Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^-c. 519 



the British ]\hisenm, I liave no hesitation in saying that 

 most, if not all, of the forms characterized as new have no 

 claim to even snbspecitie rank. 



Mr. Bury also forwarded specimens of a few birds to 

 Mr. A. B. Percival, who has presented them to the British 

 Museum. Among these was an example of the fine new 

 species, R/njuchostruttins percirali (see Nov. Zool. viii. p. 54). 



The species described as new by Dr. v. Lorenz and Herr 

 Ilellmayr are the following: — 



1. AmYDRUS HADKAMAUTICUS (op. cit. p. 231). 



A pair of the specimens collected by Mr. Bury at Yeshbnm 

 was forwarded to me through Mr. Percival. They agree 

 perfectly with typical examples of A. tristrami, which was 

 known to leave Palestine in the cold weather, but its winter- 

 quarters were unknown till Mr. Bury met with it in 

 S. Arabia {cf. (jrant, Nov. Zool. viii. p. 51, Febiuary 

 1901). 



2. tEdemosyne orientalis (op. cit. p. 232). 



Messrs. Loreiiz and Ilellmayr separate the eastern form 

 of Aidemosijne from the western, reserving for the latter the 

 name of ^\ cantuns (Gmel.). 



Fringilla cantans Gm. was founded on the ''Brown Gros- 

 beak'^ {cf. Brown, 111. Zool. p. QQ, pi. xxvii. fig. 2). Brown 

 gives no locality, but his figure obviously agrees with 

 adult birds from Arabia and Abyssinia, having the upper 

 parts distinctly barred. Gmelin {ex Latham, Gen. Syn. ii. 

 pt. \, p. 157) gives the locality as Africa. ^\qi\ allowing 

 that the West African form differs slightly in having 

 the back less barred (though this character is variable), 

 there is no reason for assuming, as Messrs. Lorenz 

 and Hellmayr do, that (imelin's name ^. cantans refers to 

 the West Afiican form. Brown's figure, quoted above, 

 suggests the reverse. The Arabian specimens named y:E. 

 orientalis by Lorenz and llellma}^" are obviously immature. 

 Fully adult birds from Arabia and Abyssinia have the chin 

 and throat coloured as in birds from the west, but in the 

 latter the barring on the upper parts is generally more 

 ob-cure. 



