54 ee:nl\kks ox DE. STOLICZKA'S " orxitiiological [1869. 



in first pluraarje. Three species, belonging to the genera PlnjUoscopus, AUofriifs,am\ Ut/drohata, 



are noted as undetcrniined. From description alone, it is difficult to identify some of the small 



"Warblers ; and the species described may possibly be new. It is said to resemble Phylloscopus 



rama (Sykes), but to be decidedly smaller. So many Asiatic species have already been described 



closely resembling Col. Sykes's bird, that Dr. Stoliczka has exercised a laudable caution in not 



adding another. The AUotrius our author considers to be the Pteruthim xanthochlorus of 



Ibis, 1S69, Hodgson (J. A. S. B. 1847, p. 448), hitherto regarded as the female of P. melanotis, 



^' " "■ Hodgs. (/. c), which, again, is erroneously identified by Dr. Jerdon (B. Ind. ii. p. 24G) with 



AUotrius cenobarhus, Temm., of Java. The female of this conjectured female of another species 



is described for the first time by Dr. Stoliczka ; and if we are to accept his conclusions, Pteruthius 



xanthochlorus, Hodgs., must resume its rank as a second Indian species oi AUotrius. The plumage, 



as described, of the doubtful Ifydrohata, notwithstanding the absence of a perfectly white throat 



and breast, seems to indicate that of a young Cinclus ashdicus, Sw. In one of the earlier stages 



of plumage of this species, the underside is clothed with smoky-brown feathers, each of which is 



edged with a dusky-grey fringe. In those of the flanks and upper surface the fringe is fulvous, 



occasionally mixed with dusky grey. The secondaries are edged with white, those nearest the 



body being completely suri'ounded with a white margin. The primaries and some of the rectrices 



are slightly tipped with white. The tarsus, feet, and claws in the dried skin are dirty yellow, 



whereas in the adult bird they are brown. The pale fringing of the body-feathers gives the 



plumage a scale-like or spotted aspect. In another stage, probably that of an older bird, the 



edgings of the ventral region and lower breast only are dusky white, all the rest being fulvous, 



while the wing-feathers are less boldly margined with white, and the tarsi and feet are darker. 



In a third stage still more nearly approaching that of the adult garb, the whole of the plumage 



is coloured as in fully adult birds, save that of the chin and throat, in which the dusty-white 



fi-inge occupies nearly the whole of each feather. On the upper breast a few feathers here and 



there are tipped with dusky white, making it appear spotted ; and although the primaries are 



uniform brown, the secondaries still retain the narrow white margin. The legs are almost as 



dark as in the adult. Under and above each eye is a white mark ; and this is to be found, though 



less prominently, in birds which are othenvise in completely adult plumage. The bill appears 



to acquire increased dimensions in this species, oven after the plumage has reached its perfect 



stage. Two birds arc introduced as new to the fauna of the Indian region as limited by Dr. Jerdon, 



if the second, the Linnaean title must be applied to the Javan bird, Frinffilla nisorta, Temm. Jerdon's White-back-ed Munia 

 (B. Ind. iii. p. 3.56) is clearly not Loa-ia striata, L., founded on Brisson's " Gros-bcc de I'lsle de Bourbon " (Orn. iii. p. :i43), 

 which has the entire upper surface uniform. If not indigenous to that island, Brisson's type probaljly came from Java, 

 where a species exists fully answering to his description (-V. leucor/astroUJes, iloore, Cat. E. I. Co. ilus. ii. p. 510). The 

 Indian bird must stand as M. Uuconota (Temm. PI. Col. livr. 84, May 8, 1830, dcscr. orig. ex Bengal). The propriety of 

 applying the Linnscan title of L. mahtcca, founded on Brisson's " Gros-bcc do Java " (Orn. iii. p. 237), to Jerdon's BMc- 

 hfuded ^fuma (B. Ind. ii. p. 3o2), depends upon the identity of the Indian ^vith the bird of Java, whence Brisson's typo 

 came. Linntcus included two distinct species under this title. M. lelaarti, Blyth, from Ce3'lon, first described by Mr. Blyth, 

 with a doubt, as M. jiectoraUs, Jerd. (J. A. S. B. 1851, p. 1 78), is, I strongly suspect, the same as Ploceus friiujiUoides, Lafrcsn. 

 (Mag. de Zool. 1 scr. tab. 48, December 1835), ex Ceylon. 



