Validity of Ploceus megarhynclnis. 31 



with that which I had seen assumed by the living birds above 

 mentioned when in undress. Mr. Rutledge had obtained 

 these from Naini Tal, though no doubt they had not been 

 captured there, but, lilce the types of P. merjarhynchus, at a 

 much lower elevation. The deadly nature of the climate of 

 the Terai at the season when these birds are in full feather 

 will, no doul)t, account for the fact that the breeding-plumage 

 has been hitherto unknown, since the species of Ploceus, at 

 any rate when breeding, are very conspicuous wherever they 

 occur. 



Jt is possible, however, that this particular form is really 

 rare, for the native from whom Mr. Rutledge procured the 

 birds last year did not succeed in getting any to bring down 

 to Calcutta this season. Mr. Rutledge had, moreover, never 

 seen the bird before he received the two specimens which he 

 sold the Museum, and his experience as a dealer in animals 

 extends over forty years. This fact seems to dispose of the 

 suggestion, which has been made to me by an eminent 

 ornithologist, that the bird might possibly have been im- 

 ported. Moreover, the present bird does not at all agree with 

 the description of any African species, while in its winter 

 plumage, as has been already said, it corresponds very closely 

 with Hume's types of Ploceus megarhynchus, which it also 

 resembles in size, as may be judged from the measurements 

 above given. 



It seems to me, therefore, obvious that JMr. Hume's 

 P. megarhynchus is a good and valid species, easily dis- 

 tinguishable from all other Indian forms of Ploceus by the 

 large preponderance of yellow in its coloration when in 

 summer plumage, and to a less extent by its more uniformly 

 stinted winter dress. Its large size is a less important cha- 

 racter, as in this respect it is almost, if not quite, equalled 

 by some specimens of the buff-breasted form which in the 

 British Museum Catalogue is called P. atrigula. The appli- 

 cation of the name P. megarhynchus to the latter bird by 

 Mr. E. W. Gates in the 'Fauna of British India' is thus 

 shown to be a mistake, and the question that now remains 

 to be solved is the exact range of the large yellow species, 



