98 Mr. E. BlytVs List of Birds obtained 



77. lijra typhia ; I. scapularis, Horsfield. A very plentiful species, 

 resident at all seasons. 



78. Turdus (Oreocincla, Gould) Whitei. I obtained three speci- 

 mens in the course of the last cold season. 



79. Geocichia rubecula. Common in the winter months, and re- 

 placed in Southern India by G. cyanotis, Jardine and Selby. 



80. Calliope Lathami. Not rare during the cool season. Is closely 

 allied to Turdus, 



81. Copsy chus saularis, Wagier. The DoyaL This handsome bird 

 and pleasing songster is tolerably abundant. 



82. C. macrourus; Kittacincla macroura, Gould. The Shahmour. 

 Reputed, and probably with truth, to be the finest of oriental songsters. 

 Its notes more resemble those of the blackcap (^Curruca atricapilld) 

 than any other British bird, but far exceed them in variety and pro- 

 longation ; besides which the shahmour has a considerable propen- 

 sity to imitation, and one in my possession has recently learned to 

 give the crow of a cock to perfection, also the notes of the Coel and 

 Cuculusfugax, the chatter of a troop of Saat Bhyes (no. 74), &c. 

 Many thousands of these elegant birds are kept in cages in Calcutta, 

 and the universal absurd practice is to darken their cages by wrapping 

 them with several folds of cloth, enough to stifle the luckless cap- 

 tives in this climate, though it must be confessed they sing most vi- 

 gorously while thus circumstanced, but certainly not more so than 

 mine which are exposed to the light and air. It is a practice of the 

 rich natives to employ servants to carry about their shahmours and 

 other birds, and the number of shahmours which are thus borne about 

 the streets of Calcutta is astonishing ; the poor birds are shut out 

 from all light and air, like Mahommedan ladies enjoying (!) their 

 evening drive, but they nevertheless (i. e» the birds) sing forth most 

 lustily and melodiously, so sweetly as often to arrest the attention of 

 the passer-by. The shahmour is brought from the hilly parts of the 

 country, being never met with in the alluvial tract of Lower Bengal. 



83. Phcenicura atrata, Jardine and Selby. Not uncommon. This 

 appears to be the only species of Indian true redstart found away 

 from the Himalaya. 



84. Phyllopneuste reguloides, nobis. Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xi. 

 191, and since further described by me. Not uncommon in the cool 

 season, and I have obtained one late in March. 



85. Ph. modesta ; Regulus modestus, Gould ; R. inornatus, nobis, 

 Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xi. 191. Tolerably common, and breeds in 

 the vicinity of Calcutta in March, as elsewhere described by me. At 

 this time their plumage is ordinarily much worn, and the mesial pale 

 streak on the crown is in general more or less obliterated. The 

 song-note of this species is somewhat like that of Ph. sihilatrix, but 

 much weaker. 



86. Ph. fuscata, nobis, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xi. 113. I have not 

 yet obtained a second individual of this well-marked species, which 

 is at once distinguished by its large size and prevalent brown colour. 



87. Ph. affinis, nobis. 



88. Phyllopneuste lugubris, nobis. Two nearly allied species, and 



