300 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



XXXIII. — Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



The following letters, addressed '' To the Editor of ' The 

 Ibis/ " have been received : — 



Sir, — May I be allowed a few remarks on subjects men- 

 tioned in the April number of ' The Ibis ' ? 



First with regard to Mr. Brooks's letter (pp. 183-185). 

 Mr. Dresser has shown me that Mr. Brooks is quite correct 

 in saying that the eggs oi Hypolais pallida (H.&E.) {Sali- 

 caria elceica, Lindermaycr) differ from those of the bird com- 

 monly known as Sylvia rama, Sykes. In my notes on Persian 

 birds, I hope to enter more fully into the relations of these 

 species ; but I may remark that whilst the bird of Southern 

 Europe, North-eastern Africa, and Western Asia is always 

 distinguishable at a glance by its broad bill and larger size 

 from the Indian form, a large series of skins from Persia 

 shows every intermediate gradation. Mr. Brooks is also pro- 

 bably right, and I was wrong, about the distinction of the 

 small Indian bird called Jerdonia agricolensis by Mr. Hume ; 

 for this species appears to have a different geographical dis- 

 tribution from its ally outside of India. In Persia I only 

 obtained Hijpolais caligata v. rama, whilst in the Ural Ilerr 

 Meves found only H. ayricolensis. As to which of these forms 

 is the true Sylvia rama of Sykes we must suspend our judg- 

 ment until the type specimen now buried in a warehouse is 

 again accessible. 



At the same time I cannot agree with Mr, Brooks that 

 allied species do not interbreed in the wild state. I may 

 recall a few instances to his recollection ; I can assure him 

 they are facts and not speculations. First we have the occur- 

 rence of intermediate forms between Hypolais pallida and H. 

 caligata in Persia. Precisely the same passage takes place 

 betweeen the eastern and western forms of the Orphean War- 

 bler, Sylvia orphea and S. jerdoni, which are quite as distinct 

 as the two species oi Hypolais ; indeed Tristram (Ibis, 1867, 

 p. 86) actually records his shooting a male of one form and a 

 female of the other from the same nest. Another instance is 

 in the two forms of Indian Thamnobice — T.fvlicata, which is 



