Review of Dr. Finsch's ' Die Papageien.' 281 



wrongly sexed skins in some museum, taking upon himself to 

 contradict the definite statements of trustworthy field natu- 

 ralists like those " I have " referred to, in regard to matters 

 of which he can pei-sonally know nothing " [t. c. p. 2) . Would 

 it not appear " to indicate a tone of thought incompatible 

 with the philosophical investigation of any branch of physical 

 science ^^ (I.e.)? 



" ' What the young birds are like is unfortunately never 

 said.' Well, let Dr. Finsch hear what Captain Hutton says " 

 {t. c. p. 12). Dr. Finsch's remark was absolutely true when 

 he published it, and the plumage and colouring of the young 

 birds remained undescribed until 1873, when Captain Hutton 

 first published his account [t. c. p. 336), to which Mr. Hume 

 now refers Dr. Finsch in 1874, without, however, indicating 

 the source or the date, and thereby leaving the reader to infer 

 that Dr. Finsch ought to have known it. 



Mr. Hume then notices a geographical error in this wise : — 

 " As for what Dr. Finsch can prove, about torquatus and cy- 

 anocephalus, we shall see hereafter, in the mean time in regard 

 to the present group of species, I would remark, that if Leith 

 Adams really says he found any one of them common in the 

 ' Forest districts of Ladakh,' I will not contradict him, but I 

 can only say I have been all over Ladakh, twice*, without 

 being so fortunate as to meet Avith any Forest district, and 

 that I never myself met with the large rose-ringed Paroquet 

 in Ladakh . . . ." {t.c. pp. 12, 13). What Dr. Finsch does 

 really make Leith Adams say is " veiy common in all the forest 

 districts of Cashmere and Ladakh •"' (Papag. ii. p. 15). This 

 is taken from ]\Ir. Adams's paper " The Birds of Cashmere and 

 Ladakh" (P.Z. S. 1859, p. 169) ; and Dr. Finsch has inad- 

 vertently added the words " and Ladakh " to the phrase 

 " wooded slopes of the lesser ranges southward of Cashmere." 

 That Dr. Finsch was nodding at the time he made the quota- 

 tion is true ; but surely it was a very little nod and easily ex- 



* Does not Mr. Hume here rather hide his light under a bushel ? 

 What, no further than Ladakh ? The booksellers have recently enriched 

 my library with a copy of a work entitled " Lahore to Yarkand, Hen- 

 derson and Hume." 



