42 Mr. E. Blyth on the Ornithology of the neighbourhood of 



its affinities ; but it certainly belongs to the great and much-varied 

 Timalia series*. 



No. 78 a. Turdus unicolor, Gould, must be added to the list, as I 

 have obtained two specimens in this neighbourhood. I have exten- 

 sive materials on hand for a monograph on Indian Thrushes. 



No. 79, The specific name rubecula was a slip of the pen on my 

 part for citrina, though the former name is also erroneously included 

 in the list of Assamese birds collected by Dr. M'Clelland. This spe- 

 cies is the Turdus Macei of Vieillot, and also (as Mr. Jerdon informs 

 me) the T. albonotatus, Cuvier. 



No. 81. Of a number of Dhyals received from Singapore, I can 

 perceive no difference from the Bengal bird in the male sex, but the 

 females have a black head and back, nearly as deep as in the males, 

 whereas in the Bengal females the upper parts are always ash-gray. 

 Mr. Swainson has subdivided the saularis into two or three species. 



No. 82. In connexion with the Shahmour, I may notice the night- 

 ingale, termed Bulbul Bhostah, which is imported from the countries 

 west of the Indus, and many are kept by some of the wealthy baboos, 

 who purchase them at an enormous price. These are carried about 

 by their servants of a morning, according to native custom, and for 

 these two or three months past some eight or ten have been thus 

 daily brought to the fish-bazar, in cages wrapped round and round 

 with cloth, where the incessant noise and clamour excite them to 

 sing : the note I at once recognised, of course, though it scarcely 

 seems to be equal to that of our English nightingale ; but I had some 

 trouble to obtain a sight of one of the captives, and then only by 

 main force, when through the darkened cage I could perceive 

 clearly enough that the bird was a true nightingale, and as far as I 

 could make out, it was the British species, but of this I will not be 

 positive f. An ornithologist will, I am sure, appreciate the annoy- 

 ance of continually hearing the note of some fine song-bird in a 

 closely covered cage, and to be constantly refused a sight of it ; to 

 have hookum nai (" no orders ") as the invariable reply to your most 

 civil requests to be allowed to view it : there remained but one prac- 

 ticable alternative, and of that I availed myself ; the bird proving to 

 be so perfectly tame and void of fear that there was no occasion 

 whatever for covering it over ; but it is the custom to do so, and that 

 is sufficient reason to a Bengalee. 



Nos. 84 to 88. Eight species of this group have been described by 



* I am rather disposed to place Ibra among the Oriolince. The form of 

 the beak and feet, and the disposition of the colours, are very similar to 

 those of Oriolus, and Dr. Horsfield has lately obtained a new Ibra equal in 

 size to the small Oriolus xanthonotus. This view is now confirmed by the 

 interesting account given by Mr. Blyth of the nidification of Ibra. Mr. 

 Jerdon has given me a similar account of /. zeylonica : he says it lays four 

 eggs, pale reddish, with darker spots like those of Hcematornis (Pycnonotus), 

 and its chief food is spiders. — H. E. S. 



f Since writing the above, I have looked at another, which I could see to 

 more advantage ; the bird sung lustily all the while, and it decidedly ap- 

 peared to be the British species. 



