90 Mr. J. H. Gurncy's Notes on 



without specifying whether the bird he described was from 

 Northern^ Central, or Southern India. If, therefore, the 

 northern race be considered specifically distinct from that 

 inhabiting Central and Southern India, I submit that the 

 specific name of cheela should be disused, and that of unclu- 

 latus substituted, which was founded by Vigors on a specimen 

 from the Himalayas, figured in Gould's ' Century ' of birds 

 from that region. 



In like manner I think it probable that the specific name 

 of melanotis, applied by Mr. Sharpe to the South-Indian 

 bird, should give way to the older synonym of albidus, founded 

 on a specimen from Pondi cherry, the priority of which has 

 been already pointed out by Lord Tweeddale in ' The Ibis ' 

 for 1873, p. 298. 



The most northern locality from which Sjnlornis undu- 

 latus has hitherto been obtained is the island of Formosa, 

 where it was first observed by my late valued friend Mr. 

 Swinhoe, whose recent decease forms no small gap in the 

 circle of British ornithologists, and to whose kindness I have 

 for many years past been frequently indebted in matters con- 

 nected with the ornithology of China and of the East. 



The same species^ was obtained by Mr. Swinhoe at Amoy ; 

 and it is said by MM. David and Oustalet, in their recent valu- 

 able work on the birds of China, that it occurs " dans la partie 

 meridionale de la Chine " — though in the island of Hainan 

 Mr. Swinhoe met with a smaller race, to which he assigned 

 the specific name ruilierfordi, and to which I shall have oc- 

 casion subsequently to refer. 



Mr. Swinhoe at p. 304 of 'The Ibis' for 1866, and at 

 p. 86 of that for 1870, gives the measurements of five For- 

 mosan specimens, in the smallest of which the wing was 18 

 inches, the tarsus 4, and the middle toe s. u. 2'25, whilst in 

 the largest the corresponding dimensions were respectively 

 19*3, 4-4, and 1*4, the latter being doubtless a misprint for 



* Mr. Swiulioe originally proposed the specific name of hoya for the 

 Spihnus of Formosa, but subsequently acquiesced in its identity with 

 that found at Amoy and in Nurtheru India.— Vide Ibis, 18G6, p. 304, and 

 1870, p. 80. 



