Letters, Announcements, ^c. 423 



It is a pity that so little care is taken in supplying the 

 mounted specimens of birds in various museums with eyes of 

 the correct colour. As an instance of this I may cite the speci- 

 mens of Scotopelia peli in the British Museum, which are fur- 

 nished with eyes like those of an Eagle-Owl, instead of with eyes 

 as dark as those of a Strix. That this is the case in the living 

 bird may be seen in the example figured in ' The Ibis ' for 1859 

 (pi. XV.), which, after having lived several years in my possession, 

 is now in the collection of the Zoological Society. 



I am, &c., 



J. H. GURNEY. 



10th July, 1866. 

 Sfr, — On the 6th instant I shot at Teesmouth a Swallow of 

 the race to which the names Hirundo riocouri, H. cahirica, H. 

 savignii, and H. boissoneauti seem to have been variously applied. 

 It was a male, and agrees in all respects with specimens in Mr. 

 Tristram's collection, brought from Palestine and marked " Hi- 

 rundo cahirica," but is not so deeply coloured as the example 

 from Egypt in that gentleman's possession, which was figured 

 by Dr. Bree (Birds of Europe, iii. p. 170). 



I am, &c., 



J. H. GuRNEY, JUN. 



^. Chislehurst, August 1866. 



Sir,— Since the publication of my remarks " On the Musci- 

 capa melanictera of Gmelin " {antea, pp. 316-323), I have been 

 favoured by Mr. Gould with a view of what he assures me is the 

 type-specimen of his Brachypus gularis. It is undoubtedly an 

 example of the species described under the name of B. rubineus 

 by Dr. Jerdon; and as Mr. Gould's appellation possesses a 

 priority of several years, Dr. Jerdon's designation must be super- 

 seded by it. B. gularis, Gould, must also cease to be regarded 

 as a synonym of ^githina atricapilla, Vieillot [Muscicapa mela- 

 nictera, Gmelin) ; and I regret that, being misled by the short 

 diagnosis of B. gularis given by Mr. Gould (P.Z.S. 1835, p. 186), 

 accidentally omitting as it does one of the most essential charac- 

 teristics of the bird, I fell into the error of so regarding it — an 



2f2 



