M. Sundevall on the Birds of Calcutta. 105 



our regions, and there are besides a great number which are 

 uglier, or at least less beautiful, than some which are found in our 

 country. These are less known, because they have been seldom 

 mentioned in accounts of travels, but such are often the very 

 things which offer the greatest interest to the natural philo- 

 sopher. 



Among the different kinds of Bengal birds which have been here 

 enumerated are, besides some which cannot be ascertained with 

 certainty, twenty-five which are European, and seventeen of them 

 Swedish. Only six appear which I have not found described 

 before, and therefore must be considered as new to science. 

 Four kinds which are domesticated with us have been quoted, 

 i. e. pigeon, fowl, goose and duck. The different kinds have been 

 classified according to the system of ornithology which I have 

 introduced in the l Vetenskaps Academiens Handlingar' for 1835. 

 The descriptions are in Latin, as they would be considerably dif- 

 fuse in any other language. The citations of Latham are conform- 

 able to his ' Index Ornithologicus.' 



I. Volucres. 



1. Oriolus melanocephalus, L. Capite colloque nigris, tectricibus 

 alarum extus flavis ; rectricibus utrinque 4 (s. 3), fere totis flavis. 

 Remiges 3 — 5 subaequales, reliquis longiores. 



$Adultus (19 Febr. testiculis turaidis) flavissimus et nigerrimus. 

 Alarum tectrices omnes totee flavse. Rectr. 4 mediae basi latissime, 

 apice angustius flavae. Iris coccinea ; rostrum laete rubrum, pedes 

 nigri. — 9^ poll. Ala 138 millim., tarsus 24, cauda 96. 



$ Junior (d. 22 Febr. testic. minutis) saturate flavus, sordide 

 tinctus. Caput et collum fusco-nigra, fronte cum orbitis flavescen- 

 tibus ; loris sordide albidis. Jugulum et gula cinereo-olivacea, ma- 

 culis longitudinalibus nigris. Ala nigra remigibus 3 ultimis et tec- 

 tricibus late flavo limbatis. Remiges primarise margine tenui griseo ; 

 cubitales extus olivaceae, margine flavo. Rectrices 3 extimae sordide 

 flavae extus vitta marginali nigricante ; 4a plaga laterali nigra ante 

 apicem ; 5a nigra, basi ad medium apiceque anguste flavis ; 6a (seu 

 media) olivacea. (In latere dextro 3a et 4a fascia latissima nigri- 

 cante.) Rostrum nigro-fuscum ; pedes nigri ; iris obscure rubra. Ala 

 132 mill. (Edw. tab. 186, fig. bona, sed rostro falso.) 



This beautiful bird is called by the Bengalese Halda gull gull } 

 probably because these syllables are apparently heard in its com- 

 mon song. The older males sit generally quiet on the top of a 

 bushy tree, where they are well-hidden beneath the leaves, but 

 they betray themselves even in February by their beautiful and 

 clear flute-like notes, which compared with those of other birds 

 are purely musical, so that they can be perfectly imitated on a 

 wind instrument, which is not the case with the singing of most 

 other birds. 



Ann. fy Mag. N. Hist. Vol. xviii. I 



