; eggs
white. The young are hatched covered with down, and able to
swim at once. All Grebes have a habit of eating their own
PODICIPES. 473
feathers. No stones are found in the gizzard, and the feathers
apparently are a substitute.
This family is very widely distributed and has been divided into
several genera. The three Indian representatives may all be kept
in one generic group, though the Little Grebe is generally
separated.
Genus PODICIPES, Lath., 1790.
Bill straight, compressed, sharply pointed ; nostrils oblong, sub-
basal ; wings short ; tail quite rudimentary, consisting of short
downy feathers ; tarsus much compressed, covered with large
scutellae in front, serrated behind.
The Grebes are expert divers and good swimmers, but very
poor walkers, they very rarely leave the water and, if in danger,
endeavour to escape by diving. They rise from the water with
difficulty owing to the shortness of their wings, but once in the
.air they appear to have, as a rule, considerable powers of flight,
.and many species are migratory. The young are longitudinally
striped above.
This genus is cosmopolitan ; three species occur within Indian
limits.
Key to the Species.
a. Wing about 7'5 in. ; tarsus 2'4 in P. cristatus, p. 473.
b. Wing 5-3 ; tarsus 1'6 P. niyricollis, p. 474.
c. Wing 4 ; tarsus 1'35 P. albipennis, p. 475.
1615. Podicipes cristatus. The Great Crested Grebe.
Colymbus cristatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 222 (1766).
Podiceps cristatus, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, p. 780 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 311 ;
Theobald, J. A. S. B. xxiii, p. 602 ; Jerdon, B. L iii, p. 821 ;
Hume, S. F. i, pp. 142, 265 ; A. Anderson, S. F. iii, p. 274 ;
Hume, S. F. iv, p. 31 ; A. Anderson, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 807 ;
Butler, S. F. v, pp. 224, 235 ; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 497 ; id. Cat.
no. 974 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 85 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 418 ; Hume,
S. F. xi, p. 348 ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 401 ;
Bulkley, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 501.
Coloration. Forehead, crown, and bifid occipital crest black,
slightly glossed with green ; lores, sides of the head, chin, and
upper throat white, passing gradually into deep rufous and
this again into black on the long feathers that form a collar or
ruff round the neck just below the head ; back of neck and upper
parts dark brown, primaries and tertiaries the same ; secondaries,
marginal wing-coverts and wing-lining, and some of the lower
scapulars white ; lower parts silky white ; sides of breast and
flanks ashy brown mixed with rufous.
Immature birds have no crest or ruff, aud are dark ashy brown
.above, white below ; secondaries and lower scapulars white as in
adults.
474 PODICIPEDID^E.
Bill blackish brown, yellowish at the base and beneath ; a bare
space from the eye to the mouth dusky green ; irides carmine-red ;
legs dusky green externally, greenish yellow internally ; toes
greenish yellow above, dusky below (Dresser).
Length 22 ; wing 7'5 ; tarsus 2'4 ; bill from gape 2*6.
Distribution. This Grebe is found in the temperate parts of
Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. It is not rare during the
cold season in parts of Northern India, it is common on many
of the larger jheels and also on the sea along the Mekran coast
and about Karachi, it is not unfreqiaently brought to the Calcutta
bazaar, a few individuals were observed by Hume in Manipur,.
and Gates has obtained a specimen from Mvitkyina in Northern
Burma. I can find no record of this bird's occurrence in the
Peninsula of India, or in Ceylon, or in Burma except in the case
mentioned.
Habits, <$fc. Although this Grebe is chiefly a winter visitor in
India, it was found breeding in August by Mr. A. Anderson
in Oudh and the Doab, by Mr. Bulkley in the same month
near Kharaghora in Guzerat, and by Mr. Theobald on May 2nd in
Kashmir.
1616. Podicipes nigricollis. The Eared Grebe.
Podiceps nigricollis, C. L. Brehm, Voy. Deutschl. p. 963 (1831) ;.
Hume, S. F. i, p. 266 ; id. Cat. no. 974 bis ; Barnes, Birds Bom.
p. 419.
Coloration. In the summer the head and neck are black ; a
stripe of elongate silky orange-brown feathers, whitish above, runs
from behind the eye to the side of the neck ; upper back brownish
black ; outer primaries and all tertiaries brown, inner primaries
and secondaries white ; breast and abdomen silky white ; sides of
breast and flanks rufous.
In winter the upper parts are dark brown, there is no orange
brown stripe from the eye, chin and throat mixed white and
black, fore neck dark brown, breast and abdomen white, no rufous-
on flanks.
Young birds have the chin and throat white and the fore neck
greyish brown ; otherwise they resemble birds in winter plumage.
Bill black ; irides vermilion ; legs and feet blackish outside,
greenish plumbeous inside (Hume).
Length 13; wing 5'3; tarsus 1/6; bill from gape 1'2.
Distribution. Temperate regions of Europe and Asia, and both
North and South Africa. . This Grebe had been met with in India
until lately only at Karachi and thence westward along the
Mekran coast, where Hume found it common ; but I have just
heard from Mr. P. Finn that he has obtained a specimen alive
in the Calcutta bazaar, so P. nigricollis may occur in winter
throughout Northern India.
Habits, fyc. Very similar to other Grebes. On the Sind coast
this bird has only been found on salt water. It is not known tc*
breed in India.
PODICIPES. 475
1617. Podicipes albipennis. The Indian Little Grebe or DabchicTc.
Podiceps philippensis, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 311 ; Theobald, J. A. S. B.
xxiii, p. 603 ; Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 822 ; Blyth $ Wald. Birds
Burm. p. 166; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 233 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped.,
Aves, p. 702 ; wee Colymbus philippensis, Bonn.
Podiceps minor, apud Hume, N. fy E. p. 046 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B.
xli, pt. 2, p. 256 ; Hume, S. F. \, p. 268 ; Adam, ibid. p. 402 ;
Butler fy Hume, S. F. iv, p. 31 ; Fairbank, S. F. v, p. 410 ; Hume fy
Dav. S. F. vi, p. 490 ; Cripps, S. F. vii, p. 313 ; Hume, Cat. no. 975 ;
Scully, S. F. viii, p. 364 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 93; Butler, ibid.
p. 439 ; Barnes, ibid. p. 460; Reid, S. F. x, p. 85 : Davidson, ibid.
p. 326 ; Damson, ibid. p. 418 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 420 ; id. Jour.
Bom. N. H. Soc. i, p. 61 ; vi, p. 291 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 348 ; nee
Colymbus minor, Gmel.
Podiceps fluviatilis, apud Legge, Birds CeyL pp. 1059, 1222 ; Scully,
Ibis, 1881, p. 593 ; nee Colymbus fluviatilis, Tunst.
? Podiceps albescens, Mandelli, Blanf. S. F. y, p. 486.
Tachybaptes fluviatilis, ajmd Oates, B. B. ii, p. 441 ; id. in Hume's
N>& E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 401 ; Davidson, Ibis, 1898, p. 42.
Podicipes minor, apud Sharpe, Park. Miss., Aves, p. 148.
Tachybaptes albipennis, Sharpe, Bull. B. O. C. iv. p. iv (1894) ; id.
Ibis, 1895, p. 139.
Pandub, Pantiri, Dubduli, Churaka, H. ; Dubari, Beng. ; Munu-
gudi-kodi, Tel. ; Mukelepan, Tarn., Ceylon.
Fig. 127. -Head of P. albipennis. \.
Coloration. In breeding plumage the forehead, crown, and hind
neck are blackish brown ; lores, front of cheeks, and chin blackish \
sides of head extending up to the orbit, and of neck, throat, and
fore neck chestnut ; upper parts very dark brown, but rather paler
than the head ; primaries paler brown, bases of inner primaries
and the whole or nearly the whole of the secondaries and their
shafts white ; abdomen silky white : breast, flanks, and vent
feathers dark brown, more or less mixed with white.
In winter plumage the crown and hind neck are brown, thtr
chin white, and the chestnut of the neck replaced by pale rufous.
Some birds appear to retain the summer plumage at all events
until December.
Young birds are brown above, white below ; fore neck and
flanks brownish.
Bill black with a white tip, base and round the gape pea-green
to sulphur- yellow ; irides red-brown ; legs and feet blackish green t
inside of tarsus pale olive-green.
Length 9 ; wing 3-9 ; tarsus 1-35 ; bill from gape 1.
476 PODICIPEDID.E.
Distribution. Throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma. This
species was obtained by Anderson at Momien in Yunnan, and
there are skins in the British Museum collection from Candahar,
,and Fao at the mouth of the Euphrates. P. albipennis is distin-
guished from the common European Little Grebe, P. fluviatilis, by
'having the secondaries white throughout in adults, and by the black
on the chin and sides of the face being less extended. The
Philippine species is distinct, so the name P. pliilippemis cannot
be used.
Habits, $c. This Grebe is a permanent resident throughout
India, wherever there are lakes, large marshes, or ponds of fresh-
water, though it leaves many tanks and marshes when they dry
up and returns in the rainy season. It is seen singly or in small
parties, diving after its food, which consists of small fish, Crustacea,
mollusca, and water insects. The breeding season is from July
to September in most parts of India. The nest is a mass of
weeds, usually floating, amongst rushes or other vegetation ; the
eggs are 4 or 5, elongate ovals, pure white at first, but discoloured
as incubation proceeds, and they measure about 1-39 by 0-99.
The parent birds always when leaving the eggs cover them with
wet weeds, as do other species of the genus.
A single specimen of a peculiar whitish Grebe was obtained by
the late Mr. Mandelli from a lake in Native Sikhim. No other
skin has been obtained. At Mr. Mandelli's request I described
the bird as Podiceps albescens. The skin is by most ornithologists
who have examined it thought to be a partial albino of P. albipennis,
but, although chiefly wrhite, it has dark brown shaft-stripes on the
secondaries, and the chestnut collar is unlike that of any known
species. I add a description.
Coloration. Broad forehead, sides of head anteriorly, including
the orbits and chin, black ; hind head and upper neck chestnut all
round, lower hind neck brownish ; remainder of plumage white,
except the primaries which are brown; feathers of the back,
scapulars, and secondaries with dark brown shaft-stripes.
Bill and feet coloured as in P. albipennis. Wing 3*75 ;
-tarsus 1-3.
APPENDIX.
SINCE the publication of the earlier volumes of Birds in this series
many additions have been made to Indian ornithology. Only the more
important can be noticed here.
Foremost must be placed several papers by Mr. E. C. S. Baker on the
Birds of North Cachar in vols. vii, viii, ix, x, and xi of the ' Journal
of the Bombay Natural History Society' (1891-97). These papers not
only add greatly to the known habits of the numerous species mentioned,
but they also contain full accounts of nests and eggs, belonging, in very
many cases, to species the nidification of which was previously unknown.
The same author has contributed to the 'Ibis' for 1895 and 1896,
" Notes on the Nidification of some (69) Indian Birds not mentioned in
Hume's ' Nests and Eggs.' " The late Lieut. H. E. Barnes published an
account, illustrated with some good plates of eggs, of " Nesting in
Western India" in vols. iii, iv, v, and vi of the Bombay Natural
History Society's { Journal ' (1888-91), but references to many of these
notes have already been given. In the same work (vol. vi, p. 331) are
Mr. J. Davidson's " Notes on Nidification in Kanara ; " and " A short Trip
to Kashmir " by the same author, with numerous descriptions of nests and
eggs, has just been published in the ' Ibis ' for January 1898. Another
paper that deserves notice is the " Catalogue of a Collection of Birds
(188 species) made by Dr. W. L. Abbott in Kashmir, Baltistan and Ladak,
&c.," by C. W. Richmond, published in the 'Proceedings ' of the United
States National Museum, xviii, pp. 451-503. An important paper on
Ceylon Birds, " Ornithological Notes from the Cocoawatte Estate," by
Mr. A. L. Butler has also appeared in the Bombay Natural History
Society's l Journal,' vol. x, p. 284. Lists of birds from the Ruby Mines
and from the Shan States in N.E. Burma have been published by
Mr. Oates, the author of the first two volumes of the present work (' lbis,r
1894, p. 478 ; Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. x, p. 108) ; and another list from
the Southern Shan States has been contributed by Mai or Rippon (' Ibis,'
1896, p. 357).
It is impossible here to do more than refer to the large accessions to
OUT knowledge of the nests and eggs of Indian birds, but brief descrip-
tions of new or supposed new species are given below and the more
important additions to distribution are noted. With reference to the
latter Mr. Baker records several species, not previously known to inhabit
the Assam Range, as occurring in North Cachar (formerly known as part
of the Naga Hills). Of these the following are the most important : —
APPENDIX.
.ZVb.
19. DcndrocUtaJrontalis, Jour. Bom.
N. H. Soc. Tiii, p. 166.
59. Suthora atrisuperciliaris, t. c.
p. 169.
76. Garrulax albigularis, t,. c. p. 174.
118. Pomatorhinus olivaceus, t.c.p.178.
144. Pellorneum ruficeps, t. c. p. 185.
270. Hypsipetes concolor, op. cit. vii,
p. 129.
380. Cisticola volitans, op. cit. ix,
p. 14.
385. Franklinia cinereicapilla, t. c.
p. 15.
391. Acanthoptila nepalensis, t. c. p.16.
407. Phylloscopus tristis, t c. p. 16.
434. Cryptolopha xanthoschista, t. c.
p. 19.
452. Horornis major, t. c. p. 22.
479. Lanius isabeltinus (!), t. c. p. 112.
485 «. Hemipus obscurus (see below),
t.c. p. 113.
No.
508. CampopTiaga sykesi, t. c. p. 117.
544. Temenuchus pagodarum, t. c.
p. 120.
568. Cyornis superciliaris, t. c. p. 123.
655. lanthia indica, t. c. p. 136.
683. Geocichla wardi, t. c. p. 138.
691. Petrophila cinclorhuncka, t. c.
p. 138.
704. Zoothera monticola, t. c. p. 139.
818. Hirundo smithi, t. c. p. 145.
889. Mthopyga dabryi, op. cit. x, p. 7.
ty'2\.*Piprisoma squalidum (common),
t, c. p. 163.
922. P. modestum (less common), t. c.
p. 163.
989. Tiga shorei, t. c. p. 346.
1008. fhereiceryx zeylonicus, t. c.
p. 354.
1109. Hierococcyx varius, t. c. p. 366.
1129. Taccoctia leschenaultii, t. c.
p. 371.
No.
52. Paradoxornis guttaticollis. Euby
Mines.
129 a. Pomatorhinus imberbis (see
below). Ruby Mines; Bvingyi.
201. Tcsia cyaniventris, Byingyi.
233 a. Ixulus clarki (see below). By-
The most interesting additions made by Messrs. Gates and Rippon to
the birds of the North-eastern Burmese hills are the following, besides
numerous species previously known from Muleyit and Karennee.
No.
318. Sitta nagaensis. Ruby Mines.
654. lanthia rufilata. Byingyi.
818. Hirundo smithii. Ruby Mines;
Kalaw.
960. Hypopicus hypcrylhrus. Ka-
law.
962 Dendrocopus cabanisi. Kalaw.
•298 a. Pycnonotus xanthorrhous (see 1238. Circus spilonotus. Ruby Mines,
below). Ruby Mines ; Kalaw.
Vol. I, p. 40. Genus Garrulus. Add a new species : —
26 a. Garrulus oatesi. The Indo-Chinese Jay.
Garrulus oatesi, Sharpe, Bull. B. O. C. vol. v, p. xliv (1896) ; id.
Ibis, 1896, p. 405.
Coloration. Forehead rufous white ; crown the same, but streaked with
dark rufous and passing into dull chestnut on the nape and hind neck ;
back and mantle rufous ashy, lower back pale rufous passing into the
white rump ; a black moustachial stripe ; lores, feathers around eye, and
a short broad stripe from the eye over the ear-coverts, chin and throat
white, the latter passing into the dull vinaceous rufous of the fore neck
and breast ; rest of plumage as in O. bispecularis.
Tail 5-1 ; wing 6-9 j tarsus l'7o ; bill from gape 1'45.
Distribution. Chin (Khyen) Hills, North-eastern Burma (Oates).
This is a well marked species.
Vol. I, p. 80. GARRULAX WADDELLI, sp. nov., Oyilvie Grant, Bull. B. O.
C. vol. iii, p. xxix (1894) ; id. Ibis, 1894, p. 424.
"Like G. pectoralis, but with the rufous collar almost obsolete; the
superciliary stripe grey, not white ; ear-coverts pale buff with blackish
APPENDIX. 479
.shaft-stripes, instead of black, or black streaked with white, and tail
rather narrowly tipped with ashy, whereas in G. pectoralis it is broadly
tipped with white.
" Hab. Rangit River, Sikhim, 4000 feet."
Both Mr. Gates and I feel doubtful about this species. It is founded
on a single specimen obtained by Dr. Waddell, and, taking into considera-
tion the liability of G. pectoralis to variation and the great improbability
of a new species belonging to so noisy and conspicuous a genus being
found in Sikhim, we think the type of G. waddelli may possibly be an
abnormal individual or "sport" of G. pectoralis.
Vol. I, p. 110. Genus Crateropus. — CEATEROPUS LARVATUS, sp. nov.,
Hartert, Jour.f. Orn. 1890, p. 154.
( Translation of Latin description.) Lores, upper chin, subocular and
malar spots blackish-smoky. Colour generally of Crateropus canorus.
Bill slender, like that of Aryya malcolmi ; bill and feet olive-brown.
Wing 4 inches, tail (almost destroyed) 4*1, tarsus 1-4, culmen *87. Hab.
•" Madras, India."
The locality does not appear to be thoroughly authenticated, and is
now regarded by Mr. Hartert as doubtful : the species much resembles
;some African forms and is possibly of African origin.
Vol. I, p. 125. Genus Pomatorhinus. Add the following species : —
129 «. Pomatorhinus imberbis.
Pomatorhinus imberbis, Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) vii, p. 410
(1889) ; Oates, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. x, p. 110.
(Translation of Latin description.) Similar to P. erythrogenys, but
rather smaller, and differing in the paler rusty-red on the sides of the
head, neck, breast, and abdomen, and on the lower tail-coverts ; feathers
at the base of the mandible not white but rusty; no black on the mous-
tachial stripe.
Length 9'25 ; tail 3'4 ; wing 3'4 ; tarsus 1'45 ; culmen T2.
Distribution. Ruby Mines, Upper Burma ; Karennee ; Tenasserim.
Vol. I, p. 171. The generic name Sittiparus having been previously used
(see Ibis, 1890, p. 255), Oates proposes Pseudominla in its*place.
Ibis, 1894, p. 480.
Vol. I, p. 173. No. 183. Proparus vinipectus. Omit the locality Japvo
peak, Burraii range, and add the following species : —
183 a. Proparus austeni. Austen's Tit-Babbler.
Proparus austeni, Oyilvie Grant, Bull. B. O. C. v, p. iii (1895) ; id.
Ibis, 1896, pp. 61,132.
Coloration. " Crown and occiput pale chocolate-brown washed with
rufous, the latter margined along the sides by bands of deep chocolate,
beneath which run the white eyebrow stripes, which commence above the
middle of the eye and are continued backward to the sides of the nape.
Lores and ear-coverts deep vinous brown ; mantle much like the crown,
but less rufescent and shading into ferruginous on the lower back, rump,
and wing-coverts ; the outer primaries edged with hoary grey, the next
few mostly black on the outer web, and the remaining quills with the
outer webs ferruginous. Chin and throat white ; feathers of the lower
throat ivith reddish-brown spots at the extremity of the shaft ; chest and
upper breast uniform vinous buff", shading into fulvous on the abdomen,
480 APPENDIX.
flanks, and under tail-coverts; tail "brown, washed with ferruginous
towards the base of the outer webs. Total length 4*5 inches ; culnien
0-43 ; wing 2'3 ; tail 2 ; tarsus O9."
In younger birds " the crown and sides of the head are much paler,
the white superciliary stripes absent, and the white on the chin and
throat suffused with pale vinous and spotted with reddish brown. The
abdomen, sides, and flanks are bright rust-red" (Grant, I. c.)
11 Habitat. Naga and Manipur Hills."
This is a perfectly distinct form inhabiting the hills south of Assam.
The differences from P. vinipectus are shown by the sentences in>
italics.
Vol. I, p. 176. The type- specimens or No. 186, Turdinulus roberti,
having been acquired, together with the remainder of the Godwin-
Austen collection, by the British Museum, were compared by
Ogilvie Grant with the bird from Muleyit in Tenasserim, and
found to be distinct. The description of T. roberti in the first
volume of this work was taken from the Tenasserim speciesr
which proves to be identical with the Bornean T. exsul. Some
skins from the Miri Hills, north of Sadiya, Upper Assam, were
described by Ogilvie Grant, before he examined the true T. roberti,
as a new species T. guttaticollis, but this was subsequently found
to be a subspecies of T. roberti, from which it is not I think
separable.
The following explains the differences : —
Key to the Species (Grant).
a. Feathers of the middle of the throat white or whitish
buff, with a triangular black spot at the end of each . T. roberti.
b. Feathers of the middle of the throat uniform, devoid of
black streaks or spots T. exsul.
The corrected synonymy will run thus : —
186. Turdinulus roberti. Robert's Babbler.
Pnoepyga caudata, apud Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 101,.
nee ~Blyth.
Pnoepyga roberti, Godw.-Aust. fy Wald. Ibis, 1875, p. 252 ; Godw.-
Aust. J. A. S. B. xlv, pt. 2, p. 195 ; Hume, S. F. iv, p. 218.
Turdinulus guttaticollis, Ogilvie Grant, Ibis, 1895, p. 432; 1896.,
p. 69.
Turdinulus roberti, Ogilvie Grant, Ibis, 1896, pp. 55, 59.
Distribution. Naga and Manipur Hills ; alsoNoa Dehing and Manbiim,
near Sadiya. T. guttaticollis is from the Miri and Mishmi Hills, north
of Sadiya.
186 a. Turdinulus exsul. Davison's Babbler.
Turdinulus roberti, apud Hume Sf Dav, S. F. vi, p. 234 ; Hume, Cat*
no. 332 ter ; Sharpe, Notes Leyd. Mus. vi, p. 173 ; Gates, ante, vol. ir
p. 176.
Turdinulus murinus, apud Hume, S. F. ix, p. 115 ; Gates, B. B. ii,
p. 62 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. vii, p. 593.
Turdinulus exsul, Sharpe ; Biittikofer, Notes Leyd. Mus. xvii, p. 76
(1895) ; Ogilvie Grant, Ibis, 1896, p. 60.
Distribution. Muleyit, Tenasserim ; Klang, Selangore ; Kina Balu,
Mount Dulit, and Mount Penrisen, Borneo. The specimen from Klang'
differs slightly from the others, and may prove separable.
APPENDIX. 481
Vol. I, p. 182. No. 191, Larvivora brunnea is said to be only a winter
visitor to the Nilgiris. Garde w, Jour. Bom. N, H. Soc. x, p. 146.
Vol. I, p. 185. According to Mr. A. G. Cardew (Asian, Sept. 2nd, 1892) the
young of no. 194, Brachypteryx rufiventris (Callene rufiventrix of
Jerdon), is spotted. Mr. Gates (Asian, September 30th, 1892)
remarks that the bird and its ally B. albiventris must in that case
be referred to the Ruticillirux amongst the Turdidce.
Vol. I, p. 190. It is stated by Mr. Carter (Asian, July 21st, 1893) that
No. 199, Hodgsonius plicenwuroides, has been obtained on the Palni
Hills, South India.
Vol. I, p. 196. No. 204. Malarias capistrata pallida. subsp. nov., Har-
tert, Kat. Vog. Sauck. Mus. p. 21 (1891), N.W. India. This is
the rather paler form of Lioptila capistrata inhabiting the N.W.
Himalayas, and is, I think, the typical race originally described by
Vigors. Many birds from the drier north-western parts of India
are" paler coloured than those from damper regions with denser
forests.
Vol. I, p. 205. No. 216, Staphidea castaneiceps figured, Jour. Bom,
N. H. Soc. viii, p. 203, pi. opposite p. 162.
Vol. I, p. 218. No. 233, Ixulus humilis figured, Ibis, 1894, pi. xiii,
fig. 2. Add the following : —
233 a. Ixulus clarki. The Brown-capped Ixulus.
Ixulus clarki, Gates, Bull. B. 0. C. vol. iii, p. xli (1894) ; id. Ibis,
1894, pp. 433, 481, pi. xiii, fig. 1.
Coloration. Crown rufous brown, very different from the rest of the
upper parts, which are greyish olive with white shafts to the feathers ;
a paler greyish collar ; quills and tail brown, primaries narrowly edged
outside with white ; lores and moustachial stripe chocolate-brown ; sides
of head behind eyes paler and greyer brown ; lower parts white, throat
and upper breast 'with triangular brown shaft-streaks ; sides of breast and
flanks greyish brown, with white shaft-stripes.
Tail 2 ; wing 2'6 : tarsus "75 ; bill from gape '5.
Distribution. Byingyi Mountain, Shan States, Upper Burma.
This is distinguished from /. humilis by its distinct brown cap and much
greyer back with white-shafted feathers.
Vol. I, p. 234. Genus Chloropsis. Mr. E. C. S. Baker (Jour. Bora. N. II.
Soc. vi, p. 59) gives reasons, founded on structure and habits, and
especially nidificatiou, for placing Chloropsis with the Bulbuls in
the subfamily Brachypodince.
Vol. I, p. 236. No. 249, Chloropsis hardwicM, <$ and $ figured by
Baker, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. viii, pi. opp. p. ]. Niditication
described, ibid. p. 12. Nidification of C. aurifrom, p. 8.
Vol. I, p. 252. Subfamily Brachypodina. Mr. E. C. S. Baker, in " The
Bulbuls of North Cachar "(Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vii, pp. 1, 125, 263,
413 ; viii, p. 1), has given full accounts of all the species inhabiting
the area named. The following are figured : —
No. 263. Criniger Jlaveolus and nest, /. c. vol. vii, p. 4.
No. 277. Alcurus siriatm (head), „ p. 413.
No. 279. Molpastes burmanicus (he:id), „ p. 413.
No. 282. Molpastes bengalensis (head), „ p. 413.
No. 287. Xanthixus flavescens and nest, „ p. 1.
No. 288. Otocompsa emeria, „ p. 263.
No. 290. Otocompsa flaviventris and nest, „ p. 125.
No. 292. Spixizus canifrons (head), ,. p. 413.
TOL. IV. 2 I
482 APPENDIX.
Vol. I. p. 286. Add the species described in the footnote :— 298 a.
Pycnonotus xanthorrhous, Anderson's Bulbul, with the addi-
tional references:— Rippon, Ibis, 1896, p. 359; Gates, Jour. Bom.
N. H. Soc. x, p. 110. This species has now been found at the
Ruby Mines, Kalaw in the Southern Shan States, and in Karenuee.
Vol. I, p. 295. Mr. Baker (Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. viii, p. 7) suggests that
No. 311, Micropus cinereiventris, may be the female of No. 310,
M. melanocephalus. Lord Walden in Blyth's ' Birds of Burma,'
p. 136, doubted whether the two species were distinct, and Hume,
S. F. vi, p. 319, observed that M. melanocephalus skins may be
converted into M . cinercicentris by carbolic acid.
Vol. I, p. 339. No. 353, Elachura punctata figured, Ibis, 1892, pi. ii,
tig. 2. Add a new species : —
353 a. Elachura haplonota. The Plain Brown Wren.
Elachura haplonota, E. C. S. Baker, Ibis, 1892, p. 62, pi. ii, fig. 1 ;
id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vii, p. 319.
Elachura immaculata, Baker, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vii, pi. opposite
p. 319 (1893).
Whole upper plumage dark umber-brown, rather lighter on the rump
and tail-coverts, the feathers obsoletely edged with rather pale sienna-
brown, quills dark cinnamon-brown on the exposed parts ; tail brown,
tinged with cinnamon-red ; chin and throat white, tinged with fulvous,
and the feathers, except in the centre, tipped with dusky ; breast and
sides of neck fulvous brown, the feathers tipped with brown and sub-
tipped with white ; centre of abdomen white ; flanks and under tail-
coverts fulvous brown, some of the feathers of the former tipped with
white. Bill dark horny ; irides red ; legs sanguineous fleshy. Length 4'15 ;
tail 1-53; wing 1-95; tarsus '6; bill' from gape '52. (Baker ; slightly
abridged from original.)
This Wren is easily distinguished from E. punctata by wanting the
white spots on the back and rump, and the black cross-bars on the quills
and tail-feathers.
The nest and eggs were taken by Mr. Baker on May llth. The nest
was a deep cup with the back wall prolonged, made 'inside of skeleton
leaves, bound together with fern roots and bents, outside of dead leaves ;
the eggs, three in number, were white, finely speckled with reddish-
brown, and measured about '66 by *5.
Vol. I, p. 362. No. 369, Tribura major. Add to synonymy : —
Dumeticola major, Brooks, P. A. S. B. 1871, p. 210.
Vol. 1, p. 400. Genus Phylloscopus. Notes on several Indian species
are furnished by Mr. E. Brooks, Ibis, 1894, p. 261.
Vol. I, p. 402. No. 406, Phylloscopus tytleri. Add to synonymy :—
Brooks, P. A. S. B. 1871, p. 210. '
Vol. I, p. 436. No. 450, Horornis pallidus. Add to synonymy : —
lloriles pallidus, Brooks, P. A. S. B. 1871, p. 210.
Vol. I, p. 450. No. 464, Prinia socialis figured, Baker, Jour. Bom. N. H.
Soc. ix, p. 1. Vidal, op. cit. viii, p. 427, has shovn that both the
kinds of nests described may be made by the same pair of birds,
the difference depending on the site selected.
Vol. I, p. 473. Genus Hemipus. Add a species : —
485 a. Hemipus otscurus. The Malay Pied Shrike.
Muscicapa obscura, Hor*f. Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 146 (1821).
APPENDIX. 483
Hemipus ob^curiis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 305 ; id. Cat. p. 154 ;
id. Birds Barm. p. 122 ; Hume Sf D.w. ti. F. vi, p. 20 J ; Sk'trpe,
Cit. B. M. iii, p. 30~>; Gates, B. B. i, p. 2JO ; Baker, Jour. Bom.
N. H. Soc. ix, p. 113.
For description see Vol. I, p. 473, footnote.
Distribution. Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and Malacca. Blyth, in his
Catalogue, gave Tenasserim as a locality, and in his ' Birds of Burma '
Mergui. Gates included the species in the ' Birds of Burma,' but, for the
reasons given in the footnote already quoted, omitted it from the present
work. As a specimen has now been secured, together with its nest, at
Laisung, North Cachar, by Mr. Stuart Baker, it is probable that Blvth
was correctly informed, and the species must be included in the Indian
fauna.
Vol. I, pp. 479-481. Nos. 490, 491, Pericrocotus sveciotus and P.frater-
culus. Numerous specimens showing a passage between these two
have been obtained in the Cachar hills. Baker, Jour. Bom. N. PI.
Soc. ix, p. 116 ; x, pp. 151, 631.
Vol. II, p. 9. Add to the synonymy of No. 561, Siphia parva : —
Rubecola tytleri, Jameson, Edinb. N. Phil. Jour, xix, p. 214 (1835).
Mr. W. Eagle Clarke ha.s found Jameson's type in the Edinburgh
Museum (Ibis, 1892, p. 558). By Jerdon R. tytitri was referred witu.
doubt to Erythrosterna leucura (=562. Siphia albicilla). The references,
Jerdon, B. I. iii, Appendix, p. 871; Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 372; 1870,
&166, should be added to the synonymy of Erythroxterna parva under
o. 561. There are Western "Himalayan specimens in the British
Museum.
Vol. II, p. 97. A comparison of Ruticilla erythrogaster from the
Caucasus, the original locality, has induced the Hon. W.
Rothschild (Nov. Zool. iv, p. 168, 1897) to distinguish No. 645,
the Himalayan and Central Asiatic race, aa R. grandis, Gould
(P. Z. S. 1849, p. 312). Both sexes of this bird are said to be con-
siderably paler in colour. The only Caucasian specimen I have been
able to examine is much more richly coloured than Himalayan
skins.
Vol. II, p. 100. Richmond (Proc. U.S. National Museum, xviii, p. 484)
describes No. 648, the White-spotted Bluethroat, from Ladak as
a new species under the name of Cyanecida abbotti, said to be dis-
tinguished from C. wolfi by the deeper blue of the throat, the blue
lores, and the longer bill. After examining the series in the British
Museum collection, I cannot see that there is any constant dirf'erence
between Asiatic and European birds, aud I do not think they need
separation.
Vol. II, p. 104. No. 652, Calliope tschebaiewi figured. Baker. Jour.
Bom. N. H. Soc. ix, pi. C.
Vol. II, p. 221. Salvador! has shown, Ibis, 1888, p. 320, that Bucanetes,
Cabanis, 1857, must be used for this genus, not Erythrospiza,
Bonap., which is a synonym of Carpodacm.
Vol. II, p. 301. Genus Antlws. As was anticipated (Vol. II, p. 304)
A. pratensis has been found within Indian limits. Blyth (Ibis,
1867, p. 32) stated that he had seen undoubted specimens from
North-western India, but his remark appears to have been dis-
regarded, probably because Hume doubted whether some Indian
skins previously referred to A. pratensis by J. Verredux were
correctly identified.
2i 2
484 APPENDIX.
840 a. Anthus pratensis. The Meadow Pipit.
Alauda pratensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 287.
Anthus pratensis, Jerdon, B. 1. ii, p. 239; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 32:
Hume, Ibis, 1869, p. 355 ; 1871, p. 36 : 'id. 8. F. vii, pp. 402, 455 ;
id. Cat. no. 605 quint. ; Shnrpe, Cat. B. M. x, p. 580 ; Osmaston,
Jour. Bom. N. If. Soc. ix, p. 191.
Coloration. Very similar to that of A. trivialis (Vol. II, p. 303), but the
hind claw exceeds the hind toe in length. A. pratensis may be distin-
guished from A. richardi, A. striolatus, and A. rufulus by having the
sides of the body richly spotted and streaked, and from the two former
by size. A. cervinus, in young plumag^ is very similar to A. prate n*i*.
Bill blackish brown, inclining to yellow at base of lower mandible :
irides dark brown ; legs light brown (Dresser}.
Length 6 ; tail 2'25 ; wing 3 ; tarsus '85 ; hind toe and claw '8 ; hind
claw '5 ; culm en -6.
Distribution. Europe, Northern Africa, Western and Central Asia.
Specimens were shot in Tehri-Garhwal by Mr. Osmaston at 11,000 feet
elevation. The nest and eggs were taken on May 25th. The skin of the
parent bird was identified in the Museum, Calcutta.
Vol. II, p. 378. No. 914, Dicceum chrysorrhwum figured, Raker, Jour.
Bom. N. H. Soc. x, p. 161, pi. E.
Vol. Ill, p. 92. No. 1012, Cyanops asiatica. The birds from North
Cachar, noticed on p. 93 as having the mantle-feathers and upper
tail-coverts tipped with maroon-red and the under tail-coverts
splashed with vermilion, are regarded by Mr. Baker as probably a
new species, confined to the higher peaks. This species he names
provisionally C. RUBESCENS, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. x, p. 253. It
is more fully described in Novitates Zoologicae, iii, p. 257 (1896).
He also describes and figures as CYANOPS ROBUSTIROSTRIS, sp.
nov. (Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. x, p. 356, pi. F), a small bird supposed
at first to be a young C. cyanotis, with the whole plumage green,
tinged with yellow on the forehead and wing-coverts ; lores, cheeks,
ear-coverts, throat, and upper breast strongly suffused with blue,
and the rest of the lower parts except the lower tail-coverts
slightly so: tail-feathers bluish beneath. Length 5'4, tail 1'7,
wing 3-25, tarsus -75, bill from gape -98, breadth at forehead -36.
The bill is shorter than that of adult C. cyanops, but broader at
the base.
As only one specimen is known, it will be better to await
1 further information, but it is far from improbable that both Ci/ffuoj)*
rnbescens and C. robustirostris deserve recognition as distinct
species.
Vol. Ill, p. 109. Meropidfe. There are 11 primaries in Merop* and
Melittopkayus, 10 in Nyctiornis (Gadow).
Vol. Ill, p. 125. No. 1038, Alcedo grandis figured, Baker, Jour. IJoni.
N. II. Soc. x, p. 539, pi. G.
Vol. Ill, p. 127. No. 1040, Ceyx tridactyla feeds on spiders. Baker,
t. c. x, p. 542.
Vol. HI, p. 133. No. 1045, Halcyon pileata. This was obtained by
Vidal at Mai-wan, south of Ratnagiri, and has since been captured
at Kalyannear Bombay: Comber, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. x, p. 533.
Found' throughout the Konkan from Bombay southward : Vidal,
op. cit. xi, p. 148 ; Aitken, ibid. p. 164.
APPENDIX. 485
Vol. Ill, p. 176. Ogilvie Grant has shown (Ibis, 1895, p. 461) that
• typical Collocalia fucipkaya has the tarsi feathered, and is only
distinguished from the Himalayan C. brevirostris by slightly
smaller size, a charaster not of specific importance. Consequently
No. 1081, the Indian Edible-nest Swiftlet, will stand as C. uni-
color, and No. 1082 as C. fuciphaga. (See also Hartert, Ibis,
1896, p. 3(38.)
Vol. Ill, p. 182. Caprimulgi. Hartert shows that the palate is not
schizognathous, but either segithognathous or in certain genera
desmognathous : Ibis, 1896, p. #61).
Vol. Ill, p. 188. No. 1093, Caprimulyus macrurus. Hartert, Ibis,
1896, p. 372, agrees that C. atripennis as well as C, albonotatus must
be classed as subspecies of C. macrurus. He proposes to give
the name C. macrurus ambiyuus to the form from Burma, Assam,
and the Eastern Himalayas, which is intermediate between typical
C. macrurus from Java and the North-Indian C. albonotatus
(this is the bird described as C. macrurus by Jerdon and Hume),
and to distinguish the Nepalese and Western Himalayan race (a
small pale- coloured form with a wing only 7'2 long) as C'. macrurus
nipalensis.
In Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. ix, p. 489, Davidson calls attention to
the difference between the eggs of C. albonotatus and C. atripennis.
He describes those of the latter, op. cit. vi, p. 331. His description
differs from that of Miss Cockburn, though it agrees fairly with
that of Colonel Legge (Gates in Hume's N. & E. 2nd ed. Hi,
p. 47).
Vol. Ill, p. 196. No. 1099, Batrachostomus moniliyer in Canara :
Davidson, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. ix, p. 489. This bird is common
in the province of Uva, Ceylon, below 2000 feet, and its peculiar
note, somewhat like " courroo, coorroo, coorroo ,^ ending with a
chuckle, may be heard every night : Butler, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc.
x, p. 297. Of B. hodysoni, numerous nests and eggs have been
taken in North Cachar : leaker, op. cit. x, p. 554.
Vol. Ill, p. 243. No. 1133, Centropus benyalensis obtained in Ceylon :
Butler, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. xi, p. 162.
Vol. Ill, p. 270. No. 1156, Asio otus has been found breeding in the
hills above Gurais in Kashmir, at about 900U feet elevation, by
Lieut. B. A. G. Shelley, K.E. The eggs, four in number,
measuring 1'62 by 1'35, were on a platform of sticks, perhaps an
old crow's nest: Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. x, p. 149.
Vol. Ill, p. 271. No. 1157, Asio accipitrinus has been taken in Ceylon
on several occasions recently : Butler, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. x,
p. 284 ; xi, p. 163.
Vol. Ill, p. 309. Mr. A. L. Butler writes to me that the call of the
Andamanese Ninox affinis is a loud " craw," something like a
Glaucidium's note, and quite different from that of N. scutulata in
Ceylon, which is a soft fluty dissyllable, as is also that of ^V. obscura.
Vol. Ill, p. 345. No. 1208. The length of Hieraetus pennatus should be
20 inches, not 29.
Vol. Ill, p. 348. No. 1210, Ictmaetus malayensis is found in the Malay
Peninsula and Islands. The statement that it is not found is a
misprint.
Vol. II I, p. 389. The genus Buteo has occasionally, though very rarely,
been found in Burma : see p. 395.
486 APPENDIX.
Vol. Ill, p. 396. Genus Aster. A new species lias just been described.
1244«. Astur butleri. The Nicobar Short -toed Hawk.
Astur butleri. J. If. Gurney. Bull. B. O. C. vol. vii. p. xxvii (January.
1898).
" Adult male. Whole of the upper parts bluish grey, lightest on the
head ; breast pink, finely barred with white, one indistinct bar at the
end of the tail. No bars on the primaries, secondaries, or under wing-
coverts, which are quite white ; in this respect, and in its plain tail,
greatly differing from Astitr poliopsis {Hume) (a form of No. 1244.
A. badms), which has all the feathers barred except the middle ones.
Iris bright orange. Feet yellow. Length 11 '7 inches, wing 6*7, tail 5'3,
tarsus 1*9.
" Immature male. Whole of the upper parts dark chestnut, darker on
the nape, each feather haying a dark centre. Tail cinnamon -red, with
two dark brown bars. Breast and sides reddish brown, blotched with
buff. Belly whitish buff, blotched with rufous. Throat buff, with a thin
median streak of chestnut. Underside of wing cinnamon. Primaries
and secondaries indistinctly barred. Under wing-coverts barred with
rufous. Iris greyish white. Feet pale lemon. Hll black, base bluish.
Cere pale green. Eyelid preenish.
" These Hawks, and two others said to be exactly like them, were shot
in September 1897 on the island of Car Nicobar,' in the Bay of Bengal,
by Mr. A. L. Butler."
Vol. IV, p. 80. In the 'Ibis,' just published, for January 1898, p. 124.
Gates has distinguished the Pheasant of the Shan States east of
the Irrawaddy from typical Phasianvs ( Calophasis] humice of Mani-
pur, and has described the former as CALOPHASIS BURMANNICUH.
The principal differences are the broader white margins to the
feathers of the lower back and rump, and the imperfect black
wing-bar, part of the black being replaced by chestnut. Moreover
the black of the neck does not extend to the upper back, and
there is more chestnut on the bars of the tail-feathers, and on the
concealed parts of the feathers forming the posterior white winp-
bar. Some of the distinctions had been noted by Mr. F. Finn (J. A.
S. B. Ixvi, pt. 2, p. 623), and the feathers cf the lower back of both
forms figured. I am doubtful whether the differences mentioned,
with the possible exception of the white on the lower back and
rump, are likely to be constant. There is much variation even
in the few specimens (three from Manipur and two from North-
eastern Burma) availab'e for examination. I am inclined to class
the Shan States form as a race or subspecies of P. humice, but
many ornithologists would regard it as a distinct species.
Vol. IV, p. 116. No. 1356, Cotnmi.r coromandelica has been recorded
from Colombo, Ceylon, bv Mr. A. L. Butler, Jour. Bom. N. II.
Soc. x, p. 284.
Vol. IV, p. 169. Mr. Bntler writes to me that No. 1397, Rallina
carmimgi, is common in the Andaman Islands, but very shy : the
principal breeding season is January to April. The nestling is
clad in chestnut down, and the immature bird has the lower parts
dull blackish grey, narrowly barred with dirty white.
Vol. IV, p. 190. The Burmese Sarus Crane, NO. 1410, Grus sharpii, has
been observed in flocks by Mr. Davis, whose notes are printed in
Hume and Marshall's ' Game Birds.'
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
abbotti (Cyanecula), 483.
abnortnis (Hypotaenidia),
162.
accipitriuus (Asio), 485.
Actitis, 260.
Actodromas, 276.
acuminata (Heteropvgia).
276.
acuminata (Tringa), 276.
acurninatus (Totanus),
276.
acuta (Anas), 447.
acuta (Dafila), 447.
Adelarus, 302,
^gialitis 236.
ojgocephala (Liraosa),
254.
segocephala (Sc'olopnx),
256.
senea (Carpopbaga), 19.
aenea (Coluniba), 19.
{jctherius (Phaeton), 349,
357.
affirm (Larus), 304.
affinis (Ninox), 485.
affinis (Osmotreron *, 8, 9.
affinis (Sterna), 313.
affinis (Vinago), 8.
africana (Anas), 460.
at'ricana (Nyroca), 4(50.
agrioola (Columba), 40.
akool (Arnaurornis),
172.
akool (Porzana), 172.
akool (Rallus), 172.
alba (Ardea), 385.
alba (Ciconia), 369.
alba (Herodias), 385,
386.
albellus (Mergellus), 467.
albellus (Mergus), 4(57.
albescens (Podiceps), 475,
476.
albe?cens (Tringa ), 274.
albicollis (Rbynchops),
327.
albieristatus (Gennjeus),
89.
albifrons (Anser), 417.
albifrons (Branta), 417.
albigena (Sterna), 317.
albigulare (Nettion),
444-.
albigulare (Nettium),
444.
albigularis (Garrulax),
478.
albipennis (Podiceps),
475.
albipennis (Tacbybaptes),
475.
albiventer (Graculus),
340.
albiventris (Turnix), 154.
albocellatuni (Polyplec-
tron), 73.
albocristatus (Euplo-
canuis), 89.
albocristatus (Euplo-
coinus), 89.
albocristatus (Gallopba-
sis), 89.
albocristatus (Pbasianus),
89.
albogularis (Mareca),
444.
albonotatus (Capri in ul-
gus), 485.
alchata (Pterocles), 58.
alcbata (Pteroclurus), 58,
59.
Alectoropodes, 66.
alexandrma (vEgialitis),
240.
alexandrinus (Chara-
drius), 240.
alpina (Pelidna), 279.
alpina (Tringa), 279.
Alsocomus, 35.
amauroptera (Porzana),
108.
Amaurornis, 170.
ambiguus (Capriiunlgus
inaorurus), 485.
amboinensis (Macro-
pygia), 51.
Araraoperdix, 133.
anastheta (SLerna), 323.
Anas, 435.
anastbajtus (Onycho-
prion), 323.
Anastomus, 377.
Anatidaj, 412.
Anatinse, 420.
Ancylochilus, 278.
anclamanensis(Herodias),
391.
andamanensis (Querque-
dula), 444.
audersoni (Euplocainus),
94.
andersoni (Gennaeus),
94.
andersoni (Nvctbemerus),
94.
andersoni (Phosnico-
pterus), 408.
anglica (Gelochelidon).
311.
anglica (Sterna), 311.
angustirostris (Anas),
454.
angustirostris (Chaulelas-
mus), 454.
angnstirostris (Marruaro-
netta), 454.
angustirostris (Querque-
dula), 454.
Anous, 325.
Anser, 415.
An seres, 411.
Anserinae, 415.
antarcticus (StercorariusV
330.
Anthropoides, 190.
Anthus, 483.
antigone (Antigone),
189.
antigone (Ardea), 188.
antigone (Grus), 188,
Ifc9.
antiquorum (Pho?nico-
pterus), 408.
apicauda (Treron), 16.
488
ALPHABETICAL I2TDEX.
apicaudus (Sphenocer-
cua), 16.
apicicauda (Sphenocer-
cus), 16.
aquaticus (Eallus), 160.
aquila (Fregata), 338.
aquilus (Attagen), 338.
aquilus (Pelecanus), 338.
Arboricola, 123.
Arbor, .phila, 125.
ar'juata (Anas), 430.
arcuata (Deudroc ygna )
430.
arcuatus (Numenius).
252.
Ardea, 380.
Ardeee, 379.
Ardeidse, 379.
Ardeola, 392.
ardeola (Dromas), 208.
Ardetta, 399.
Arenaria, 222.
arenaria (Calidris), 270.
arenaria (Tringa), 270.
arenarius (Pterocles), 54.
argala (Ardea), 373.
argala (Leptoptilus),
373.
argentatus (Larus), 305.
argoondah (Coturnix),
119.
argoondah (Perdicula),
118, 119.
argunda (Perdicula),
119.
a*gus (Argusianus), 71.
argus (Phasianus), 71.
Argusianus, 71.
ariel (Attagen), 338.
ariel (Fregala), 338.
aromatica (Vinago), 8.
arquata (Nurnenius),
252.
arquata (Scolopax), 252.
Asarcornis, 424.
asba (Ardea), 390.
asha (Demi-egretta), 390.
asha (Herodias), 390.
asha (Lepterodius), 390.
asiatica ( JEgialitis), 239.
asiatica (Cyanops), 484.
asiatica (Mycteria), 372.
asiatica (Perdicula), 118,
119.
asiatica (Perdix), 118.
asiaticus (Charadrius),
239.
asiaticus (Eudronuias),
239.
asiaticus (Ochthodro-
mus), 239.
asiaticus (Phalaropus),
281.
asiaticus (Stercorarius),
329.
asiaticus (Xenorhynchus),
372.
assimilis (Macropygia),
61.
Astur, 486.
atelospilum (Polyplec-
tron), 73. • "
atra (Fulica), 180.
atrigularis (Arboricola),
124, 127.
atrinuchalis (Sarco-
grainma), 226.
atrinuchalis (Sareogram-
inus), 226.
atripennie (Caprimul-
gus), 485.
atrisuperciliaris (Su-
thora), 478.
atrogularis (Arboricola),
atrogularis (Arboro-
phiia), 127.
atrogularis (Hemipodius),
151.
atrogularis (Sarco-
graujma), 226.
atronuchalis (Lobivanel-
lus), 22C».
Attagen, 338.
augusta (Chalcophaps),
26.
aurantia (Seena), 315.
aurantia (Sterna), 315.
auril'rons (Chloropsis),
481.
aurita (Otis), 198.
aurita (Sypheotis), 198.
auritus (Sypheotides),
198.
auritus (Turtur), 42.
austeni (Proparus), 479.
austral is (Mycteria).
372.
australis (Sula), 346.
autuinnalis (Himanto-
pus), 242.
avocetta (Recurvirostra),
248.
awsuree (Dendrocygna),
430.
awsuree (Mareca), 430.
Aythya, 458.
bacchus (Ardeola), 394.
bacchus (Buphus), 394.
baeri (Anas), 461.
baeri (Fuligula), 461.
baeri (Nyroca), 461.
bailloni (Porzana), 165.
Bambusicola, 110.
bankiva (Gallus), 75.
belgica (Limosa), 254.
belgica (JScolopax), 254.
bengalensis (Centropus),
485.
bengalensis (Houbarop-
sis), 200.
bengalensis (Molpastes),
481.
bengalensis (Otis), 200.
bengalensis (Khynchaea),
293.
bengalensis (Sterna),
3J3.
bengalensis (Sypheoti-
des), 200.
bengalensis (Sypheotis),
2UO.
bengalensis (Thalasseusi),
313.
benglialensis (Rullus),
293.
bergii (Sterna), 314.
be wick i (Cygnus), 414.
bicalcarata (Galloperdix),
109.
bicalcaratus (Perdix),
It9.
bicincta (Osuiotrerou),
11.
bic.ncta (Treron), 11.
bicincta (Vinago), 11.
bicolor (Ainaurornis),
171.
bicolor (Carpophaga),
23.
bicolor (Columba), 23.
bicolor (Myristicivora),
bicolor (Porzana), 171.
biddulphi (Pucraoia), 85,
86.
bilobus (Charadrius),
226.
bilobus (Sarciophorus),
226.
bitorquatus (Cursorius),
213.
bitorquatus (Macrotar-
_ eius), 212.
bitorquatus (Rhinopti-
lus), 212.
blanibrdi (Turnix), 155.
blewitti (Microperdix),
122,
blytbi (Phcenicopterus),
410.
blythi (Tragopan), 102.
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
489
blythii (Ceriornis), 102.
bonhaini (Ammoperdix),
133.
bonbami (Perdix), 133.
boscas (Anas), 435.
boschas (Anas), 435.
Botaurus, 405.
boyciana (Ciconia), 369.
Brachypodinre, 481.
brachyrhynchus (Anser),
418.
brag (Ardea), 382.
Branta, 456.
brevirostris (Collocalia),
485.
brunnea (Larvi vora), 481 .
brunneicephalus (Larus),
301.
brvinneipectus (Arbori-
cola), 124, 128.
brunneopectus (Arbori-
cola), 128.
brunneopectus (Arboro-
pbila), 128.
brunnicephala (Xema),
301.
Bubulcus, 388.
bubulcus (Ardea), 389.
bubulcus (Herodias),
389.
Bucanetes, 483.
burmanicus (Molpastes),
481.
burinannicus(Phasianus),
486.
burnesii (Gallinula), 175.
Buteo, 485.
butleri (Astur), 486.
Butorides, 394.
Butrerou, 13.
cabanisi (Dendrocopus),
478.
Caccabis, 131.
cachinnans (Larus), 305.
Calidris, 270.
calidris (Scolopax), 264.
calidris (Tot an us), 264.
Calcenadina1, 24.
Oaloeuas, 24.
Caioperdix, 130.
cambayensis (Columba),
45.
cambavensis (Perdicula),
118.
cambayensis (Perdix),
118.
cambayensis (Turtur), 45.
campestris (Tetrax), 193.
candidus (Hiniantopus),
247.
candidus (Phaeton), 350.
canesceus (Totanus), 266.
canif'rons (Spixizus), 481.
canning! (Uastanoliinnas),
169.
canningi (Euryzona), 169.
canning! (Eallina), 169,
486.
cantiaca (Sterna), 312.
cantiana (Hiaticula),
240.
cantianus (Charadrius),
240.
cantianus (Jigialitis),
240.
cantianus (vEgialophilus),
241.
cantillans (Spbenocercus),
16.
cantillans (Vinago), 16.
canutus (Tringa), 277.
capellei (Columba), 13.
capellei (Treron), 13.
capellii (Butrerou), 13,
14.
capensis (L)aption), 357.
capensis (Procellaria),
357.
capensis (Ehyncha>a),
293.
capensis (Eostratula),
293.
capensis (Scolopax), 293.
ca.pistrata pallida (Mala-
eias), 481.
Caprimulgi, 485.
carbo (Grrar-ulus), 340.
carbo (Pelecanus), 340.
carbo (Pbalacrocorax),
340.
Carpopbaga, 18.
Carpopbaginaj, 18.
caryopbyllacea (Anas),
425.
caryopbyllacea (Ebodo-
nessa), 425.
Casarca, 428.
casarca (Anas), 428.
casarca (Tadorna), 428.
casiotis (Columba), 34.
casiotis (Palurabus), 34.
caspia (Hydroprogne),
309.
caspia (Sterna), 309.
caspius (Sylochelidon),
309.
castanea (Pucrasia), 86.
castaueiceps (Stapbidea),
481.
Castanolimnas, 169.
castor (Merganser), 409.
castor (Mergus), 470.
Catreus, 82.
caudata (Puoepyga), 480.
caurina (Gailoperdix),
107.
Ceriornis, 99.
ceylonica. (Porzana), 67.
Chalcopbaps, 26.
chain ban us (Lopho-
phorus), 97.
Charadriidas, 221.
Charadriinae, 222.
Cbaradrius, 233.
charltoni (Arboricola),
124.
charltoni (Tropico-
perdix), 130.
Cbaulelasmus, 440.
Chettusia, 231.
chinensis (Coturnix), H^
chinensis (Excalfactoria),
112.
chinensis (Francolinus),
138.
chinquis (Pavo), 73.
chinquis (Pohplectron),
73.
chinquis (Polyplectrum).
73.
chirurgus (Hydropha-
sianus), 219.
chirurgus (Hydrophasis),
220.
chloriceps vel virescens
(Egretta), 395.
chlorigaster(Crocopus), (>.
cblorigaster (Treron), 6.
chlorigaster (Vinago), 6.
chlorogaster (Crocopus),
6.
Chloropsis, 481.
chloroptera (Osmo-
treron), 10.
chloroptera (Treron), 10.
chloropus (Arboricola),
124, 129.
chloropus (Arborophila),
129.
chloropus (Fulica), 175.
chloropus (Gallinula),
175.
chloropus (Peloperdix),
129.
chloropus (Phoenico-
perdix), 129.
chioropus (Tropico-
perdix), 129.
chlororhynchus (PufR-
nus), 356.
chrysorrhoeum (Dicieum),
484.
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
clmcai* (Caccabis ). 131.
chukar (Perdix), 131.
chtikor (Caccabis), 131.
Ciconia, 368.
ciconia (Ardea), 369.
ciconia (Ciconia), 369.
Ciconiae, 368.
Ciconiidae, 3(58.
cinclorhyncha (Petro-
phila), 478.
cinclus (Tringa), 279.
cinerea (Ardea), 382.
cinerea (Chaetusia), 228.
cinerea (Chettusia), 228.
cinerea (Fulica), lift.
cinerea (Gallicrex), 176.
cinerea (Grus), 186.
cinerea (Scolopax), 258.
cinerea (Terekia), 258.
emereicapilla (Frank-
linia), 478.
cinereiventris(Micropus),
482.
cinereus (Anser), 416.
cinereus (Lobivanellus),
228.
cinereus (Microsarcops),
228.
cinereus (Pluvianus), 228.
cinereus ^Xenus), 258.
cinnarnomea (Ardea),
402.
cinmimomea (Ardeiralla),
402.
cinnamomea (Ardetta),
402.
circia (Anas), 449.
ci;-cia (Querquedula),
449.
Cirrepidesmue, 237.
Clangula, 464.
clarki (Ixulus), 478, 481.
clypeata (Anas), 452.
clypeata (Spatula), 452.
coelestis (Gallinago), 286.
coelestis (Scolopax), 286.
collaris (Antigone), I8b.
cullaris (Grud/), 188.
Columba, 28.
Columbas, 1.
Columbidaj, 3.
Columbinas, 28.
comatus (Merganser),
469.
communis (Coturnix),
114.
communis (Grus), 186.
communis (Turtur), 42.
concolor (Demigretta),
391.
concolor (Herodias), 391.
concolor (Hypsipetes),
478.
corauta (Anas), 427.
cornufa (Tadorni). 427.
coromanda (Cancroma),
389.
coromandeliana (Anas),
433.
coromandelianus (Netta-
pus), 433.
coromandelianus (Netto-
pus), 433.
coromandelica (Cotur-
nix), 116,486.
coromandelicus (Chara-
drius), 210.
coromandelicus (Cur-
sorius), 210.
coromandelicus (Netta-
pus), 433.
coromandus (Buphus),
389.
coromandus (Bubulcus),
389.
coronata (Perdix), 111.
coronatus (Pterocles), 57.
Coturnix, 1 14.
coturnix (Coturnix),
115.
crassirostris (Tringa),
277.
Crateropus, 479.
eravvfurdi (Euplocamus),
94.
crecca (Anas), 443.
crecca (Nettion), 443.
crecca (Nettium), 443.
crecoa (t^uerquedula),
443.
crepidatus (Larus), 329.
crepidatus ^btercorarius),
329.
crepitans (CEdicnemus),
204.
Crex, 162.
crex (Crex), 163.
crex (Rallus), 163.
crispus (Pelecanus), 335.
cristata (Anas), 463.
cristata (Fuligula), 463.
cristata (Fulix), 4(i3.
cristata (Gallicrex), 177.
cristata (Gallinula), 176.
cristata (Sterna), 314.
cristatus (Colymbus),
473.
cristatus (Pavo). 68.
cristatns (Plmsianus),
111.
cristatus (Podiceps),
473.
cristatus (Rollulus), 111.
cri<tatus (Thalasseus).
314.
cristatus (Vanellus), 235.
Crocopus, 4.
Crossoptilum, 88.
cruentus (Ithagenes), 103.
cruentus (Ithaginis), 103.
cruentus (Phasianu.-),
103.
Crymophilus, 282.
cuprea (Carpophaga),
cuprea (Columba), 22.
cuprea (Duculaj, 22.
curonica (^Egialitis),
242.
curonicus (Charadrius),
241.
Cursoriinae, 210.
Cursorius, 210.
cuvieri (Euplocamus),
93.
cuvieri (Gennajus), 93,
94.
cuvieri (Lophophorus),
93.
cyaniventris (Tesia), 478.
cyanof s (Dysporus), 347.
cyanops (Sula), 347.
cyclospilum (Polyplec-
tron), 73,
Cygninaj, 413.
cygnoides (Anser), 417,
420.
Cygnus, 413.
Cymodroma, 354.
dabryi (^Ethopyga),
478.
Dafila, 447.
damacensis (Liinonites),
275.
damacensis (Totanus),
274.
damacensis (Tringa),
275.
Daption, 357.
davisoni (Genna?,us), 94.
davisoni (Geronticus),
davisoni (Graptocepha-
lus), 364.
davisoni (Inocotis), 364.
Pemiegretta, 390.
Dendrocycna, 430.
Dendrotreron, 32.
])issura, 390.
dominions (Charadrius),
234.
dougalli (Sterna), 319.
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
491
dour.ica (Turtur), 46.
Dromaclida1, 201.
L»rornas, 208.
dubia (jEgialitis), 241.
dubia (Ardea), 373.
dubius (Cliaradrius),
241.
dubius (Leptoptilus),
373.
Ducula, 20.
Dupetor, 403.
dussumieri (Heraipo-
dius), 152.
dussumieri (Turnix).
152, 153.
duvauceli (Pucrasia), 84.
Dy.sporus, 346.
edwardii (Eupodotis),
195.
edwardsi (Eupodotis),
195.
edwardsii (Otis), 195.
egretta (Ardea), 385.
egretta (Herodias), 386.
egret toides (Ardea), 3S6.
egrettoides (Herodias),
387.
elegans (Pbasianus), 81.
elpbinstonei (Palumbus),
36.
elphinstonii (Alsocomus),
36.
elphinstonii (Columba),
36.
elpbinstonii (Ptilinopus),
36.
elwesi (Porzana), 171.
emeria (Otocompsa), 481.
enicospilum (Polyplec-
tron), 73.
episcopus (Ardea), 370.
episcopus (Ciconia), 370.
episcopus (Dissura), 370.
episcopal (Melanopelar-
gus, 370).
Erismatura, 465.
Erytbra, 173.
erythrogaster (Ruticilla),
483.
erythropus (Anser), 417,
418.
ervthrorbyncba (Cotur-
nix). 121.
erythrorhyncba (Micro-
perdix), 121.
erythrorbyricba (Perdi-
cula), 121, 122.
erytbrorhyncbus (Micro-
perdix), 121.
E sac us, 205.
Eudromias, 240.
eulopbotes (Herodias),
387, 388, 391.
Euuetta, 438.
Euplocomus. 89.
Eupodotis, 194.
Euryuorhynebus, 271.
Eurypterus, 233.
Euryzona, J69.
euryzoaoides (Rallina),
I6d.
eversmanni (Columba).
31.
eversmanni(Palurnbcena),
ol •
Excalfactoria, 112.
exsul (Turdinulus), 480.
exustus (Pterocles), 00.
exustus (Pteroclurus), 60.
faleata (Anas), 438.
falcata (Eunetta), 438.
faleata (Querquedula),
438.
falcinellus (Ibis), 364.
falcinelius (Plegadis),
364.
falcinellus (Tantalus),
364.
fasciata (Porzana), 169.
fasciata (Rallina), 169.
fasciata (Tringa), 55.
fnsciatus (Pteroeles), 55.
fasciatus (Rallus), 169.
feriua (Anas), 458.
ferina (Aythya), 458.
t'erina (Fuligula), 459.
ferina (Njroca), 458.
ferrago (Columba), 41.
terrago (Turtur), 41,
42.
ferrea (Hypotaenidia),
162.
ferruginea (Anas), 460.
ferruginea (Nyroca), 4(')0.
ferrugineus (Grallus), 75.
ferus (Anser), 416.
ferus (Cygnus), 414.
fiber (Sula), 346.
flaiumiceps (Zapornia),
170.
flaveolus (Criniger), 481.
flavescens (Xanthixus),
481.
flavicollis (Ardea), 403.
flavicollis (Ardeiralia),
40 \.
flavicollis (Dupetor), 403,
404.
flavipes (Cbettusia), 233.
tiavipes (Vanellus), 233.
flavirostris (Phaethon),
350.
flaviventris (Otocotnpsa),
481.
flavogularis (Osmotre-
ron). 9.
flavogularis (Treron), 9.
fluviatilis (jEgialitis),
242.
fluviatilis (Cliaradrius),
241.
fluviatilis (Podiceps),
475.
fluviatilis (Sterna), 318.
fluviatilis (Tacbybaptes),
475.
forrnosa (Anas), 442.
fonnosa (Querquedula),
442.
formosum (Nettion), 442.
formosum (Nettium),442.
Francolinus, 1;34.
francolinus(Franoolinus),
135.
fraterculus(Pericrocotus),
483.
Fregata, 337.
Fregatidae, 337.
frontalis (Dendrocitta),
478.
fuciphaga (Collocalia),
485.
Fulica, 180.
fulicaria (Tringa), 282.
Fulicarise, 157.
fulicarius (Crymopbilus),
4BO*L
fulicarius (Phalaropus).
281, 282.
f uliginosa (Onycboprion ),
324.
fuliginosa (Sterna), 324.
fuligula (Anas), 463.
fuligula (Fuligula), 463.
fulva (Anas), 432.
fulva (Dendrocycna),432.
fulvicollis (Columba), 10.
fulvicollis (Osmotreron),
10.
fulvus (Charadrius). 234.
fusca (Ardea), 383, 384.
fusca (Porzana), 170.
fusca (Rallina), 171.
fusca (Scolopax), 265.
fuscescens (Larus). 304.
fuscicollis (Graculus),
341.
fuscicollis (Phalacn -
corax), 341.
fuscus (Aaiaurornis),
170.
492
ALPHABETICAL JKDEX.
f'uscus (Lams). 304.
i'uscus (Lirnnobamus),
171.
t'uscus (Rallus), 170.
i'uicus (Totanus), 265.
t \tchii (Bambusicola),
* 110.
Galactochrysea, 216.
Gallicrex, 176.
gallic'us (Charadrius),
211.
gallicus (Cursorius), 211.
Gallinse, 64.
Gallinago, 285.
gallinago (Gallinago),
287.
gallinago (Scolopax), 285,
286.
gallinaria (Gallinago),
287.
Gallinula, 175.
gjtllinula (Gallinago),
202.
gallinula (Limnocryptes),
292.
gallinula (Scolopax), 292.
Galloperdix, 106.
Gallus, 74.
gallus (Gallus), 75.
gallus (Pbasianus), 75.
Garrulus, 478.
garzetta (Ardea), 387.
garzetta (Garzetta), 387.
garzetta (Herodias), 387.
Gaviie, 296.
gelastes (Larus), 303.
gelastis (Cokmiba), 40.
Gelochelidon, 311.
Gennseus, 88.
geoffroyi (^Egialitis\ 237.
geoffroyi (Charadrius),
237.
geoffroyi (Cirrepides-
nuts), 237.
geoffroyi (Hiatictila),
237.
geoffroyi (Ochthodro-
mus), 237.
Geopelia, 52.
Geopeliinae, 51.
Gerontk-us, 362.
gibberif'rons(Mareca),444.
gibberifrons (Querque-
dula), 444.
gigantea (Ardea), 373.
giganteus (Argus), 71.
giganteus (Argusianus),
71.
giganteus (Leptoptilus),
373.
girra (Anas), 433.
Glareola, 214.
glareola (Actitis). 261.
glareola (Khyacophilus),
261.
glareoia (Totanus), 261.
glareola (Tringa), 261.
Glareolidrc, 209.
Glareolinae, 214.
glauoion (Anas), 464.
glaucion (Clangula), 464.
glocitans (Querquedula),
442.
glottis (Totanus), 266.
guensis (Lobi \anellus),
224.
goensis (Parra), 224.
goliatb (Ardea), 384.
Gorsacbius, 398.
gouldi (Sterna), 321.
gouldi (Sternula), 321.
graoilis (Sterna), 319.
Grallae, 156.
grandis (Alcedo), 484.
Graptocepbalus, 364.
gruyi (Ardeola), 393.
grayii (Ardea), 393.
gregaria (Cbaetusia), 232.
gregaria (Cbettusia), 231.
gregarius (Cbaradrius),
231.
gregarius (Vanellus),
232.
gimeyi (Deraiegretta), 391.
grisea (Ardea), 397.
grisea (Carvamica), 206.
griseicapilla (Carpo-
phnga), 22.
griseicapilla (Ducula),
griseus (Eurynorbyn-
chus), 271.
griseus (Nycticcrax),397.
Grues, 184.
Gruidge, 185.
Grus, 185.
grus (Ardea), 186.
grus (Grus), 186.
gularis (Ardea), 390.
gularis (Demiegretta),
390.
gularis (Francolinus),
141.
gularis (Ortygornis),
gularis (Perdix), 141.
guttaticollis (Paradoxor-
uis), 478.
guttaticollis (Turdi-
nulus), 480.
guttatus (Pierocles), 62.
guttifer (Pseudoglottis),
267.
guttifer (Toianus), 267.
Hajmatopodinae, 245.
Hreinatopus, 245.
baplouotci (Elachura),
482.
hardwickii (Chloropsis),
481.
hardwickii (Coluinba), 5.
hauglitoni (Pseudo-
t(»tanus), 2tt7.
baughtorii (Totanus),
267.
belei ae (Polyplectron),
73.
Heliopais, 182.
Heliornithidae, 181.
Helodromas, 262.
helvetica (Squatarola),
236.
helvetica (Tringa), 236.
Hemipodii, 149.
Hemipus, 482.
heinprichi (Adelarus),
3( »2.
hemprichi (Larus), 302.
hepburnii (Perdix), 137.
Herodias, 385.
Herodiones, 359.
Heteropygia, 276.
hiaticola (Jigialitis),
243.
Hiaticula, 237.
hiaticula (^Sigialitis), 243,
244.
hiaticula (Charadrius),
243.
himalayensis (Tetrao-
gallu^), 143.
Hiiuantupus, 246.
biniantopus (Chara-
drius), 247.
hiiuanlopus (Himauto-
pus), 247.
hirundo (Sterna), 318.
hodgsoni (Batrachosto-
mus), 485.
hodgsoni (Dendrotreron),
hodgsoniae (Perdix), 142.
hoogsoniye (Sacfa), 142.
hodgsonii (Alsoco/uus),
33.
hodgsonii (Columba), 33.
hopkiusoni (Bambuei-
cola), 110.
Hoplopterus, 229.
horsfieldi (Euplocomus),
92.
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
horsfieldi (Gallophasis),
92.
horsfieldi (Genna?us). 92.
horsfieldi (Sculopax),
289.
horsfieldii (Gallinago),
289.
Houbara, 196.
Houbaropsis, 200.
hurnice (Callophasis), 80.
humiai (Phasianus), 80,
486.
humilior (Turtur), 47.
liumilis (Columba), 47.
hiauilis (Ixulus), 481.
humilis (Turtur), 47.
hybrida (Hydrochelidon),
'307.
hybrida (Sterna), 307.
Hydrochelidon, 307.
Hydrophasianus, 219.
Hydrophasis, 220.
Hydroprogne, 309.
hyemalis (Scolopax), 291.
bvperborea (Tringa),
281.
livperboreus (Lobipes),
' 281.
hyperboreuH (Phfilaro-
pus), 281.
hyperythrtiB (Hypopi-
*cus). 478.
hypoleucos (Tringa), 260.
hypoleucus (Actitis), 260.
bypoleucus (Totanus),
260.
hypoleucus (Tringoides).
260.
Hypotaenidia, 160.
Ibidid;e, 361.
Ibidorhynchus, 249.
Ibis, 361.
ichthytetus (Kroiko-
cephalus), 299.
ichtbyaetus (Larus), 299.
igneus (Falcinellus), 364.
igneus (Nurnenius), 364.
ignitus (Euplocarnus),
87.
imberbis (Pomatorhinus),
478, 479.
immaculata (Elacbura),
482.
immaculata (Herodias),
387.
impejanus (Phasianus),
97.
impeyanus (Lopbo-
phorus), 96, 97.
indica (Ardea), 372.
indica (Bernicla), 419.
indica (Chaleophaps), 26.
indica (Columba), 26.
indica (Eidabeia), 419.
indica (Hydrochelidon),
307.
indica (Tanthia), 478.
indica (Mycteria), 372.
indica (Otis), 198.
indica (Parra), 218.
indica (Triuga), 224.
indica (Viralva), 307.
indicus (Anser), 419.
indicus (Lobivanellus),
224.
indicus (Metopidius),
218.
indicus (ffidicnemus),
204.
indicus (Phaethon). 349.
indicus (Rallus), 158.
indicus (Sarcogrammus),
224, 225.
innominatus (Larus),
299.
innotata (Sterna), 307.
Inocotis, 362.
inornata (Cbettusia),
228.
inornatus (Lobivanelius),
228.
insignis (Ardea), 383.
insignis (Carpophaga),
21, 22.
insignis (Ducula), 21.
insularis (Amaurornis),
173.
insularis (Carpophaga),
20.
intermedia (Arboricola),
124, 127.
intermedia ( Arboroph ila),
127.
intermedia (Ardea), 386.
intermedia (Columba),
29.
intermedia (Herodias),
336.
intermedia (Mesophoyx),
3S7.
intermedius (Franco-
linua), 138.
intermedius (Himanto-
pus), 247.
interpret (Arenaria),
223.
interpres (Cinclus), 223.
interpres (Strepsilas),
223.
interpres (Tringa), 223.
isabellinus (Lanius), 478.
Ithagenes, 103.
jamesoni (Cursorius),
211.
japonica (Coturnix), 116.
javanica (Anas), 430.
javanica (Ardea), 395.
javanica (Butorides),
395.
javanica (Ciconia), 374.
javanica (Dendrocycria),
430.
javanica (Pelodes), 316.
javanica (Sterna). 316.
javanicus (Carbo), 342.
javanicus (Graculus),
342.
javanicus (Leptoptilus),
374.
javanicus (Pavo). 70.
javanicus (Pelecanus),
333.
javanicus (Phalacro-
corax); 342.
jnrdoni ( JSgialitis), 242.
jerdoni (Sternula), 316.
jerdoni (Treron), 6.
joudera (Hemipodius),
153.
joudera (Turnix), 153.
jugularis (Ardea), 391.
iugularis (Herodias),
391.
korustes (Sterna), 319.
Kroikocephalus, 299.
lactea (Galachrysea), 216.
lactea (Galactochrysea),
216.
lactea (Glareola), 216.
lafayettii (Gallus), 77.
larnbruschini (Larus),
303.
larnbruschini (Xema),
303.
lapponica (Limosa), 256.
lapponica (Soalopax),
256.
Laridje, 297.
Larinae, 298.
Larus, 298.
larvatus (Crateropus),
479.
Lepterodius, 390.
leptogrammica (Macro-
pygia), 49.
Leptoptilus, 373.
Lerwa, 145.
lerwa (Lerwa), 145.
lerwa (Perdix), 145. .
494
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
lescbenaulti (JEgialitis),
237-
leschenaulti (Chara-
drius), 237.
leschenaultii (Hiaticula),
238.
lescbenaultii (Taccocua),
478.
Lestris, 330.
leuceroclia (Platalea),
366.
leucocapillus (Anous),
326.
leucocapillus (Micran-
ous), 3^6.
leucocephala (Ardea),
370.
leucocephala (Ciconm),
370.
leucocephala (Erisma-
tura), 466.
leucocephalus (Anas),
466.
leucocephalus (Pseudo-
tantalus), 376.
leucocephalus (Tantalus),
376.
leucogaster (Pelecanus),
346.
leucogaster (Sula), 346.
leucogastra (Sula), 346.
leucogeranus (Grus),
187.
leucogeranus (Sarcogera-
nus), 187.
leucomelanos (Phasia-
nus), (JO.
leucomelanus (Euploca-
inns), 90.
leucomelanus (Gallopha-
sis), 90.
leucomelauus (Gennaeus),
90.
leuconota (Columba),
32.
leuc(jpareia (Sterna), 307,
308.
leucophthalnms (Anas),
460.
leucoptera (Anas), 424.
leucoptera ( Ardeola), 393,
394.
leucoptera (Casarca),
424.
leucoptera (Hydrocheli-
don), 308.
leucoptera (Sterna), 3C8.
leucopterus (Sarcidior-
nis ?), 424.
leucorodia (Platalea),
366.
leucura (Chettusia,), 233.
leucurus (Charadrius),
233.
leucurus (Eurypterus),
233.
leucurus (Lobivanellus),
233.
leucurus (\ranellus), 233.
lichtensteini (Pterocles),
57.
lilfordi (Grus), 186.
Limicolae, 202. •
Limnobaenus, 171.
Limnoi-ryptes, 292.
Limonites. 273.
Liniosa, 254.
liuiosa (Limosa), 254.
limosa (Scolopax), 254.
lineatus (Euplocamus),
92.
lineatus (Genna?us), 92.
lineatus (Numenius),
252.
lineatus (Nyctheinerus),
93.
lineatus (Phasianus), 92.
livia (Columba), 29, 30.
lobata (Tringa), 281.
lubatus (Phalaropus),
282.
Lobipes, 281.
Lobipluvia, 226.
Lobivanellus, 224.
longipeniiis (Sterna), 319.
longipes (Charadrius),
234.
Lophophorus, 95.
Lophura, 87.
longirostris (Pelecanus),
334.
lunulata (Galloperdix),
108.
lunulata (Perdix), 108.
lunulatus (Galloperdix),
108.
lunulosa (Galloperdix),
108.
luzoniensis (Parra), 2.19.
Machetes, 268.
macqueeni (Houbara),
196.
macqueeni (Otis), 196.
niacrolopha (Phasianus),
84.
macrolopha (Pucrasia),
84.
macrolopha (Salyra), 84.
Macropygia, 48.
Macrorhampbus, 257.
Macrotarsius, 212.
macrurus (Caprimulgus),
485.
maculosa (Turnix), 155.
magnirostris (Esacus),
207.
magnirostris (Oidicne-
mus), 207.
magnirostris (Ortho-
rhamphus), 207.
major (Dendrocygna),
4:iO.
major (Horornis), 478.
major (Tribura), 482.
malabarica (Lobipluvia),
227.
malabarica (Osmotreron),
8.
malabarica (Treron), 8.
malabarica (Vinago), 8.
tnabi bancus (Cbaradrius),
22R.
malabaricus (Hoplopte-
rus), 229.
malabaricus (Sarciopho-
rus), 226.
malavensis (Ictinaetus),
485.
mandellii (Arboricola),
128.
mandellii (Arborophila),
128.
manillensis (Ardea), 381.
manillensis (Pelecanus),
336.
manillensis (Phoyx), 381.
manipurensis (Microper-
dix), 122.
manipurensis (Perdicula),
122.
Mareca, 445.
marginata (Hydrocheli-
don), 322.
marila (Anas), 462.
marila (Fuligula), 462.
marila (Nyroca), 462.
Marmaronetta, 454.
marmorata /"Anas), 454.
marnetta COrtvgometra),
166.
maruetta (Porzana), 166.
media (Gallinago), 286.
media (St.erna), 313.
meena (Columba), 40.
meena (Turtur), 40.
megapodia (Perdix), 125.
Megapodiida1, 147.
Megnpodius, 147.
melanauchen (Onycho-
priou), 322.
melanauchen (Sterna),
322.
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
495
melanauchen (Sternula),
322.
melanocephala (Cerior-
nis), 100.
melanocephala (Ibis),
361.
melanocephalus (Ibis),
361.
melanocephalus (Micro-
pus), 482.
melanocepbalus (Phasia-
nus), 100.
melanocephalus (Tanta-
lus), 361.
melanocephalus (Tbresci-
ornis), 361.
melanocephalus (Threski-
ornis), 361.
luelanocephalus (Trago-
pan), 100, 101.
melanogaster (Aiihinga),
344.
melanogaster (Cymodro-
ina), 355.
melanogaster (Plotus),
344.
melanogaster (Sterna),
316.
melanogaster (Thalassi-
droraa), 355.
melanogenys (Anous),
326.
melanognathus (Carbo),
342.
melanognathus (Gracu-
lus), 342.
melanolopha (Ardea),
398.
melanolopha (Tigrisoma),
398.
melanolophus (Gorsa-
chius), 398.
melanolophus (Gorsa-
kius), 398.
melanonota (Sarcidior-
nis), 423.
melanonotus (Euploca-
iiius), 91.
melanonotus (Francoli-
nus), 135.
melanonotus (Gennaeus),
91.
melanonotus (Sarcidior-
11 is), 423.
melanonotus (Sarkidior-
uis), 423.
melanops (Sula). 347.
melanopterus (Himanto-
pus), 247.
melanopus (Herodias),
389.
rnelanotus (Anser), 423.
melanotus (Euplocamus),
91.
melanotus (Gallophasis),
91.
melanura (Lirnoaa), 254.
melanuroides (Limosa),
25 1.
Merganser, 468.
merganser (Mergus), 469.
Merginse, 467.
Mergus, 467.
Meropidse, 484.
Mesophoyx, 387.
Metopidius, 218.
Micranous, 326.
Micropalama, 257.
Microperdix, 120.
Microsarcops, 228.
ruilitaris (Columba), 5.
minor (Attagen), 338.
minor (Charadrius), 241.
minor (Fregata), 330.
minor (Pelecanuj), 333.
minor (Phoeniconaias),
*10.
minor (Phoenicopterus),
410.
minor (Podiceps), 475.
minor (Sphenocercus),
17.
rninuta (Arclea), 400.
minuta (Ardetta\ 400.
minuta (Gallinula), 164.
minuta (Limonites), 273.
minuta (Porzana), 164.
minuta (Sterna), 321.
minuta (Sternula), 316,
320,321.
minuta (Tringa), 273,
274.
minutus (.cEgialitis),
242.
minutus (Anser), 418.
minutus (Charadrius),
241.
mitratus (Pelecanus), 333,
334.
modestum (Piprosoma).
478.
monachus (Grus), 189.
mongolica (.Egialitis),
238.
mongolicus (^Egialites),
238.
mongolicus (Charadrius),
238.
mongolicus (Cirrepides-
nma), 238.
mongolus (Oaaradrius),
238.
mongolus (Ochthodro-
inus), 239.
moniliger (Batrachosto-
mus), 485.
rnonticola (Zoothera),
478.
muriTius (Turdinulus),
430.
musicus (Cygnus), 414.
muthura (Gennaens), 91.
muticus (Pavo), 70.
Myristicivora, 23.
nagaensis (Sitta), 478.
nebularius (Glottis), 266.
neglecta (Oolumba), 30.
neglectus (Porphyrio),
179.
nemoricola (Gallinago),
285.
nernoricola (Scolopax),
285.
nepalensis ( Acanthoptila),
478.
nepalensis (Treron), 14.
Netta. 455.
Nettium, 441.
Nettopus, 433.
nicobarica (Caloenas),
24.
nicobarica (Columba),
24.
nicobarica (lanthoenas),
39.
nicobariensis (Megapo-
dius). 147.
niger (Hydrocorax), 342.
nigra (Ardea), 369.
nigra (Ciconia), 369.
nigra (Hydrochelidon),
308.
nigra (Melanopelargu-i),
370.
nigra (Sterna\ 308.
nigric-eps (Otis), 195.
nigricollis (Podiceps),
474.
nigripes (Herodias), 388.
nigrolineatus (Kallus),
167.
nilotica (Gelichelidon),
311.
nilotica (Sterna), 312.
nipalensis (Caprimulgus
macrurus), 485.
nipalensis (Columba), 33.
nipalensis (Pucrasia), 84,
86.
nipalensis (Toria), 14.
nivicola (Lerwa). 145.
nobilis (Ardea), 38 i.
496
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
Numenius, 251.
Nyctiardea, 397.
Nycticorax, 396.
nycticorax (Arclea), 307.
nycticorax (Nyctiardea),
397.
nycticorax (Nycticorax),
397.
Nyroca, 458.
nyroca (Anas), 460.
nyroca (Aythya), 460.
nvroca (Fuligula), 460,
468.
ontesi (Garrulus), 478.
oatesi (Gennaeus), 93, 94.
obscura (Muscicapa),482.
obscura (Ninox), 485.
obsrurior (Hypotaenidia),
162.
obscurus (Hemipus), 478,
482.
occidentalis (Larus), 304.
oceanica (Procellaria),
354.
oceanicus(Oceanites),354.
Oceanites, 353.
Oceanodroraa, 358.
ocellata (Caloperdix),131.
ocellatus (Cryptonyx),
131.
ocellatus(Kheinhardtius),
71.
ocellatus (Rollulus), 131.
ocellatus (Turnix), 151.
ochrophus (Totanus),262.
ochropus (Actitis), 2^2.
ochropus (Helodromas),
262.
ochropns (Totanua), 262.
Ochthodrotnus, 237.
oculea (Caloperdix), 131.
oculea (Perdix), 131.
CEdicnemidae, 203.
CEdicnemus, 203.
cedicnemus (Charadrius),
204.
oeclicnemus (CEdicnemus),
204.
oenas (Columba), 30.
oenicapilla (Palumboena),
31.
(Enopopelia, 47.
olivacea (Perdix), 125.
olivaceus (Pomatorhi-
nus), 478.
olor (Cygnus), 413.
onocrotalus (Pelecanus),
333, 334.
Onycboprion, 322.
Ophrysia, 104.
orientalis (Columba), 40.
orientalis (Glareola), 214.
orientalis (Perdix), 139.
orientalis (Turtur), 40,
41.
Ortborbamphus, 207.
Ortygometra, 165.
oscitans (Anastomus).
377.
oscitans (Ardea), 377.
osculans (Hajmatopus),
245.
Osmotreron. 7.
ostralegus (Ha;matopus).
245.
Otides, 191.
Otididse, 192.
Otis, 192.
otus (Asio), 485.
pagodarum (Temenu-
chus), 478.
pallescens (Caccabis),
132.
pallidus (Caccabis), 132.
pallidus (Horornis), 482.
paluinhoides(Alsocornu8),
39.
paluraboides (Carpo-
phaga), 39.
palumboides (Columb\),
3D.
palumboides(Ianthcenas),
39.
Palumbus, 34.
panayerisis (Sterna). 323.
papillosa (Ibis), 362.
papillosus (Geronticus),
362, 364.
papillosus (Inocotis), 362,
364.
pararlisea (Sterna), 319.
parasiticus (Stercorarius),
329.
Parridte, 217.
parva (Porzana), 164.
parva (Siphia), 483.
parva (Zapornia), 164.
parvifrons (Gallinula),
175.
parvus (Kallus), 164.
Pavo, 68.
Pavoncella, 26S.
pavoninus (Argus), 71.
Pelecanidte, 332.
Pelecanoides, 358.
Pelecanus, 332.
Pelidna. 278.
Peloperdix, 129.
penelope (Anas), 445.
penelope (Mareca), 445.
penelops (Anas), 445.
pennatus (Hieraetus),
485.
pentah (Coturnix), 118.
Perdicula, 117.
Perdix, 142.
Peristeropodes, 147.
perlatua (Francolicus),
138.
persicus (Puffin us), 356.
personata (Heliopais),
182.
personata (Podica), 182.
Phabina, 26.
phasopus (Numenius). 253.
pbaeopus (Scolopax), 253.
Phaetbou, 348.
Pbaethontida1,, 348.
PhalacrocoracidtB, 339.
Phalacrocoracinae, 340.
Pbalacrocorax, 340.
Pbalaropus, 280.
Phasianidoe, 66.
Pbasianus, 80.
phayrei (Francolinus).
138.
phayrei (Osmotreron), 8.
phayrei (Perdix), l.'5-\
pbilippensis (^Egialitis),
242.
pbilippensis (Pelecanus),
335.
pbilippensis (Podiceps).
475.
philippina (Hiaticula),
241.
philippinensis (Peleca-
nus), 336.
pbilippirius (^Egialitis),
242.
philippinus (Cbaradriu.s),
241.
Pboeniconaias, 410.
Pboanicoperdix, 129.
phoenicoptera (Trerou),
5.
Phoenicopteri, 407.
Pboenicopterida?, 408.
Plioenicopterus, 408.
pboenicopterus (Croco-
pus), 5.
pboeuicura(Eryt,bra),173.
pboenicura (Erytbrura),
173.
pboenicura (Gallinula).
173.
pboenicura (Porzana), 173.
pboenicuroides (Hodg-
sonius), 481.
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
497
phcenicurus (Amauror-
nis), 173.
phoenicurus (Q-allinula),
173.
Phoyx, 381.
Phylloscopus, 482.
picta (Perdix), 137.
pictus (Francolinus), 137.
pileata (Halcyon), 484.
piscator (Dysporus), 347.
piscator (Pelecanus), 347.
piscator (Sula), 347.
piscatrix (Sula), 347.
placida (jEgialitis), 244.
placidus (Charadrius),
244.
Platalea, 366.
Platalea?, 360.
Plataleidae, 366.
platyrhyncha (Limicola),
280.
platyrhyncha (Tringa),
279.
Plegadis, 364.
Plotinse, 343.
Plotus, 343.
plumbipes (Hemipodius),
151.
plumbipes (Turnix), 151.
pluvialis (Oharadrius),
235.
Podiceps, 473.
Podicipedidse, 472.
poecilorhyncha (Anas),
436.
poekilorhyncha (Anas),
437. '
poliocephala (Gallinula),
178.
poliocephalus (Porphy-
rio), 178.
Polyplectrum, 72.
pornarhinus (Lestris),
330.
pomarina (Catarracta),
330.
Pomatorhinus, 479.
pomatorhinus (Lestris),
330.
pomatorhinus (Sterco-
rarius), 330.
pompadora (Columba),
9.
pompadora(Osmotreron),
pondicerianus (Franco-
linus),139.
pondicerianus (Orty-
gornis), 139.
ponticeriana(Ortygornis),
139.
VOL. IV.
ponticeriana (Perdix),
139.
Porphyrio, 178.
Porzana, 163.
porzana (Porzana), 166.
porzana (Rallus), 166.
prasinosceles (Ardeola),
394.
pratensis (Alauda), 484.
pratensis (Anthus), 484.
pratensis (Crex), 163.
pratincola (Grlareola),216.
pratincola (Hirundo),
216.
Prion, 358.
Procellariidas, 353.
Pseudoglottis, 267.
Pseudominla, 479.
Pseudoscolopax, 257.
Pseudotantalus, 375.
Pseudototanus, 267.
Pterocles, 54.
Pterocletes, 53.
Pteroclidse, 53.
Pteroclurus, 58.
Pucrasia, 84.
pucrasia (Phasian us), 84.
pucrasia (Tragopan), 84.
Puffinus, 355.
pugnax (Chacura). 131.
pugnax (Hemipodius),
151.
pugnax (Machetes), 268.
pugnax (Pavoncella), 268.
pugnax (Philomachus),
268.
pugnax (Tringa), 268.
pugnax (Turnix), 151.
pulchra (Ardetta), 401.
pulchrala (Turtur), 42.
pulchrata (Columba), 41.
pulchrata (Turtur), 42.
pulchricollis( Alsocomus) ,
37.
pulchricollis (Columba),
37.
pulchricollis (Palumbus),
37.
punctata (Elachura), 482.
punctata (Mareca), 444.
punicea (Columba), 38.
puniceus (Alsocomus), 38.
purpurea (Ardea), 381.
pusilla (Carpopbaga), 19.
pusilla (Porzana), 165.
pusillus (Charadrius),
241.
pusillus (Eallus), 165.
pygmaea (Limicola), 279.
pygmcea (Ortygoinetra),
165.
pygmaea (Platalea), 271.
pygmaea (Porzana), 165.
pygnuta (Tringa), 271,
280.
pygmsea (Zapornia), 165.
pygmaeus (Eurynorhyn-
chus), 271.
pygraaeus (Graculus),342.
pygmasus (Phalacroco-
rax), 342.
Pygopodes, 472.
pyrrhothorax (^Egialitis),
238.
pyrrhothorax (Chara-
drius), 238.
pyrrhothorax (Ochtho-
dromus), 239.
quadricinctus (Pterocles),
55.
Querquedula, 449.
querquedula (Anas), 449.
Kallidge, 157.
Eallina, 167.
Rallus, 158.
Recurvi rostra, 248.
recurvirostris (Esacus),
205.
recurvirostris ((Edicne-
mus), 205.
ref'ulgens (Lophophorus),
96.
Rhinoptilus, 212.
Rhodonessa, 425.
Rhyacophilus, 261.
Rhynchasa, 293.
Rhynchopince, 327.
Rhyn chops, 327.
ridibunda (Xema), 300.
ridibundus (Larus), 300.
risoria (Columba), 46.
risorius (Turtur), 46.
roberti (Pnoepyga), 480.
roberti (Turdinulus), 480.
robustirostris (Cyanops),
484.
Rollulus, 111.
roseus (Pelecanus), 333.
roseus (Phoenicopterus),
408.
Rostratula, 293.
roulroul(Phasianus), 111.
roulroul (Rollulus), 111.
rubescens (Cyanops), 484.
rubidus (Phoenicopterus),
410.
rubricauda (Phaeton),
349, 350.
rubrirostris (Anser), 416.
rufa (Limosa), 256.
2K
498
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
rufa (Lophura), 87.
rufescens (Eallus), 176.
ruficeps (Columba), 51.
ruficeps (Macropygia),
oi»
ruficeps (Pellorneum),
478.
ruficollis (Bernicla), 420.
ruficollis (Limonites),
274.
ruficollis (Tringa), 274,
275.
rufigularis (Arboricola),
124, 126.
rufilata (lanthia), 478.
rufina (Anas), 456.
rufina (Branta), 456.
rufina (Fuligula), 456.
rufina (Netta), 456.
rufipennis (Macropygia),
50.
rufiventris (Brachypte-
ryx), 481.
rufogularis (Arboricola),
126.
rufogularis (Arboriphila),
126.
rufus (Euplocamus), 87.
rufus (Phasianus), 87.
rupf stris (Coluinba), 30.
rupicola (Columba), 30,
40.
rupicolus (Turtur), 41.
rusticola (Scolopax),
283.
rusticula (Scolopax),
283
rutila (Anas), 428.
rutila (Casarca), 428.
sacer (Lepterodius), 391.
sacra (Ardea), 391.
sacra (Demiegretta), 391.
sacra (Demigretta), 390.
salina (Tringa), 275.
salina (Trynga), 274.
Sarcidiornis, 422.
Sarciophorus, 226.
Sarcogeranus, 187.
Sarcogrammus, 224.
satyra (Ceriornis), 99.
satyra (Tragopan), 99.
satyrus (Tragopan), 99.
saundersi (Sterna), 321.
sclateri (Lophophorus),
98.
Scolopacinae. 283.
scolopacinus (Gallinago),
286.
Bcubpax, 283.
scolopax (Oharadrius),
204.
scolopax (GEdicnemusX
204.
scutulata (Anas), 424.
scutulata (Asarcomis),
424.
scutulata (Casarca), 424.
scutulata (Ninox), 485.
scutulatus (Asarcomis),
424.
seena (Sterna), 315.
segetum (Anser£ 420.
semipalmatus (Macro-
rhamphus), 257.
semipalmatus (Pseudo-
scolopax), 257.
senegalensis (Turtur), 45.
senegallus (Pterocles), 61.
senegallus (Pteroclurus),
61, 62.
senex (Anous), 326.
serrator (Merganser),470.
serrator (Mergus), 470.
sharpii (Grus), 189, 486.
shore! (Tiga), 478.
sibirica (Limicola), 280.
sinensis (Ardea), 401.
sinensis (Ardetta), 401.
sinensis (Excalfactoria),
112.
sinensis (Francolinus),
138.
sinensis (Graculus), 341.
sinensis (Hydrophasia
mis), 220.
sinensis (Parra). 219.
sinensis (Sterna), 320.
sinensis (Sternula), 320.
Sittiparus, 479.
sladeni (Phasianus), 81.
smithi (Hirundo), 478.
socialis (Prinia), 482.
solitaria (Gallinago), 290.
solitaria (Scolopax), 291.
sonuerati (Gallus), 78.
spadicea (Galloperdix),
106.
spadiceus (Galloperdix),
106.
Spatula, 451.
speciosus (Pericrocotus),
483.
Sphenocercus, 15.
sphenura (Vinago), 16.
spheuurus (Puffmus),
356.
sphenurus (Sphenocer-
cus), 16.
spicifer (Pavo), 70.
spilonotus (Circus), 478.
spodiogaster (Butorides),
395.
squalidum (Piprosoma),
478.
Squatarola, 235.
staceii (Phasianus), 82.
stagnatilis (Totanus),263.
stanleyi (Gallus), 77.
Steganopodes, 331.
stellaris (Ardea), 405.
stellaris (Botaurus), 405.
stenura (Gallinago), 289.
stenura (Scolopax), 289.
Stercoranida3, 328.
Stercorarius, 329.
Sterna, 310.
Sterninae, 306.
Sternula, 320.
sthenura (Gallinago),
289.
stoliczkge (Turtur), 46.
stolida (Sterna), 325.
stolidus (Anous), 325.
strepera (Anas), 440.
strepera (Chauliodus),
440.
streperus (Chaulelasmus),
440.
Strepsilas, 222.
striata (Columba), 52.
striata (Geopelia), 52.
striata (Hypotsenidia),
160, 162.
striatus (Alcurus), 481.
striatus (Eallus), 160,
162.
struthersi (Ibidorhyn-
cha), 249.
struthersi (Ibidorhyn-
chus), 249.
subarquata (Pelidna),
278.
subarquata (Scolopax),
278.
subarquata (Tringa), 278.
subarquatus (Ancylo-
chilus), 278.
subrninuta (Tringa), 275.
Sula, 345.
sula (Dysporus), 346.
sula (Pelecanus), 346.
Sulidae, 345.
sumatrana (Ardea), 383,
384.
sumatrana (Sterna). 322.
superciliaris (Cyornis),
478.
superciliaris (Malac-
ortyx), 105.
superciliaris (Porzana),
168.
ALPHABETICAL ItfDEX.
499
superciliaris (Rallina),
167.
superciliaris (Eallus),
167.
superciliosa (Ophrysia),
105.
superciliosus (Bollulus),
105.
suratensis (Columba), 43.
suratensis (Turtur), 43,
44.
sykesi (Campophaga),
478.
sykesi (Hemipodius),
152.
sykesi (Turnix), 153.
Sylochelidun, 309.
sylvatica (Oarpophaga),
19, 20.
sylvatica (Oolumba), 19.
Sypheotides, 198.
Sypheotis, 198.
Syrrhaptes, 62.
Tachybaptes, 475.
tackzanowskia (Micro-
palaraa), 257.
taczanowskii (Macro-
rhamphus), 257.
Tadorna, 427.
tadorna (Anas), 427.
taigoor (Turnix), 151.
tanki (Turnix), 153.
Tantalus, 375.
tarda (Otis), 193.
telmatophila (Rallina),
168.
temmincki (Actodromas),
276.
temmincki (Ceriornis),
102.
temmincki (Limonites),
276.
temmincki (Tragopan),
100.
temmincki (Tringa), 275.
tenuirostris (Anous), 326.
tenuirostris (Eudromias),
244.
terek (Scolopax), 258.
Terekia, 258.
terekius (Totanus), 258.
Tetraogallus, 143.
tetrax (Otis), 193.
tetrax (Tetrax), 193.
Thalasseus, 313.
Thalassidroma, 354.
thibetanum (Poly-
plectron), 73.
Threskiornis, 361.
tibetana (Sterna), 318,
319.
tibetanum (Polyplec-
tron), 73.
tibetanus (Pavo), 73.
tibetanus (Syrrhaptes),
63.
tibetanus (Tetraogallus),
144.
tickelli (Arboricola),
126.
tigrina (Columba), 44.
tigrinus (Turtur), 44.
Tigrisoma, 398.
torquata (Perdix), 125.
torquatus (Palutnbus),
34.
torqueola (Arboricola),
125.
torqueola (Arboriphila),
125.
torqueola (Perdix), 124,
125.
torra (Ardea), 385.
torra (Herodias), 386.
torringtoniae (Alsoco-
mus), 36.
torringtoniae (Columba),
36.
torringtoniae (Palumbus),
36.
torringtonii (Palumbus),
36.
Totaninae, 250.
Totanus, 259.
totanus (Scolopax),
266.
Tragopan, 98.
tranquebariea (Columba),
47.
tranquebarica (CEnopo-
pelia), 47.
tranquebaricus (Turtur),
47.
Treron, 14.
Treroniuae, 3.
tridactyla (Ceyx), 484.
Tringa, 272.
Tringoides, 260.
trinkutensis (Megapo-
dius), 147.
tristis (Phylloscopus),
478.
Tropicoperdix, 129.
tropicus (Lobipes), 281.
tschebaiewi (Calliope),
483.
Tubinares, 352.
Turnicidae, 149.
Turnix, 149.
Turtur, 39,
turtur (Columba), 42.
turtur (Turtur), 42.
tusalia (Coccyzura), 49.
tusalia (Macropygia), 49.
tytleri (Phylloscopus),
482.
tytleri (Eubecola), 483.
unicolor (Collocalia),
485.
unicolor (Vinago), 11.
unwini (Cygnus), 414.
urinatrix (Pelecanoides),
358.
Vanellus, 230.
vanellus (Tringa), 230.
vanellus (Vanellus), 230.
varius (Hierococcyx),
478.
velox (Sterna), 314.
ventralis (Charadrius),
229.
ventralis (Hoplopterus),
229.
vereda (JSgialitis), 240.
veredus (Charadrius),
240.
veredus (Eudromias),
240.
veredus (Ochthodromus),
240.
vernans (Columba), 13.
vernans (Osmotreron),
13.
vieillotii (Euplocamus),
87. <
villotaei (Chettusia),
233.
villotaei (Vanellus), 233.
vinipectus (Proparus),
479.
Viralva, 307.
virginicus (Charadrius),
234.
virgo (Anthropoides),
virgo (Ardea), 190.
virgo (Gnu), 190.
viridif'rons (Crocopus), 5.
viridifrons (Treron), 5.
viridis (Columba), 13.
viridis (Numenius),
364.
viridis (Osmotreron), 13.
vitticollis (Turtur), 42,
43.
volitans (Cisticola), 478.
vulgaris (Francolinus),
135.
vulgaris (Vanellus), 230,
500 ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
vulpanser (Tadorna), wilsonii (Procellaria), Zapomia, l64.
427. 354. zeylanica (Porzana),
168.
waddelli (Garrulax), 478. xanthorrbous (Pycno- zeylonensis (Galloperdix),
wallichi (Catreus), 82. notus), 478, 482. 109.
wallichii (Phasianus), 82. xanthoschista (Crypto- zeylonensis (Perdix),
Avardi (Geocichla), 478. lopba), 478. "109.
wileoni (Thalassidroma), Xema, 300. zeylonicus (Thereiceryx),
354. Xenorhynchus, 371. 478.
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