276 ON ME. ALLAN HUME'S EEVIEW OP * [1874 



sitting the whole day through without uttering any sound at all," its cry, however, when heard, 

 differentiating the species by " being much more feeble and slightly croaking" {I. c). While 

 of P. vindhiana, Hutton [l. c), its discoverer, describer, and denominator had " seen but one 

 specimen and that was a half-fledged nestling brought to me for sale at Monghyr many years ago" 

 (/. c), and he has "failed to procure a specimen since " {I. c). But of what avail these reasons 



Ibis, 1874, when urged by a cabinet naturalist " on the strength of half a dozen wrongly sexed skins in some 



P' museum, taking upon himself to contradict the definite statements of trustworthy field naturalists 



like those" I have "referred to, in regard to matters of which he can personally know nothing" 



{t. c. p. 2). Would it not appear " to indicate a tone of thought incompatible with the 



philosophical investigation of any branch of physical science" {I. c.) \ 



"'What the young birds are like is unfortunately never said.' Well, let Dr. Finsch hear 

 what Captain Hutton says " {t. c. p. 12). Dr. Finsch's remark was absolutely true when he 

 published it, and the plumage and colouring of the young birds remained undescribed until 

 1873, when Captain Hutton first published his account {t. c. p. 33G), to which Mr. Hume now 

 refers Dr. Finsch in 1874, without, however, indicating the source or the date, and thereby 

 leaving the reader to infer that Dr. Finsch ought to have known it. 



Mr. Hume then notices a geographical error in this wise : — " As for what Dr. Finsch can 

 prove, about torquatus and ci)anoce]jlialus, we shall see hereafter, in the mean time in regard to 

 the present group of species, I would remark, that if Leith Adams really says he found any one 

 of them common in the ' Forest districts of Ladakh,' 1 will not contradict him, hut I can only 

 say I have been all over Ladakh, twice*, without being so fortunate as to meet with any Forest 



district, and that I never myself met with the large rose-ringed Paroquet in Ladakh " 



[t. c. pp. 12, 13). What Dr. Finsch does really make Leith Adams say is, "very common in all 

 the forest districts of Cashmere and Ladakh " (Papag. ii. p. 15). This is taken from Mr. xldams's 

 paper "The Birds of Cashmere and Ladakh" (P. Z. S. 1859, p. 169); and Dr. Finsch has 

 inadvertently added the words " and Ladakh " to the phrase " wooded slopes of the lesser ranges 

 southward of Cashmere." That Dr. Finsch was nodding at the time he made the quotation 



Ibis, 1874, is true; but surely it was a very little nod and easily explained, and Mr. Hume ought to have 

 given the quotation in full. In his account of the complete range of the species {t. c. pp. 14, 15) 

 Dr. Finsch correctly excludes Ladakh while retaining Cashmere. 



Mr. Hume then favours us with this criticism : — " Dr. Finsch says, that euiyatrius never 

 frequents gardens or towns, but 1 may mention that the last time (November 9th, 1867), I was 

 up the minars of the Juma or Badishaiee Musjid at Lahore, a huge flock of sivalensis were 

 wheeling and screaming round me," etc. (t. c. p. 13). Dr. Finsch's statement is nevertheless 

 perfectly accurate and in accordance with the recorded observations of all Indian naturalists 

 {covf. Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1850, p. 232, and Ibis, 1863, p. 3; and Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 257). 

 Anyhow, could Dr. Finsch possibly know, fully admitting the vast importance of the fact (only 

 published in 1874), that Mr. Hume "the last time" he "was up the minars of the Juma or 

 Badishaiee Musjid at Lahore," namely the 9th of November, 1867, had made this valuable 

 observation ■? And had he known, could Dr. Finsch have stated it without risking the 



* Does not Mr. Humo here rather hide his light under a bushel ? "What, no further than Ladakh ? The booksellers 

 have recently enriched my Hbrary with a copy of a work entitled " Lahore to Yarkand, Henderson and Hume." 



p. 282. 



