234 Letters, Announcements, S^c. 



at Valparaiso, whence I shall despatch my specimens and write 

 to you again. 



I am, &c., 



E-OBERT O. Cunningham. 

 P.S. Monte Video, Feb. 10th. — A few weeks ago I had no 

 anticipation of being at this port ; but the Pacific Steam Naviga- 

 tion Company's ship ' Santiago ' was lost in the Strait of Ma- 

 gellan on the 23rd of last month, and we brought her passengers, 

 who were nearly all saved, on here. Owing to unexpected 

 circumstances, it is not unlikely that I may be in England next 

 autumn. 



Etawah, SOth January, 1869. 



Sir, — If Dr. Bree's description of Saxicola leucura (B. Eur. 

 ii. pp. 119-122) be correct, it appears to me that there is no 

 distinction whatever between that bird and the Indian S. leu- 

 curoides. Under the head of specific characters, he says: — 

 " Plumage black, or blackish, with the upper and lower tail 

 coverts white ; tail white, with half of the two middle quills and 

 the posterior fourth of the laterals black." Now this is exactly 

 the description of the Indian bird, especially with regard to the 

 amount and distribution of black and white on the tail-feathers. 

 The resemblance between one of my birds and Dr. Bree's plate 

 is perfect. 1 think, therefore, that >S. leucuroides, as a species, 

 should be suppressed. The female is a very dusky bird, darker 

 again than the female of S. picata. It could not possibly be 

 mistaken for the female of S. cenanthe. There is no white line 

 over the eye of the female S. leucuroides. 



I have some Wheatears in autumnal plumage, which Mr. 

 Hume, to whom I showed them, pronounced to be Saxicola sal- 

 tatrix. Dr. Bree, in describing S. saltatrix [torn. cit. pp. 136, 

 137), does not describe the bird with sufficient minuteness to 

 distinguish it from the female or young of S. cenanthe. My 

 birds, above mentioned, have a black band from the base of the 

 bill to the eye. Round the forehead, and extending above this 

 black band, and over and behind the eye for about '125 in., is 

 a white stripe. In other respects the bird is like Dr. Bree's 



