1866.] ON BIRDS FEOM TENASSEETM. 27 



24. loRA TYPHiA (Linn.). 



MofacUla tijphia, Linn. S. N. ed. 12. i. p. 331. no. 13. 



No. 59, c?. Moulmein. 



" Plentiful in thick trees. Irides greyish white ; bill leaden blue, darker only on ridge of 

 upper mandible ; legs leaden blue ; claws brownish, and soles dirty yellow. This specimen 

 agrees with Jerdon's description of/, zey lanica [Gm.) in having the 'bill light plumbeous, P.Z.R. 1^0(5, 

 darker on the ridge, irides greyish white, and the central tail-feathers partly green and partly ^' '^'^ ' 

 black;' but there is no black on the head, and the measurements ai"e nearer /. fyphia." In 

 the specimen sent the whole of the tail is black. The mixture of green with the black of the 

 tail in J. zeylanica (Gm.) appears only to accompany an imperfect state of the upper plumage. 

 Two specimens from Candeish have the tail-feathers partially edged with green ; but they are 

 skins of moulting birds. 



The bill in /. tuplda is longer. This Tenasserim specimen agrees in every respect with a 

 Central Indian specimen of /. tijpMa. A specimen of a female lum, from Malacca, before me 

 has the bill longer and more slender than that of the Tenasserim bird, and the wing much shorter. 

 Mr. Blyth gives in his Catalogue both typliia and scapularis, Horsf., from Malacca ; but 1 am 

 inclined to doubt the occurrence of both forms in the Malay peninsula. My long-billed 

 specimen may be the true sccqmlaris, or else belong to a distinct and undescribed Malayan race. 



25. Oriolus melanocephalus, Linn. 1 S. N. ed. 12. i. p. 160. n. 3. 



No. 48, ? . Moulmein. 



" Common everywhere. A male in beautiful plumage is only 8f inches in length. Jerdon 

 makes his 9|. My bird, too, agrees with the description of 0. ceylonensis, Bp., in having the black 

 patch on central tail-feathers 1^ inch in length, instead of ^ an inch, as said by Jerdon to be the 

 case W'ith 0. melanocephalus." As a female specimen only is sent, it is difficult to decide to 

 which of the two nearly allied races this one from Moulmein belongs. 1 have compared it with 

 a number of female skins from Ceylon and can detect no distinction in either colouring or di- 

 mensions. It is also smaller than Central Indian female specimens of true melanocepliaJus. Mr. 

 Blyth (J. A. S. B. 1863, p. 70) remarks that the race found in Burmah and extending down to 

 the Malayan peninsula is quite similar to 0. melanocephalus of Bengal. But the variations of 

 the Black-headed Orioles throughout Southern Asia require further investigation. 



26. CopsTCHUS SAULARis (Linn.)"? 



Gracula saidaris, Linn. S. N. ed. 12. i. p. 165. n. 6. 



No. 72, juv. Moulmein. 



" Abundant about Moulmein." 



27. KiTTACINCLA MACROURA (Gm.)] 



Ttirdns macrounis, Gm. S. N. ed. 13. i. p. 820. n. 67. 

 No. 44, d juv. Salween River. 



" The specimen is two-thirds grown, and was killed in thick forest jungle on the Salween 

 at Meezain." 



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