110 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



but, being procured at the same times and places with the slightly 

 larger forms, cannot, 1 conceive, be separated. If this bird is 

 not P. borealis. Bias., Mr. Swinhoe's name will stand. 



The birds which I have from Lake Baikal as P. eversmanni, 

 Bp., = S. ictei'ina, Eversm., are totally distinct, and belong to 

 another group, much larger, with a shoi't compressed bill, 

 rounder wing, and are, in fact, simply the eastern representative 

 of P. trochilus. 



Under the name of PhijUoscopus fuscatus, Blyth, I conceive 

 that three distinct species have been confounded. Mr. Gray, in 

 his invaluable Hand-list, includes Phylloneuste sihirica, Midd., 

 under P. fuscatus, Blyth. Having now obtained a fair series of 

 specimens from Siberia, India, and China, I find that this iden- 

 tification is only partially correct. Of the three species, from 

 India and China, which have been classed as P. fuscatus, the 

 largest is identical with P. sibirica, Middend. The intermediate 

 form, procured in abundance by Mr. Swinhoe, is identical with 

 P. maacki, Schrenk. The eggs of the larger specimens, from 

 Lake Baikal, are pure white. I have seen many, and possess a 

 nest. The eggs of the smaller bird, taken by Mr. Swinhoe in 

 China, are like some varieties of P. trochilus, white with pale 

 red blotches over the whole surface. There is yet a much 

 smaller bird of the same group, on which I must not venture to 

 dilate without consultation with my friend Mr. Swinhoe. Blyth, 

 in his Catalogue, no. 1110, gives P. brunneus, J. A. S. xiv. p. 591, 

 described from a small specimen, and subsequently J. A. S. xvi. 

 p. 443, as a variety of fuscatus. It seems probable that the 

 original discrimination was correct, in which case P. maacki must 

 merge in P. brunneus, Blyth. 



Yours, &c. 



H. B. Tristram. 



Upper Norwood, 25th Oct. 1870. 



Sir, — I trust the following notes respecting the nesting of 



Mycteria australis may prove of interest to your readers. Not 



far from my house at Mainpure, North-West Provinces of India, 



there stood an aged Peepul {Ficus reliyiosa) ; and in the top of 



