236 Mr. W. E. Brooks's Ornitholoyical 



of the former place. Nothing irritates me so much as to see 

 a good species recklessly attacked. Now the two of all 

 others most closely allied are Phylloscopus tristis and my P. 

 scindianus. Here you have the larger first primary of the 

 latter^ and the pale tinge of yellow on the ridge of the wing 

 and axillariesj against the bright sulphur-yellow of the same 

 parts in P. tristis. The greenish edgings to the lesser wing- 

 coverts and to the outer webs of the rectrices are hardly 

 observable or actually wanting in P. scindianus. Mr. Seebohm 

 may unite them if he likes ; but the two have voices as diffe- 

 rent as could be wished. P. tristis has not aloud " tis-yip/' 

 or Willow-Wren-like callj which P. scindianus has. Both 

 species inhabit the same tamarisk-jungles. 



Reguloides superciliosus and R. humii are much alike ; but 

 besides the differences of plumage and geographical distribu- 

 tion^ have widely different voices — a ^' weest/' as Mr. Seebohm 

 aptly expresses it, in the one case, and a line, loud, rather 

 shrill "tis-yip^^ in the other case. "Tis-yip" is Blyth^'s 

 expression. 



" Aquila imperialis. The western form of the Imperial 

 Eagle is somewhat rare near Astrakhan " (Ibis, 1882, p. 205). 

 Mr. Seebohm must mean the eastern form. I do not believe 

 the Spanish bird occurs at Astrakhan. But here Mr. Seebohm 

 appears to ignore Mr. Dresser's work in separating two very 

 distinct species of Aquila. Considering that A. imperialis 

 [A. heliaca, Sav,] in first plumage is a striated bird, while A. 

 adalberti at the same age is a plain tawny unstreaked bird, I 

 do not at all see how one can be a " form •'•' of the other. Could 

 Mr. Seebohm say which is the "form " and which the original^ 

 Then we have the different distribution of white, one having 

 it on the bend of the wing, which the other never has. What 

 is a " form " ? If " subspecies " be meant, which is the 

 original ? and will our most learned ornithologist, whoever 

 he may be, swear that one bird was evolved from the other ? 

 There would be the danger of putting the cart before the 

 horse, to say the least, and of thereby giving honour to the 

 wrong bird as being the most ancient. My friend Dr. Jerdon 



