208 On some Species of Anthus and Eudytes. 



be met by employing a fashionable theory which is baseless in 

 face of existing facts_, many of them only to be observed by 

 the study of these birds in life. Now. some forms of B. flavus 

 are rather hard to separate (as sldns only) from aberrant forms 

 of B. viriclis {cinereocapUlus) ; bnt tiiere are mature females 

 of the latter never to be matched by any mature female 

 of B. flavus. This the confounders of the two species do 

 not know, or they would never dream of identity. Each 

 species is subject to considerable variation ; and very large 

 series of each, together with a knowledge of the birds in life, 

 are indispensable to a correct comprehension of them. For 

 instance, a mature female oiB. melanocephalus may have either 

 a brownish-grey head or a black one, nearly as black as that 

 of the male ; and the colour of the lower surface is similarly 

 variable, from white tinged with yellow to a moderately pure 

 yellow, save the throat and breast, which are always pale in 

 the female. The female B. viriclis will carry the rather strong 

 yellow right to the base of the bill ; and this female possesses 

 a brilliancy of lower surface not possessed by any other female 

 of the green-backed Budyta with which I am acquainted. 

 The yellow abdomen of the female B. flavus changes to a sort of 

 rufous tone on the breast; and this, with the broad brownish 

 white supercilium, distinguish the species. Of the very dis- 

 tinct female B. rayi I need not say a word ; but I have said 

 enough to show that the study of the mature females confirms 

 the entire distinctness of the several species. 



The same great variation as regards the female is obser- 

 vable in Bitdytes calcaratus, Hodgs. ; and here let me ob- 

 serve that B. citreoloides, Hodgs., is identical wath B. citreolus, 

 Pallas. 



It is a question whether the paler females are young birds 

 or not. The difference may be one of mere complexion, as 

 in the Peregrines ; but I have shot light-toned examples of B. 

 calcaratus that would have laid their eggs certainly within 

 the week. This was in Cashmere ; and I searched long for 

 the nests, but unsuccessfully. 



I spent much time in ascertaining the mature female plu- 

 mages of the five species of Budytes of India ; and the investiga- 



