388 Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, b^c. 



is as common in Burmah as it is in India. Yarrell and others 

 extend the range of S.fiammea to South Africa ; but a Cape speci- 

 men we have is certainly distinct, and is Strix affinis, nobis {Strix 

 flammea apud nos, J. A. S. xxix. 100). It is rather larger than 

 Strix flammea, with the general colouring much deeper, the back 

 being of a more prevalent and darker ashy, the lower parts more 

 strongly fulvous, and especially the primaries and tail much more 

 broadly and distinctly banded, the dark markings being greatly 

 more developed than even in the true S. flammea of Europe and 

 N. Africa. Closed wing 11| in. ; tail 5^ ; shank (anteriorly) 2 in. 

 A third African species is Strix poensis, Fraser (P.Z.S. 1842, 

 p. 189). The Strix capensis, A. Smith, is a Scelostrix, Kaup 

 (v. Glaux, nobis, preoccupied in botany). 



"Jerdon and myself have just been critically examining a 

 number of Shrikes of the superciliosus type. There are four 

 recognizable races, viz. L. superciliosus (verus), from the Malayan 

 peninsula ; L. phcenicurus, Pallas, of India, &c. ; L. lucionensis, 

 Scop., of the Philippines, China, Ceylon, and the Andaman 

 Islands ; and L. arenarius, nobis, from the desert region of 

 N.W. India. Of these the third has rather a deeper bill than the 

 others : the second I observed at Akyab during the cold season 

 as abundantly as in Lower Bengal ; but to the south (as about 

 Moulmein especially) it is replaced by L. hypoleucos, nobis, 

 which Gould gives also from Siam, having exactly the same 

 harsh chattering note and habits. Once only I observed L. 

 hypoleucos during my month's stay in the Yunzalia forests of 

 Upper Martaban. These are the only two Shrikes that I ob- 

 served in Burmah. A very common bird on the Moulmein 

 hills is the beautiful Crypsirhina varians ; and Dendrocitta rufa is 

 also abundant there. But the most characteristic bird of those 

 hills is Garrulax belangeri. 



" While writing the above, I have been interested in listening 

 to the song-notes issuing from a cage containing three pairs of 

 the Malayan Loriculus pumilus. These are the nearest approach 

 to a proper song that I know of among the Psittacidce — far more 

 so even than the pleasing twittering and chirruping of the Melo- 

 psittacus undulatus of Australia. As a rule among the Parrots, 

 the larger the species the harsher and more discordant are the 



