30 Mr. Blyth's Commentary 



[vera), and three of the other, Budytes aureocapilla (Vieillot) *, 

 {B. citreoloides, Gould, B. As. pt. xvii. pi.), B. melanocephala, 

 and B. viridis. The last is identical with the European B. 

 cinereocapilla, as remarked by Strickland in 184!4 (Ann. Mag. 

 N. H. xiv. p. 115) ; and its phases of plumage, as observed by 

 myself in Bengal, are precisely those described by Dr. A. Leith 

 Adams (Ibis, 1864, p. 20) as occurring in Egypt. All the 

 males of this race attain the colour assigned to B. cinereocapilla 

 in spring, or just before taking their departure in Lower Bengal. 

 Mr. Swinhoe (Ibis, 1864, p. 422) has designated the Malayan 

 race B. rnelanotis ; but surely this should be the Sumatran Mo- 

 tacilla bistrigata of Raffles, whose description indicates the B. 

 viridis (Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 312). Malayan specimens, in 

 winter dress, which I have recently examined, show no pecu- 

 liarity that I can perceive ; and Messrs. Mottley and Dillwyn 

 describe the Bornean race, which Mr. Sclater (P. Z. S. 1863, 

 p. 214) refers to B. viridis, as, " Above, body olive-green, head 

 grey ; below, chin whitish, and thence to tail bright yellow " f. 

 Mr. Gould has a very large black-headed Budytes (rom Southern 

 India, which appears to be distinct from the ordinary B. mela- 

 nocephala ; and he has recently called my attention to two skins 

 in the British Museum (one of them marked from Behar), pre- 

 sented by Mr. Hodgson, which are remarkable for the extreme 

 paleness of the grey cap^ and exemplify yet another particular 

 race in his opinion. 



I observe that Dr. Cabanis (Mus. Hein. i. p. 12) gives M. 

 hodgsoni, "Blyth," as a synonym of M. luzoniensis. This is 

 doubly a mistake, for I did not name the species. M. lugubris, 

 Pallas, is given from Kashmir in Mr. Vigne's list of birds from 



* Cf. Puclieran, Arch, du Mus. vii. p. 377. 



\ Mr. C. A. Wright (Ibis, 1864, pp. 62, 63) notices an alleged pecu- 

 liarity of voice on the part of B. melanocephala. Strickland, in 1844 

 (Ann. Mag. N. H. xiv. p. 115), first referred the British race to Matacilla 

 campestris of Pallas, whose description would seem to apply to the young 

 in its first plumage (Z. E..-A. i. p. 504). And a nearly similar race exists 

 in the as yet undescribed B. tairana, Swinhoe, of Formosa (P. Z. S. 

 1863, pp. 274, 334; Ibis, 1866, p. 138). Motacilla Kalericzencki, Krynicki 

 (Bull. Mosc. 1839, taf. xx.), = ^. melanocephala, Licht. (ibid., xxiii. pt. ii. 

 p. 570, taf. viii. f. 3), respectively from the Taurus and the Sea of Aral. 



