292 Lord Walden on Mr. Allan Hume's 



could ol)tain. And it may here be added that Jerdon felt 

 and often expressed the highest admiration for Dr. Finsch^s 

 work on the Psiliacidce and respect for its author. 



" Columboides, Jerdon'^, disguised under Dr. EinscVs new 

 name peristerodes, is the next species " (/. c. p. 21). That the 

 specific title columboides was not bestowed by Jerdon is pro- 

 bably known to every ornithologist in India, except Mr. 

 Hume ; for both in his *' Illustrations/^ where this Parrakeet 

 was figured, and in his general work, Jerdon, with his ac- 

 customed accuracy, attributed the title to the first describcr 

 of the species. The species was first named by the late 

 Mr. Vigors, a cabinet naturalist, so far as Malabar birds 

 were concerned. And to it Mr. Hume holds a similar 

 position, for he has never seen it " in the flesh." Hence the 

 personal knowledge he has acquired during the five years that 

 have elapsed since Dr. FinscVs work was published cannot be 

 flaunted before the enchanted gaze of credulous disciples nor 

 hurled at the unoffending head of Dr. Finsch. Still faults, 

 however microscopic, must be found. " Really the wonders 

 disclosed by this work pass human comprehension ! Dr. 

 Finsch records an adult male, from the Himalayas, in the 

 Leyden Museum, and an adult female, precisely similar, to 

 the male, also from the Himalayas ! ! in Heine^s Museum. 

 What Himalayan female columboides may be like, no mere 

 Indian ornithologist could presume to say. We leave that 

 to Dr. Finsch" (/. c), and so on more suo. From this dis- 

 ingenuous passage the trusting reader would gather that 

 Dr. Finsch had stated that P. columboides occurred in the 

 Himalayas. He has done nothing of the kind. He has 

 mei'cly, as is his habit all through the work, and as most ac- 

 curate writers do, identified the specimen from which he made 

 his diagnosis; in this fashion — " Himalaya (Leidener Museum) . 

 J ad. Kopf, lliicken und, etc. ; $ ad. (Himalaya) im Museum 

 Heine, ganz wie das <S gefarbt" [i.e. pp. 74, 75). When we 

 turn to the passage giving the full geographical distribution we 

 find the complete range stated with a sufficient accuracy in 



* Sic. This is uot an accidental slip of the pen. At page 2, Mr. Hume 

 writes "and Jerdou's colianboides," 



