Mr. H. B. Tristram on some Passerine Birds. 233 



The two geographical groups of Pyrrhula are thus very 

 broadly distiuguished by the presence or absence of the black 

 head. 



I must take the earliest opportunity of correcting a mistake into 

 which I was led iu the last number of ' The Ibis ' (1871, p. 1 10), 

 when I stated that Sylvia maacki, Schrenk, was identical with 

 PhtjUoscopus fuscatus. I was led into this error by receiving 

 from Paris two specimens wrongly labelled as S. maacki. I 

 have since found that the true S. maacki is perfectly distinct, 

 and is a Calamoherpe. I can only plead, in apology, the diffi- 

 culties of a naturalist writing isolated in the country, dependent 

 entirely on his own library and collection. 



A careful comparison of a series of specimens from Japan, 

 China, and India has shown me that Reguloides occijiitalis, Jerd., 

 J. A. S. xiv. p. 593, is identical with Pi/llopneuste coronata, Temm. 

 & Schl., and that this species extends its range through India, 

 China, Japan, and Siberia, where it ordinarily breeds. Of 

 course Temminck's name will have the precedence. 



While thus reducing the number of Sylviads, I think I am 

 fully justified in separating the eastern and western forms of 

 Anthus cervinus and A. rufigularis, which have generally been 

 treated as synonyms. 



An examination of a very large series of specimens, including 

 the largest collections in England, has satisfied me that there are 

 two distinct species of Red-breasted Pipit in the Old World : — 

 a western form, having in summer the throat rufous with 

 broad black spots on the breast, and the abdomen a dusky 

 white, which extends from the Western Siberia westwards ; and 

 the eastern form, which is distinctly separable by the absence 

 of the pectoral spots in summer, and by the extension of the 

 chestnut coloration from the throat to the abdomen. This 

 form extends from South China to Kamtschatka. I should 

 assign to this the name A. rufigularis, Brehm, which is evi- 

 dently taken from a specimen of this bird in winter, but for 

 the evidence before me that Brehm intended to designate the 

 western bird. 



Pallas's description (Zoogr. Ross.-As. i. p. 511) applies to the 

 western, not the eastern form. My own skin, marked by 



