the breast and belly and leg-coverts have black streaks, fainter on the thighs. The
cheek stripe is not very distinct.
6 . E a l c o s a t u r a t e s , B l y t h .
Tinnunculus alaudarius, Blyth, Cat. Birds, As. Soe. Mus., p. 15, No. 69 I , 1849.
Tinnunctilus saturatus, Blyth, Joum. As. Soc., Bengal, vol. xxviii, 1859, p. 277 ; Ibis, 1866, p. 238;
Hume, Bough Notes, 3869, p. 100; Stray Feathers, vol. v, 1877, p. 129; Blyth & Walden,
Journ. As. Soc., Bengal, vol. xliv, extra No., 1875, p. 59.
? Tinnunculus atratus, Blyth, G. R. Gray, H. L. Birds, Brit. Mus., 1869, p. 23; Walden, Joum. As.
Soc., vol. xliv, extra No., p. 59; Sharpe, Cat. Acdp., Brit. Mus., 1874, p. 426; Hume,
Stray Feathers, 1877, vol. v, p. 129.
a. $ juv. Momien, June 1868.
I shot this Kestrel on the grassy hills about Momien. I t is remarkable for the
especially very dark and rich colour of the upper plumage, and on which the reddish-
brown areas, instead of assuming the form of transverse bars, are converted into
round spots by the dark blackish-brown of the feathers being prolonged along the
shafts and along the margins, and to that degree that the latter colour is more pronounced
than the former. I have never observed this plumage in true F. tinnimculus.
A bird, however, from Tenasserim approaches the Yunnan bird in this respect, but
with this difference that the reddish-brown is not reduced to spots, but while
retaining its barred character is equalled, if not eclipsed, by the dark-brown bars.
The bird presenting these colours is an adult female of the species named F. saturatus
by Blyth. On the under surface, the Yunnan bird has the feathers suffused with a
pale reddish, as also occurs somewhat in F. tinnimculus, but it is darker, and the
centre of each feather is also longitudinally marked with a broad black band, as in
F. tiwmmculus. In the type of F. saturatus, this rufous colouring of the under parts
is absent, but it was an adult.
The type of F. saturatus is a female. Two females of what I believe to be this
race or species exist in the Indian Museum, but one of them bears in Blyth’s handwriting
the name “ T. fuscatus” and the locality of Tenasserim and the Revd. J. Barbe
as the donor, which are the particulars of the specimen referred to by Blyth in his
Catalogue, p. 15, No. 69 I, and mentioned as being probably the female of a distinct
race remarkable for the great development of the dark markings of its plumage.
Comparing these specimens with a Calcutta female, F. tiwmmculus, of the same
age, the striking features are the much greater prevalence of the dark markings and the
broader black banding of the tail, also the broader dark markings on the breast. In
a young male from Tenasserim received from the late Mr. W. S. Atkinson, the back
is richer reddish than in F. tinnunculus, and the black spots are much larger, the head
also is darker slaty-black, and the breast spots are long and linear, and the round
black spots on the belly fewer, but larger than those of F. tinnunculus. The grey tail
of this specimen is darker than the tail of F. tinnimculus, and the barring on the
inner webs is stronger, and the bars, it seems to me, are more numerous, but the
materials at my disposal are not sufficient to determine whether this is merely a
local race.
In the Indian Museum, C a l c u t t a , besides the Tenasserim and Yunnan
specimen referable to F : s a tw a tu s , there is another example from Samagutmg,
Assam.
Genus M i c r o h i e r a x , Sharpe.
7 . M ic r o h i e r a x cæ r t jl e sc e n s , Linn.
Falco caruleseens, Lino., Syst. Nat., t. i, p. 126, 1766.
Harpagus caruleseens, Swain., Classif. B., vol. ii, p. &13> 1837.
Hierax bengalensis, Blyth, Joum. As. Soc., Bengal, vol. xi, p. 780, 1842.
Rierax eutolmus, vel bengalensis, Hodgson, in Gray’s Zool. Misc., p. 81, 18 2.
Hierax caruleseens, Gray, Gen. B., vol. i, p. 21> 1844. _
Hierax eutolmus, Gray, l e ., p. 21, 1844 ; Jerdon, Birds Ind., vol. ,1862, p. 42 ; Blanford, Ibis,
1870, p . 464.
Falco caruleseens bengalensis, Schl., Mus. P.-B. Falc., p. 33, 1862.
Microhierax caruleseens, Sharpe, Cat. B., vol. i, p. 366, 1874.
a.b. § Sawady, Upper Burma, 30th January 1875.
| $ The .left bank of Tapeng River, Tsitkaw, 11th February 1875.
The following are the measurements of a pair
Total length. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.
S Tapeng River . . 6’2 • 3'9 2-7 0 80
' ? Sawady . . . 6-5 4'3 2-6 0-85
I observed this bird on only two occasions, in the centre of a dense forest, perched
in pairs on the summits of high trees, nearly denuded of their leaves. From the
great altitude at which they were, it was extremely difficult to shoot them, hut so
little were they accustomed to fire-arms and unscared by the noise that they
actually refused to move, as. shot succeeded shot. This bird has a peouliar short
metallic call.
Genus P e r n is, Cuvier.
8. P e r n i s p t il o r h y n c h t j s , Temminck.
Falco ptilorhynckus, Temminck, PI. Col., t . i, pi. xliv, 1823.
Pemis ptilonorhynchus, Steph., Gen. Zool., vol. xiii, pi. xxxv, 1826;
Pernis cristaia, Cuvier, Régne An., t. i, p. 885, 1829.
Pernis torquata, Less., Traité d’Ornith., p. 76, 1881.
Pernis ruficollis, Less., I. c., p. 77, 1881.
Pernis albigularis, Less., 1. e., p. 77, 1831.
Pernis maculosa, Less., in Bélang. Voy. Ind., p. 223, 1834.
Pernis elUoti, James, Trans. Wem. Soc., vol. vii, p. 493, 1836.
Pernis bharatensis, Hodgson, in Gray’s Zool. Misc., p. 81, 1844.
Pernis apivorus, Temm. et Schlegel, Faun. Jap. Aves, p. 24, 1850.
Pernis brachypterus, Hume, Stray Feathers, vol. ni, p. 36, 1875 ; id., op. cit., p. 36 ; Fairbank, t. c„
p , 253.
a. Bhamô, February 1868.