294 Lord Walden on Mr. Allan Hume's 



were coloured alike. I have frequently seen, and have shot, this 

 species, and am inclined to think now, as I did then, that Jer- 

 don^'s view is correct. Yet Sykes, an Indian ornithologist he 

 it remembered, one who did not form his opinion from " half 

 a dozen wrongly sexed skins in a museum,'^ but from his own 

 observations in the jungle, regarded the black-billed bird as 

 specifically distinct from P. columboides, and bestowed on it 

 a distinctive title, P. melanorhynchus. " Found in the ghauts. 

 Sexes alike. This bird has the aspects of Pal. columboides, but 

 differs in the black bill," etc. (Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 97) . No 

 other writer knew the species " in the flesh " previous to 1868. 

 Mr. Blyth only knew it from a few '' skins in a museum," 

 and Dr. Finsch seems, in spite of Mr. Hume's remark, to make 

 a fair observation when saying " Blyth is uncertain and says 

 of the black-billed birds 'female or young' " (/. c.) . But surely 

 Dr. Finsch, even if shown by more recent investigation to have 

 been in error, had and has a right to hold, advocate, and express 

 an independent opinion, without being liable to insult in 

 terms like these. " As usual. Dr. Finsch laments our igno- 

 rance in regard to all these species. It is really a pity that 

 he will not be content to speak for himself. That he has 

 still somewhat to learn is patent in every page, but the Indian 

 ornithologists whose distinct statements he so unceremoni- 

 ously ignores, puts aside, or directly contradicts, unfortu- 

 nately for his reputation, are not quite so much " in tiefes"^ 

 Duukel" as himself" {t. c. p. 23). As 1 have shown, of the 

 only three Indian ornithologists who had written, the first 

 held one opinion, another the exact opposite, and the third, 

 who only knew the species from a few museum skins, was un- 

 certain. And yet Mr. Hume is a vindicator of truth. " It 

 is not, however, for Dr. Finsch I write. Truth must be vin- 

 dicated " [t. c. p. 2(3) . Poor truth ! 



We now come to P. erythrogenys, Blyth. Dr. Finsch, in 

 his account of the species, is, with an unaccustomed gene- 

 rosity, partly let off by Mr. Hume. For, in this instance. Dr. 

 Finsch is not held responsible for not knowing in 1868 that 

 the Andaman Parrakeet differed from the Nicobar P. ery- 

 * Corrected in the errata. 



