Page:Stray feathers. Journal of ornithology for India and its dependencies (IA strayfeathersjou11873hume).pdf/334

SpizaeiMS Kienerii.

312 men, tarsal ar.cl tibial plumes, vent and lower tail eoverts, brig-lit ferruginous ; most of tbe feathers dark shafted, and many of those of tbe wing- lining-, abdomen, and sides with a conspicuous, narrovA^, black, shaft stripe, and a few of the feathers just above the base of the tibia, verj broadly tipped with blackish brown, forming- a very conspicuous patch.

The bill in this species is much feebler than in any of ouf other Indian Spizaeti, and instead of a well marked sinuation or we might almost say blmit tooth, the margin in the upper mandible is almost straight. The general shape too of the that of the other species alluded to, for from bill is unlike the very base of the cere, the bill commences to slope 'down rapidly, instead of, as in the other species, the bill running out straight for a certain distance and commencing to curve downwards only from the end of the cere. The head has something of the falcon character al)Out it, and as regards coloration is a facsimile of that of F. atriceps, nobis. The toes and claws are, compared with the other Indian species of this genus^ long and slender.

I may note that a second specimen, also a female, obtained in differed in no material respect, from that locality, above described, except that it was a decidedly larger bird. Length But the wing was barely 17, and 29; tail, 12-5; tarsus, 3-5. The the bill was, if anything, feebler than that of the former. plumage differed only in having the dark bars on the lower surface of the quills, and tail feathers more strongly marked, and in having the black shaft stripes of the abdomen and sides considerably broader than in the specimen first described.

Two others, sexes not ascertained and measurements not recorded in the flesh, but with the wings 15*5 and 15,. and which I the same I therefore take for males, though everywhere duller and with the bars more distinct on the tail and wrings (indications as I believe of nonage), are of precisely the same type of colouring.

At page 201 of my Roug-h Notes, I mentioned an immature specimen of an hawk eagle hitherto identified with this species, This as having been killed near Aberdeen, many years ago. specimen is figured in Jard. and Selb., 111. Oru., pi. 66. I much doubt whether this specimen is Kienerii, at all ; if it be so, anythingaltogether different to it is in a stage of plumage that I have seen, and it may be useful to reproduce the original description.

"The bill is black, the cere of a yellowish green colour, the naked space between the bill and eyes, greenish black. The forehead, throat, sides of neck, and whole of the under parts^