76 Mr. W. T. Blanford on Indian and Persian Birds. 



caudata, Dum., and C. yularis, Blyth, unless, indeed, the group 

 containing Crateropus chalybceus, Bp., C. acacia, Riipp., &c., 

 be removed from the genus (as is done by Gray in his Hand- 

 list), in which case they would form a subgeneric section. 

 Crateropus huttoni is a well-marked species, fairly distinguish- 

 able by both its size and colour from C. caudatus. There is 

 a specimen of the former from Candahar in the British Mu- 

 seum which agrees with skins obtained by Major St. John 

 near Shiraz, the locality of De Filippi's species. 



2. Melizophilus striatus, Brooks (P. A. S. B. April 1872, 

 p. 66), is not a Melizophilus. It has ten tail-feathers only, 

 and is an aberrant Drymceca, and identical with D. inquieta, 

 Riipp. RiippelFs figure in the Atlas is so bad that I do not 

 wonder at the bird not being recognized. The species, how- 

 ever, is very well described by v. Heuglin in 'The Ibis' for 

 1869, p. 129. The affinities of the bird are shown not only 

 ' by the number of its tail-feathers, but also by its nest, which 

 is domed, as in other species of Drymceca (see Ibis, 1872, 

 p. 180). 



It appears to me that this bird has far better claims to form 

 the type of a separate genus or subgenus than D. gracilis, 

 the type oi Burnesia ; and I think we should follow Sundevall 

 in using for it the term Scotocerca, as he has lately proposed 

 in his 'Methodi Naturalis Avium disponendarum Tentamen' 

 (p. 7). ^ 



By the kindness of Mr. Tristram I have been enabled to 

 examine his types of Drymceca eremita and D. striaticeps. 

 The former"^ is certainly identical with D. inquieta; and I 

 much doubt if the latter be more than a variety. It is rather 

 paler in colour both above and below ; the striae on the throat 

 and upper breast are very faint, indeed scarcely to be recog- 



* In the measurements given for D. striaticejjs and D. eremita in the 

 original descriptions (Ibis, 18.59, p. 58, and 18G7, p. 76), the length of the 

 wing, 2-75 inches, must, I think, be a misprint for 1*75. I make the wing 

 in the two specimens of D. eremita lent me by Mr. Tristram measure I'S 

 and l"85inch respectively, tail the same in each case as the wing; and in 

 the two specimens of U. striaticeps the wing is 1'82 in both birds, tail 1*87 

 and :2 02 iuches. 



