174 Mr, Blyth's Commentary 



of the bill^ is mounted in the Calcutta Museum. I have unsuc- 

 cessfully tried to rear the young on AmjmllaricB and Uniones, 

 having had dozens of them brought to me at a time, which sur- 

 vived only for a few weeks. (In confirmation of what I state of 

 the young, cf. Tytler, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1854, xiii. p. 374.) 



941. Thresciornis melanocephalus (Linn.); Ibis leucon, 

 Temm. PI. Col. 481. 



Generally diffused over the Asiatic Archipelago. The young, 

 as in T. religiosa, have the head and that portion of the neck 

 which is bare in the adult clad with short blackish feathers. 

 Occasionally the bare neck is coloured behind as that of T. 

 strictipennis is figured in Mr. Gould's ' Birds of Australia.' 



942. Geronticus papillosus does not occur on the alluvium 

 of Lower Bengal. Prof. Schlegel notes it from Ceylon and 

 from Borneo. 



944. Phcenicopterus roseus. 



There are two distinct Indian Flamingoes, one of which is 

 smaller and has proportionally shorter legs than the other. 

 Bonaparte, in 1855, named the smaller one P. blythi (Consp. 

 Av. ii. p. 146), but almost at the same time (C. R. xl. 274) 

 marked it as doubtful; however, in 1856 (C. R. xliii. 992) he 

 suggested its identity with the true P. roseus of Pallas. To 

 me it appears identical with the African P. minor ; but Vieillot's 

 figure of his P. minor (Gal. des Ois. pi. 273), from Senegal, is 

 hardly good enough to assist in the determination ; Mr. C. J. 

 Andersson's note on the two Flamingoes of South Africa (Ibis, 

 1865, p. 64) gives some moi-e details on the subject. 



945. Anser cinereus. 



Adults of this species, as may occasionally be seen in British 

 specimens, have very commonly the lower parts much mottled 

 with black, but not in such large blotches as adults of A. albi- 

 frons. This I do not remember to have seen in the domestic 

 race. While mentioning that this bird is " the origin of the 

 domestic Geese of Europe, not of China," Dr. Jerdon should 

 have added the curious circumstance that the domestic Geese of 

 India are of a prolific hybrid race between A. cinereus {domes- 

 iicus) and A. cyynoides {domesticus) , as manifested alike by form, 



