Letters, Announcements , d§c. 205 



quills hair-brown, with their outer edges olive-brown. Length 

 8 inches, wing 3"5, tail 3*7, tarsus 1*3, culmen 0'8, 



Merula erythrotis, sp. uov. 



Similar to M. simiUima, Jerd., but with the feathers at 

 base of upper and lower mandibles, lores, cheeks, and ear- 

 coverts russet-brown ; small triangular patch behind the 

 eye naked and coloured yellow. 



The two specimens are both apparently females, agreeing 

 exactly in colour, except for the differences noticed above, 

 with adult females of M. simillinia, Avith which I have 

 compared them. 



One specimen is slightly immature, a few of the wing- 

 coverts showing small triangular huffy patches at their tips ; 

 in this specimen the feathers in the angle of the gonys and 

 a few feathers on the lower throat are tinged with russet- 

 brown. 



The skins measure: — Length 9'4, 9*6 inches; wing 4*8, 

 4'9j tail 4*2 ; tarsus 1"2; culmen 0"9. 



The naked patch behind the eye, which is very distinct in 

 both specimens, renders this species conspicuously different 

 from all the other Blackbirds of Southern India. 



I have to thank Mr. Harold Ferguson for allowing me to 

 bring the specimens away with me to describe. 



I am, 



Yours &c. 



Wm. Davison. 



University Museum of Zoology 

 and Comparative Anatomy, 

 Cambridge, February 1886. 



Sirs, — Being engaged on the continuation of Bronn's 

 ' Klassen und. Ordnungen des Thier-reichs, Bd. vi. Abth. iv. 

 Vogel,^ which is to contain a general exhaustive account of 

 the anatomy of birds, and a systematic arrangement to be 

 based upon a summary of their structure, I feel the want of 

 various important forms, some of which hitherto it has not 

 been my good fortune to examine. I hope, therefore, that 



