Page:Stray feathers. Journal of ornithology for India and its dependencies (IA strayfeathersjou11873hume).pdf/36

20 pass over the eyes, their extreme points joining in front of the eyes, the moustachial stripes, which extend along the sides of the neck. The occiput and nape are covered by a rufous half-collar, marked with three black spots, of which the centre one forms a band on the nape. The back and the wings are a light bluish grey, with large spots and irregular bars of bluish black.

"The tail which is a lighter grey than the back, is barred transversely with black bands, very narrow towards the bases of the feathers, but widening gradually towards their ends, the tips of which are white.

"The chest is pure isabelline" (in mine, slightly rufous creamy.) “The flanks, vent, and abdomen are of the same color; but the feathers bear very narrow longitudinal striae and little triangular black spots. The base of the beak is yellow, but the point blue. The eere and the feet are beautiful yellow, and the orbital skin orange. The male is about 14.3 inches (he says a little more than 13 French inches which are equal to 14.24 English inches.) The female not larger than the male F.Peregrinus."

I defy any one to write in as few words a more absolutely accurate description of my birds than the preceding, except in the one single point, that the horse-shoe in my birds is dark slaty and not black. I can add nothing to the description. The nearly white chin, throat, and sides of neck, the spotless rufescent creamy breast, the tiny triangular spots of the abdomen, the huge, broad, rufous collar with the three dark spots, and the small size serve to distinguish this species from every other yet observed in India. The upper surface is as pale as a very old Babylonicus, but the lower surface, which in this latter species grows darker as the bird grows older, is far paler than in any adult Babylonieus I have yet seen, and I have examined a good many. I have now two specimens, and both are exactly alike, except as regards size. The male was procured early in 1872, by Dr. Stoliczka, in Cutch; the female was shot by F. R. Blewitt, Esq., in the Nursingpoor district (Central Provinces,) on the 16th December, 1869. None of us distinguished these birds—all of us set them down as very pale Babylonicus, and it was only when I came to compare then with my specimens and others kindly lent for comparison of this latter species, that I fully realized that they were distinct: then I referred to the measurements and then Temminck's figures and Salvin's in the Ibis (which latter is excellent, though in my birds the bars on the sides have almost all become mere triangular spots) occurred to me; and once on the right track, I soon saw that there was no possibility of mistaking the identity of this