Letters, Announcements, ^c. 121 



The one, the larger, B. javanensis apud Bly th, with conspi- 

 cuous white wing-spots, with the wing usually measuring from 

 4'75 to 5 inches, and with a bill from 1'3 to 1*4< wide at base, 

 and from 1"37 to V4Q straight from angle of gape to top of 

 bill. I have twenty specimens of this form now before me. 

 They vary a great deal in the tone of the upper and lower 

 plumage — the upper surface from light dingy chestnut to a 

 very deep rufous brown, and the lower surface correspond- 

 ingly, though in a lesser degree ; but all unmistakably belong 

 to the same species. 



The other, the smaller — B. affinis apud Blyth, ^ith, in three 

 specimens out of four, no white spots on the wings, with 

 wings varying from 4*28 to 4'6'^, and with bills varying in 

 width at gape from 0*95 to 1*13, and in length from gape to 

 tip from 1'05 to TSS. I have four specimens of this form 

 before me ; one imprecisely similar to the type. Three answer 

 well to BlytVs description ; but the fourth has some spots 

 upon the wing, and may, perhaps, notwithstanding the ex- 

 treme narrowness of its bill and short wings, belong to the 

 other form, which it closely resembles, as it has the bill 1*33 

 in length, whereas in the other three specimens the bills are 

 only 1'05, I'l, and 1*2 in length. 



Setting aside this possibly doubtful specimen, I have three 

 specimens, at any rate, of typical B. affinis, all shot in the 

 neighbourhood of Malacca — wings 4*28, 4*5, and 4*6, with 

 tails 4'4 and 4*5 — answering in every respect to Blyth's de- 

 scription, and which, in my opinion, no one who compares 

 them with either type or description can possibly doubt to 

 be the form described by Blyth as B. affinis. 



I have also before me four chestnut B. castaneus; wings 5*2, 

 5*25, 5 "25, 5*5. It seems to me that difference in size alone 

 is sufficient to separate the two ; B. castaneus is really more 

 than double the bulk of B. affinis ; but the whole character and 

 colour of the plumage is also totally different. The plumage 

 in B. affinis is of the same colour and character as that of 

 B. javanensis apud Blyth ; and both are clearly different, to 

 any practised eye, from B. castaneus. The plumage of this 

 * Blyth gives the wing as 4'5. 



SER. IV. VOL. II. K 



