424 Mr. H. Seebohm on the 



CaPRIMULGUS jEGYPTIUS. 



An example of this species from Samarcand may throw 

 some hght on the appearance of this bird on Heligoland. 



Alcedo ispida-bengalensis. 



I have an example of this species from Samarcand and 

 another from Krasnoyarsk. The Indian bird is distinct from 

 the European species, being constantly shorter in the wing, 

 though having the bill quite as long. The difference between 

 the two species is, however, completely bridged over by inter- 

 mediate forms from South Siberia, China, and Japan. It was 

 to one of the infinite series of these intermediate forms that 

 Reichenbach gave the name of Alcedo pallasi. 



Pyrrhula cineracea. 



Mr. Kibort has sent me a skin of the Cinereous Bullfinch 

 from Krasnoyarsk. I have in my collection skins from the 

 island of Askold, near the harbour of Vladivostok, from the 

 river Ouon, a little to the east of Lake Baical, from Turkestan, 

 and from Asia Minor. 



Carduelis major. 



Carduelis major-caniceps. 



Carduelis caniceps. 



A series of eleven Goldfinches from Krasnoyarsk, all dating 

 between 25th October and 2nd January, exhibit Taczan- 

 owsky^s Goldfinch and Eversmann's Goldfinch, and a gradual 

 series of intermediate forms betAveen them, probably the 

 result of the direct interbreeding of the two extreme forms 

 with each other and with the hybrids of difierent degrees, as 

 is the case with the Carrion and Hooded Crows in the same 

 valley *. 



Otocorys brandti. Dresser, B. Eur. iv. p. 401. 



An example of Brandt^s Shore-Lark from Samarcand is 

 identical with the species known as 0. albigula, Brandt. 

 But '' Otocoris albigula, Brandt,^^ of Bonap. Consp. i. p. 246, 

 which is the earliest publication of the name known to exist, 

 refers to another bird, namely 0. petiicillata, a fact which 

 puts the name 0. albigula out of court. 



* Cf. P. Z. S. 188 2, p. 1:34.— Edd. 



