252 Letters, Announceinents, ^c. 



The great distinction, hoAvever, between B. castaneus and 

 B. affinis is in the form of tlie bill, which is much smaller in 

 the former, measuring in all three specimens about 1'05 in. 

 across at the gape, whilst in the three specimens of B. affirms 

 it measures 1*4 in. B. castaneus, however, is rather the 

 larger bird of the two, the wing measuring 5-2 to 5-5, whereas 

 in none of the specimens of B. affinis examined does the wing 

 exceed 5' 1, and in one it is only 4-5, as in Blyth's original type. 



The female bird already noticed as agreeing in general 

 coloration with Otothrix hodgsoni agrees fairly in all its di- 

 mensions with Batrachostomus castaneus, and may be the 

 female of it. Otothrix was separated from Batrachostomus by 

 Mr. Gray on account of its smaller bill and different colora- 

 tion ; and although the shape of the bill in the figure (P. Z. S. 

 1859, pi. clii.) is totally different from that of J5«/racAo5^om^<s, 

 no mention of any such startling difference is made in the 

 text, and I see that Lord Tweeddale, in Blyth's Catalogue of 

 the Birds of Burma, p. 83, has referred 0. hodgsoni to Batra- 

 chostomus, so that it is probable that the representation of the 

 bill in the figure is defective. On the whole I think that 

 Mr. Hume's suggestion that B. hodgsoni and B. castaneus 

 are the two sexes of one bird is highly probable. The young 

 bird has the grey mottled plumage of B. hodgsoni, which is 

 in favour of the latter being the female. 



Of the two specimens from Travancore, referred by Mr. 

 Hume to B. moniliger, the female agrees on the whole fairly 

 with Mr. Blyth's description (J. A. S.B. xviii. p. 806) both 

 in coloration and dimensions. These skins will be fully de- 

 scribed by Mr. Hume in a forthcoming number of ' Stray 

 Feathers.' Both differ greatly from B.punctatus, being much 

 larger, with bills measuring fully 1"4 across at the gape, 

 whilst the breadth in B. punctatus is 1*25. In the latter the 

 wing measures 4<"35, and the tail 3"9 ; in the female of B. mo- 

 niliger, which approaches nearest in plumage to B. punctatus, 

 the wing measures 4"8 and the tail 4 inches. The whole 

 plumage in the latter is browner ; and although the difference 

 is much less than in the case of B. affinis and B. castaneus, 

 I certainly think that B. moniliger and B. punctatus are dis- 

 tinct forms. 



