282 Lord Waklen on Mr. Allan Hume's 



plained, and Mr. Hume ought to have given the quotation in 

 fulL In his account of the complete range of the species 

 [t. c. pp. 14, 15) Dr. Finsch correctly excludes Ladakh while 

 retaining Cashmere. 



Mr. Hume then favours us with this criticism : — "Dr. Finsch 

 says, that eupatriiis never frequents gardens or towns, but I 

 may mention that the last time (November 9th, 1867), I was 

 up the minars of the Juma or Badishaiee Musjid at Lahore, a 

 huge flock of sivalensis were wheeling and screaming round 

 me,^^ etc. [t. c. p. 13) . Dr. Finsch^s statement is nevertheless 

 perfectly accurate and in accordance with the recorded obser- 

 vations of all Indian naturalists [conf. Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1850, 

 p. 232, and Ibis, 1863, p. 3 ; and Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 257) . 

 Anyhow, could Dr. Finsch possibly know^, fully admitting the 

 vast imj)ortance of the fact (only published in 1874), that 

 Mr. Hume " the last time " he " was up the minars of the 

 Juma or Badishaiee Musjid at Lahore,^^ namely the 9th of 

 November, 1867, had made this valuable observation ? And 

 had he known, could Dr. Finsch have stated it without risking 

 the imputation of '' pooh-poohing contemptuously the re- 

 corded experience of men like Jerdon and Blyth '"' {t. c. 

 p. 2) ? With a due feeling of awe, and under correction, I 

 venture to surmise that, after all, the huge flock noticed by 

 Mr. Hume when he last " w^as up the minars of the Juma,^' 

 etc., was one of P. torquatus. 



" Let us now turn to (4) tor'quatus " [Palaornis torquatus 

 (Boddaert)], " and first hear Avhat our learned Dr. has to say " 

 {t. c. p. 13) ; and Mr. Hume transcribes the passage wherein 

 Dr. Finsch endeavours to substantiate his theory that the sexes 

 in the adult birds wear a similar dress. Dr. Finsch's reasoning 

 is not convincing ; but the argument is conducted Avith perfect 

 propriety, and his data, such as they are, placed fully before 

 the reader. But Mr. Hume, by means of a mistranslation of 

 a German word used by Dr. Finsch, tries to fasten on him the 

 charge of speaking slightingly of Indian naturalists. " Dieser 

 betrifi"t namlich die angeblich griine Farbung des ? , wie sie 

 von Blyth, Layard und Jerdon angegeben wird " (Papag. ii. 

 p. 25). This sentence has been. separately submitted to two 



