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



nearly in colour, the back being brown and the head only 

 blackish towards the forehead ; but still the anterior portion 

 of the head is darker than in S. curruca, and the tarsi, of 

 course, are quite different in colour. 



Young birds are brown above, the tail blackish ; the secon- 

 dary quills have pale rufous edges ; and there is a buft' tinge 

 on the lower surface. 



It is possible that this may be the bird obtained by Jerdon 

 in Southern India, and described by him in his " Catalogue 

 of the Birds of Southern India" (Madras Joum. Lit. and 

 Sci. vol. X. p. 268) as ^. cinerea. This bird he assigned, 

 in his ' Birds of India," to BlytVs S. affinis ; but as in the first 

 description the bill and legs were said to be brown, it may 

 have belonged to the present species. 



5. Sylvia nana, H. & E., has been shown to be identical 

 with S. delicatula, Hartl. (by Finsch and Hartlaub and by 

 V. Heuglin), and with S. dorice, De Filippi (by Salvadori). 

 Another synonym I feel satisfied is Salicai'ia aralensis, Evers- 

 mann (Journ. f. Ornith. 1853, p. 286). 



6. Hypolais upcheri, Tristram, is Curruca languid a, H. & E. 

 I have examined the types of both species, that of the latter 

 in the Berlin museum, the former kindly lent to me by Mr. 

 Tristram for the purpose. H. languida is a form which has 

 been overlooked or confounded with H. elcBica by several 

 writers"'^. 



7. The various forms described as Salicaria elmca, Linder- 

 mayer, Curruca pallida, Hempr. & Ehr., Sylvia caligata, 

 Licht., Sylvia rama, Sykes, and Jerdonia agricolensis , Hume, 

 all, I believe, belong to one species, varying much in size and 

 slightly in structure, and belonging to the genus Hypolais. 

 The western form, H. pallida, H. & 'E.,=^ elmca, Linder- 



* Injustice to Mr. Tristram and others who have given new names to 

 species fomierly described by Hemprich and Ehrenberg, it is only right 

 to say that not only is the ' Symbolse Physicoe ' of the last-named writers 

 a rare work, but their descriptions are in many cases iusufficieut, and that 

 the species can only be identified by comparison with the types preserved 

 in the Berlin museum. 



