124 jNTr. E. C. Stuart Baker un the Genus Ithagenes. 



foreneck^ and extreme upper breast marked with black ; 

 crimson and pale green, breast and flanks, and crimson under 

 tail-coverts. In I. tibetanus, however, the black on the 

 foreneck is reduced to a minimum, the tone of the pale part 

 is less pronounced and is less in extent, and the crimson is 

 the main colour on each feather of the breast instead of 

 broad splashes of this colour here and there. 



Further minor differences are to be seen in the almost 

 complete want of green on the flanks and abdomen of 

 /. tibetanus, and also in the feathers of the chin and throat 

 in this bird being a purer and brighter crimson, with no 

 black lores or black tinge on the chin. 



In /. kuseri the whole of the breast is practically crimson, 

 the pale green striae to the centres of the feathers being 

 veiy narrow, and not spatulate as in 7. cruentus. Moreover, 

 there is no pale interspace between the throat and the breast, 

 the only interruption being the black gorget, which in some 

 cases is mixed with crimson. Taking all these differences 

 into consideration, for the present I consider it desirable to 

 keep the thiec forms distinct Avith the status of species. 



As regards Beebe's subspecies /. c. affinis, after a very 

 careful and exhaustive examination of over fifty males and 

 as many females, I find I am unable to endorse his con- 

 clusions. 



Beebe says (loc. cit.) that the principal differences between 

 /. cruentus and /. affinis are : — 



(1) The much greater extent of crimson on the breast of 



typical /. cruentus and the almost total absence of 

 crimson on that of /. a finis. 



(2) The two outermost pairs of rectrices in /. affinis have 



no crimson edges as against the outermost pair 

 only in /. cruentus. 



To strengthen this argument, Beebe eliminates the 

 Darjiling birds from his new subspecies, and says that these 

 birds probably come from near Nepal, and should therefore 

 be nearest typical /. cruentus. Darjiling is, of course, in 

 southern Sikkim, and if the birds were obtained near this 

 place as labelled, they should be of Beebe's southern form 



