Calcutta, with Notes by H. E. Strickland. 47 



but readily distinguished from it by the ashy tinge of its plumage, 

 especially on the under-parts, which have never much dark gloss, and 

 often scarcely a trace of it (whereas in the two preceding the gloss 

 is very nearly as bright below as above) ; likewise by the shape of 

 the beak, which is much less shrike-like, being less strongly and 

 abruptly hooked at tip, also much less compressed, with the ridge of 

 the upper mandible distinctly angulated, instead of being obtusely 

 rounded ; and the tarsi are shorter, scarcely exceeding five -eighths of 

 an inch. Irides bright brownish red. Inhabits Bengal, Nepal and 

 Southern India. 



4. D. ccerulescens, apud Jerdon, and of myself, ante. This is the true 

 Lanius ccerulescens of Linnaeus, founded on pi. 56 of Edwards's birds *. 

 Distinguished from the last species by its inferior size, and by always 

 having the belly, vent and lower tail-coverts pure white, not merely 

 tipped with white as in the immature plumage of the rest. Struc- 

 ture and colouring in other respects precisely as in the last species, 

 and irides also the same. Length of wing4| to 5 inches ; of middle 

 tail-feathers 4 in., and outermost (in a particularly fine specimen) 1 jin. 

 more, being generally less. I have only obtained two specimens of 

 this bird here, but have received it from Bengal and Central India, 

 and Mr. Jerdon meets with it in the south. It is obviously distinct 

 as a species. 



Of these four Dicruri, I have forwarded specimens to the India- 

 house. The D. leucogaster, Vieillot, vel albiventris, Stephens (a 

 name that would apply excellently to no. 4), founded on the Drongri 

 a ventre blanc of Levaillant, said to have " all the under-parts, from 

 chin to vent, white," and to inhabit Batavia, requires, I think, veri- 

 fication ; and D. viridescens, Gould, is a good species, inhabiting the 

 Indo-Chinese and probably the Malay countries. 



No. 122. Pycnonotus hcemorrhousa, v. Ixos pseudocafer, nobis, 

 passim, is also common in Arracan. I have a considerable number 

 of Bulbuls to determine, several being evidently new ; but the clas- 

 sification of them is far from being easy. The common Bengal species, 

 which I have regarded as cqfer, resembles hcemorrhousa, except in its 

 larger size, in having the nape and entire breast black, and the back 

 also darker. It measures 9^ inches by 12^ in. ; wing 4 in., and tail 

 the same or nearly sof. 



No. 124. Mr. Strickland is right in supposing this to be the spe- 

 cies figured by Gould as Pitta brachyura ; it being the Corvus bra- 

 chyurus, var. B and var. F of Latham, and also, as I fully suspect, 

 the P. abdominalis, Wagler ; while the Linnsean bird I conceive to 

 be also Latham's var. E, described from Sonnerat, P. malaccensis, 

 Scopoli, &c, a common Malayan species extending northward to 

 Arracan, and which has always a black chin. For some descriptions 

 of Pitta, vide J. A. S. B. no. 59. n. s. p. 960 et seq. J 



* It is also the Lanius jing ah of Shaw, which is founded on the same 

 plate of Edwards.— H. E. S. 



f It hence appears that the cafer of Bengal is identical with that of South 

 Africa.— H. E. S. 



% Several species of Pitta are here confounded : — 1. The true Corvus bra- 



