Major J. Biddulph on the Birds of Gilgit, 275 



Form B. 



Wing- measurement. Locality. Season, 

 inches. 



2-6 Astor July. 



2'6 Cashmere „ 



2-6 Deoi^ai „ 



2-55 Chenab Talley May. 



2-55 Gilgit AprU. 



2-5 Cashmere July. 



2-5 „ May. 



2-5 Gilgit „ 



2*5 „ June. 



2-45 „ April. 



2-4 „ July. 



2'4 Caslimere Undated. 



2-4 Simla July. 



2'4 Cashmere May. 



2-3o „ Undated. 



Five specimens, which I am unable to separate by diifer- 

 ences of colour, measure as follows : — 



Wing-measurement. Locality. Season. Sex. 

 inches. . 



2-7 Gilgit April Unseied. 



2-6 Me3rut January .... 5 . 



2-6 Wakhan April $ . 



2'6 Meerut January Unsexed. 



2-6 Gilgit April $ . 



Now it cannot be denied that tliese measurements overlap 

 considerably, especially among the females ; but the fact 

 remains, that, after separating forty-three specimens solely 

 by colour and markings (omitting the last five undetermined), 

 those of one form average considerably larger than those of 

 the other, and that the greatest divergence in colour is shown 

 between those wliich differ most in size. It may be that 

 the specimens that overlap in measurement are to be ac- 

 counted for by hybridism — an explanation that no ornithologist 

 can affect totally to ignore when treating of two very closely 

 allied species found in the same locality ; or it may be that 

 some of those classed as females would have been found by 



