294 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxv. 



the closely adjacent islands of Nankanri, Katchal, or Trinkut, all of wliich Davison 

 very thorouglily worked, or, indeed, even to the northernmost portion of Kamorta 

 itself. 



At the present daj^, not thirty years after Hume's notable trip, there 

 exists on the island of Katchal a form of Sturnin which combines the 

 characters of both S. midamfuiensis and S. €ri/thro2)ygia; whether 

 this is a descendant of the birds liberated on Kamorta 3^ears ag-o, and 

 orig-inally from the Andamans, or a form long resident on Katchal 

 and overlooked by previous collectors, is more than 1 am at present 

 a])le to explain. It seems more probable, however, that the Katchal 

 bird has lieen derived from the Kamorta stock and has ])ecome fairly 

 numerous within recent years. It is not likely that Hume or Davi- 

 son would have overlooked a bird of this character had it existed on 

 the island in 1873. As to the bird of Kamorta, does it now occur there, 

 and is it still andamaneiuisf Hume w^ould have called attention to it 

 had it differed from true andamanensu at the time of his visit. Dr. 

 Abbott did not see any traces of it there during his recent trip. 



The new form may be described as follows: 



r^j^t^— Adult male, No. 178629, U.S.N.M.; Katchal, Nicoliars, Febru- 

 ary 20, 1901; Dr. W. L. Abbott. Whole head, neck, breast, sides, and 

 upper al)domen white, with a slight grayish wash on crown; back, pale 

 smoke gray, somewhat lighter on scapularsand passing- into wood brown 

 on the rump and upper tail-coverts; lower abdomen, under tail-coverts 

 and Hanks russet; thighs wood brown anteriorly, smoke gra}^ behind. 

 Wings, black, with metallic green reflections, most pronounced on 

 coverts and secondaries; under wing-coverts and axillaries pure white; 

 concealed bases of outer primaries and basal third of quill of second 

 primary, white. Tail, black above, with metallic reflections as on wings; 

 outermost pair of feathers russet on exposed portion of outer webs 

 and for about 20. 5 mm. on inner webs; the other rectrices tipped with 

 russet, the tips l^ecoming narrower toward the middle pair, which are 

 merely edged with this color. Length, 219 mm.; wing, 106; tail, 71; 

 tarsus, 25.5; culmen, 21.5. " Iris pale blue; bill yellow, base blue; feet 

 ochraceous." Two females measure 209.5 mm. in total length. 



The six skins of this form all differ from *S'. erythropygia in having 

 the pale rump and upper tail-coverts of S. andamcmensls., with the 

 smaller dimensions of the latter. 



ACRIDOTHERES TRISTIS (Linnaeus). 

 {^Pamdism'X trisiis Linn.eus,. Syst. Nat., 12th ed., I, 1766, ]>. 167 ( "Philippinis"). 

 One adult female, from Kamorta. 



" Introduced. Only met with al)Out the abandoned settlement at 

 Nankauri Harbor, where they were pretty niunerous." 



Evidenth' of recent appearance in this localit}', as Oates says^ that 

 it "does not extend to the Nicobars." 



'Fauna Brit. India (Birds), I, 188!), p. 537. 



