MS. "Illustrations of Indian Ornithology." 347 



while " the Himalayan bird is larger, and is always to be dis- 

 tinguished by its white throat/' The Javan bird seems to 

 be generally somewhat smaller ; but in all other respeets I am 

 unable to affirm that the characters stated are constant : an 

 adult Javan example in my collection has the throat as white 

 as continental individuals ; and the under surface is not more 

 richly coloured. 



A well-executed figure of Arachnothera magna, from a 

 Darjeeling example, introduces the Nectariniidm. Colonel 

 Tickell mentions having, on two occasions, obtained this 

 species in Tenasserim. . Captain Beavan obtained it at Moul- 

 mein (P. Z. S. 186G, p. 540). Mr. Blyth enumerates it (B. 

 Burma, No. 485) as a Tenasserim and Arracan species ; and 

 specimens collected by Mr. Davison at Kyouknyat and near 

 Ye, are identified with it by Mr. Hume (Str. F. ii. p. 473). 

 We may therefore assume that the Himalayan bird, and not 

 the nearly allied A. aurata of Pegu, inhabits Tenasserim. 



The identification of Nectarinia seheria, Tickell (J, A. S. B. 

 1833, p. 577), has, since its description, remained a matter of 

 uncertainty ; and in great hopes of finding materials suffi- 

 ciently conclusive to settle the disputed point, I turned to 

 Colonel Tickell's later observations in this work, ^thopyga 

 miles (Hodgson) is the title he adopts for the first species of the 

 genus described ; and, as a synonym, among others, he adds 

 N. seherice, Tickell. The plate, on which the two sexes are 

 figured, is also entitled ^. miles, followed by the locality where 

 the subject of the plate was procured, as is generally done 

 throughout the work. This locality is stated thus — " Seheria, 

 Borabhoom, Bengal, 1833.^' Here, on the face of it, we have a 

 figure of the type ; but on turning to the letterpress this con- 

 tradictory passage occurs, " The individual here figured was 

 procured in the Tongu-ngoo district, Burma.'' In his ori- 

 ginal account of the discovery of iV. seherice {I. c), and in the 

 letterpress in this work, where that account is given in much 

 the same words, no mention is made of a female having been 

 obtained ; and yet a female is figured as being from Seheria. 

 Nor in the letterpress is it mentioned where the female 

 figured on the plate, and described in the diagnosis of jE. 



2a2 



