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in the much inferior development of the crimson gorget, which is little more than indicated; in the black of the moustaches and ear-coverts being replaced by dull verditer, that of the crown being also considerably less developed; and in the abdominal region and lower tail-coverts being uniform streakless pale green, more or less faintly tinged with verditer the feathers of the upper-parts, also, are margined with dull verditer, instead of yellowish; and the nasal bristles are yellow at their extreme base.

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4. B. malabaricus, nobis. In XV, 13, I referred a small Barbet, from Malabar, sent on loan by Mr. Jerdon, to B. barbiculus, Cuv., as it agreed with the description of that Molucca species in the Dict. Class.; but in Griffith's brief notice of B. barbiculus ('An. Kingd.' VII, 469), "a yellow post-ocular spot" is mentioned, which, conjointly with the difference of habitat, induces me now to consider the Malabar species as distinct. From my description of the latter (loc. cit.), it would appear to differ only from B. rubricapillus of Ceylon, in having the throat and around the eyes crimson, instead of orange-yellow; the crimson of the throat comprehending the slight crimson gorget of B. rubricapillus, and being there bordered with yellow, alike in both. species.

5. B. barbiculus, Cuv. Inhabits the Moluccas.

6. B. cyanotis, nobis. In XV, 13, I remarked that--" In Arracan, there is further the B. australis, Horsf. (v. gularis, Tem.); but the crimson of the cheeks, sincipita, and moustaches, seems invariably to be much less brilliant than in Malacca specimens." The close similitude of some of the preceding races has induced me to look more particularly to the differences of the two referred to in the above passage; and I have found a good distinguishing character in the Arracan bird having constantly the ear-coverts of the same verditer-blue as the throat, while the Malacca bird has invariably black ear-coverts slightly tipped with verditer : but the crimson spots are so much weaker in the present species that the two may always be distinguished at a glance.

7. B. trimaculatus (?), Gray, mentioned in Eyton's list of Malacca birds, P. Z. S. 1839, p. 105: B. australis of Raffles's list of Sumatran birds, and hence apud nos, XV, 14; but not of Dr. Horsfield's Javanese list. This is distinguished from B. australis by having no yellow about

it; and I cannot doubt that it is Mr. Gray's B. trimaculatus, because the name is a very good one, and the habitat is correct; besides that I doubt the existence in the Malayan peninsula of more than the following species-B. chrysopogon, versicolor, armillaris, quadricolor, indicus, and the present trimaculatus (?), heretofore confounded by me with B. australis. Colour deep green above, yellowish-green below: tail verditer beneath, and a tinge of the same above, and also at the bend and edge of the wing: throat bright light verditer; the sides of the forehead and posterior half of the crown, verditer blue-grey: anterior half of the crown, ear-coverts, feathers at base of lower mandible, and slight gorget (more or less defined), black: three large crimson spots on the sides of the face, one behind the eye and above the ear-coverts, a second below the lores and in front of the ear-coverts, and a third below the ear-coverts. Bill and legs black: the vibrissæ extremely long. What appear to be the females are duller in their colours, with generally some appearance of crimson below the black gorget. The young are wholly green, paler beneath, with the base of the lower mandible white in dry specimens.

8. B. australis, Horsfield (nec Raffles): B. gularis, Temminck. Inhabits Java.

9. B. flavifrons, Cuv. From Ceylon. (Non vidi.) This would seem to be considerably allied to the last. All these species appear to resemble each other in size.*

Picus major, P. himalayanus, and P. darjellensis† (vide XIV, 196). In these three nearly allied Woodpeckers, the bill is shortest and most robust in P. major, longer and more slender in P. darjellensis, and in P. himalayanus intermediate. The adult male of the first has a narrow occipital band of bright crimson; that of P. darjellensis has a scarlet occipital band more than twice as broad as in P. major; and that of P.

* An error seems to have crept into my description of B. quadricolor, Eyton, XV, 14, to judge from three specimens since received by the Society. Instead of—“ beneath the eye, and middle of fore-neck, also crimson," read deep blue.

+ In Mr. Gray's list of Mr. Hodgson's specimens presented to the British Museum, P. darjellensis bears the hybrid name P. majoroides, Hodgson, Gray, Zool. Misc, and P. moluccensis apud Hodgson (which is P. pygmæus, nec P. nanus, of Vigors), is referred to P. zizuki, Tem. ; but does not the latter refer to P. moluccensis verus? Gecinus chloropus, (Vieillot,) apud nos, is also referrred by Mr. Gray to P. ranthoderus, Malh., 1845; but I retain my opinion that it is the chloropus.

himalayanus has the whole coronal and occipital feathers crimson-tipped. The well defined whitish frontal band of P. major is narrower in P. darjellensis, and ill-defined and mingled with reddish in P. himalayanus. P. darjellensis is further distinguished from the two others by having broad black central stripes to the feathers of the abdomen, flanks, and sides of the breast; and by the black moustachial stripe not being continued round the ear-coverts, but the fulvescent hue of the latter is continuous with a broad dull golden-fulvous band on the sides of the neck; the lower tail-coverts of P. darjellensis are also a weak scarlet, and not crimson. Both the Himalayan species have the white bars on the primaries much narrower than in P. major; and in P. darjellensis, the white wing-patch is much smaller than in the two others. Lastly, P. himalayanus has the black markings on the sides of the neck less developed and less strongly defined than in P. major, descending much less upon the breast, where a ferruginous stain is always perceptible; and the upper third of the ear-coverts are black, instead of their being wholly whitish, as in P. major.

P. canicapillus, nobis, XIV, 197, ranges southward to the Tenasserim provinces, but in the Malayan peninsula is replaced by P. moluccensis (verus), v. Tripsurus auritus, Eyton,-distinct from P. Hardwickii, Jerdon, of India.

Yunx torquilla, Lin. A British specimen of this bird, lately received by the Society (in a collection sent by the "Cornish Institution"), is' conspicuously different from all the numerous Indian specimens which I have seen, in the whiteness of its abdominal region; contrasting with the fulvescent hue of its under tail-coverts, and also breast: the abdominal markings are also much less developed; and the grey bordering the medial dorsal streak is more albescent.* In Indian Wrynecks, the whole colouring is somewhat more uniform; and the abdominal region is either quite concolorous with the lower tail-coverts, or very slightly paler (in hardly an observable degree); the markings of the underparts throughout being much more developed. The note of the Indian bird is quite similar to that of the British Wryneck; of which it can scarcely be considered more than a variety: but Y. pectoralis, Vigors, of South Africa, merely differs in having a large rufous mark on the throat and breast. I have observed these birds in tolerable abundance * The descriptions of the European bird mention the whiteness of its abdominal region.

upon some of the partially cultivated alluvial islands up the river; and recently shot one, near Midnapore, in the act of running up the perpendicular bole of a tree, in the manner of a Woodpecker. It is very seldom that the Wryneck is seen to climb; and that it ever does so has, I think, been denied: but in England I once winged one of these birds, and placing it on the trunk of a tree, it immediately ascended with such celerity that I nearly lost it, pressing its soft tail against the bark, as the stiff tail of a Woodpecker or Tree-creeper is applied.*

Eudynamys orientalis, (Lin). Two males received from Ceylon seen to have fed on some fruit that has stained and affected the healthy condition of their beaks, which are of a blackish colour, with rugous exterior, instead of being smooth and of a pale greenish hue, as usual. This bird seems perfectly identical in India, China, and the Malay countries; but the Australian Coël (Eu. australis, Sw.), which was confounded with it by Messrs. Vigors and Horsfield, is constantly larger; the wing, in three males now before me, measuring 8 in. instead of 74 in.; and the tail 8 in. instead of 7 in.: one of these specimens has two unmoulted secondaries in one wing, of its first plumage, which are barred rufous and black, but very unlike the corresponding feathers of a female or young male of the Asiatic species.

Rhinortha chlorophæa, (Raffles.) Upon a former occasion (XIV, 199), I asserted the specifical identity of the previously supposed two 'species of Rhinortha; but I find that the two phases of plumage observable in this bird seem to be characteristic of the adult male and female, rather than of the adult and young. Thus, the grey-headed bird with rufous tail-Cuculus chlorophæus, Raffles, v. Phænicophaus caniceps, Vigors, and Anadanus rufus, Swainson,-appears to be the male; and the rufous-headed bird with barred black tail-Rh. lucida, Vigors, v. An. rufescens, Swainson, and Phoenicophaus viridirostris, Eyton-to be the adult female: the former being described, and the latter figured, as Bubutus Isidorei by M. Lesson, in the Zoology of M. Belanger's voyage. I have obtained a young specimen, with its wing and tail-feathers not fully grown: and this resembles the (presumed) adult female, except that its upper tail-coverts are dusky-rufous; the

Since the above was written, Lieut. Blagrave has sent two specimens of Wrynecks from the Upper Provinces; and these approximate the European bird, more than any other Indian Wrynecks that I have yet seen.

outermost and penultimate tail-feathers have no white at their tips, and the ante-penultimate very little; there being also a strong tinge of rufous towards the subterminal black tail-band of the four middle tail-feathers, which, with other indications, tends to show that this specimen was a young male: its throat had been grey, with very flimsy feathers; but a line of firmer rufous feathers were being developed along the middle of the throat. Another young specimen was moulting, and had nearly acquired the mature livery of the presumed male; but several rufous feathers appear intermingled with the grey on its crown and neck; and a single penultimate tail-feather is retained, dark and without subterminal black band and white tip, which shows that the male plumage is obtained on the shedding of the first or nestling garb, and consequently that the intermediate (or presumed feminine) plumage is not assumed by the other sex.

Corvus splendens, Vieillot, black variety? Such appears to be a single specimen of a Crow, received from Ceylon.

Genus Crypsirina, Vieillot, treated of in XII, 932, and XV, 30. It seems that Dendrocitta, Gould, is the name that must stand for the group exemplified by Corvus rufus, Scop., Lath., v. Coracias vagabunda, Lath.; while Crypsirina, Vieillot (v. Phrenothrix, Horsf.), must be reserved for the Corvus varians, Lath., v. Phrenothrix temia, Horsfield, which is a very distinct type from the other.* Fine specimens of the latter beautiful bird have lately been presented to the Society, by the Rev. J. Barbe from Maulmain, and by E. O'Ryley, Esq. from Amherst ; thus confirming Helfer's statement of its occurrence in the Tenasserim provinces, while on the Malayan peninsula it does not appear to have been yet observed. This species is very remarkable (among birds of the great passerine type of structure) for having but ten tail-feathers, like the Drongost; and it is curious that, at first sight, the tail even resembles that of a Drongo, in its expansion and exterior curl upward at tip: but there is this essential difference, that the tail of Cr. varians, instead of being forked, is, in the opposite way, extremely graduated

Mr. G. R. Gray has rightly separated them, in his Catalogue of the Genera of Birds.

+ Except Cr. varians and the Drongos, the only truly passerine birds I know of that have fewer than twelve tail-feathers, are a few with rudimentary tails, as instanced by Mr. Hodgson's Pnoëpyga, vide p. 137, ante.

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