1874.] ON SOME NEW SPECIES OF BIRDS. 287 



plead ignorance ; for as a reviewer he is bound to bring to his task a reasonable amount of 

 knowledge. Mr. Hume has most mercilessly attacked the scientific reputation of Dr. Finsch. 

 I care not for the faint praise accorded to his minor merits. A reputation built up by many years 

 of devoted and honourable labour in the cause of zoological science. A reputation as dear to him 

 as our own is to any one of us, perhaps more so, perhaps his all. The coarse jokes or vulgar 

 personalities, standing alone, might have passed unnoticed ; for a coarse and vulgar style is some 

 men's misfortune, and though exciting in supersensitive terperaments sensations of nausea, is 

 submitted to by the philosophic mind with a shrug of the shoulder or a smile of resignation. 

 But the unscrupulous reviewer of the hard conscientious work of a brother naturalist risks 

 incurring that deserved odium which, by the common voice, attaches to the judgments of an 

 imjust judge. 



Descriptions of some new S])ecies of Birds. By Arthur, Viscount Walden, P.Z.S., F.R.S. 



[From the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' ser. 4, vol. xiv., August 1874.1 ^'^^ '^■^■ 



ser.4,vol.xiv. 



Alcippe collaris, n. sp. 



Throat, chin, lores, a broad supercilium extending to behind the eye and down the side of 

 the neck, white ; a broad line extending from the nostrils over the eye, then bordering the white 

 superciliary band above, and running down the side of the neck, black ; cheeks and ear-coverts 

 black ; across the lower throat a broad ferruginous band or collar, separating the white throat 

 from the dingy olive-brown plumage of the breast, flanks, and abdomen ; thigh-coverts and under 

 tail-coverts bright ferruginous ; forehead, crown of the head, and nape ferruginous brown ; back, 

 scapulars, and upper tail-coverts olive-brown, with a ruddy tinge ; rectrices above liver-brown ; 

 quills brown, edged exteriorly with liver-brown; shoulder-edge albescent dashed with ferrugi- 

 nous, under coverts the same ; the median breast-feathers nearly pure white ; bill black ; legs (in 

 dried skin) yellowish brown. 



Wing 2-.3 inches, tail 2-12, bill from nostril 0-36, tarsus 0-85. 



Described from a male example obtained by Surgeon-Major F. Day at Sudya, Upper Assam, 

 on the 12th of January, 1874. 



This species possesses an especial interest, as it is a representative form of the Formosan 

 Alcippe brunnea, Gould, an aberrant member of the genus. 



Geocichla andamanensis, n. sp. 



Geocichla imiotata, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1858, p. 270 (" Andamans "). 

 Geocichla alhogidaris, Blyth, apud nos, Ibis, 1874, p. 138* ("Andamans "). 

 AVhen writing on Andaman birds (I. c.) I had not had the advantage of seeing examples 

 of the Nicobar Geocichla, named G. albocjularis by Mr. Blyth. Lately a considerable series has 



* {Antea, p. 262.— Ed.] 



2p2 



p. 156. 



