422 OX THE LATE COLONEL TICKELL'S [187G. 



colouring is nearly so intensely black as that depicted by D'Aubenton, by Sonnerat, and by Hahn, 

 not even the Pelew species, there is the still more convincing fact that there is no record of any 

 author ha^•ing ever seen authenticated Philippine examples of two species of Artamus. Dr. 

 Finsch (hi epist.), kindly replying to my queries on this point, informs me that he has never 

 seen authenticated Philippine examples of more than one species; and they belonged to the 

 Sunda-Islands form, A. leucogaster, Valenc. If, then, examples of a second Philippine species are 

 unknown, and if, as is admitted by Dr. Finsch, the species which is known to inhabit the 

 Philippines, and especially Luzon, is identical with that of the Sunda Islands, this last must take 

 the Linnsean title of the Philippine bird. In this view the synonymy of the species as set forth 

 by me in my memoir on the birds of Celebes (Tr. Z. S. viii. p. 07*) will, I think, be found correct. 

 My excuse for writing to you now so fully on the subject is not only because so distinguished an 

 ornithologist as Dr. Finsch has differed from this interpretation of the facts, but because another 

 most accurate naturalist, Count Salvadori, after accepting my views in his meritorious work on 

 the birds of Borneo, has since adopted, in his notes on some Celebean birds (Ann. Mus. Civ. St. 

 Nat. Geneva, vii. p. 16), those of Dr. Finsch. If the Pelew species of Artamus specifically differs 

 from A. melaleuciis (Forst.), it would appear to require a distinctive title. 



I remain, yours, &c., 

 Chislehurst, December 1875. WaLDEN. 



Ibis, 187G, Xotes on the late Colonel TicMTs mamtscript Work entitled ''Illustrations of Indian Ornithology." 

 By Arthuk, Viscount Waldex. [From ' The Ibis,' July 1870, Plates IX., X. in orig^ 



Among the books of the Zoological Society's library is to be found the manuscript work alluded 

 to. It was presented to the Society by the late Colonel Tickell in 1874 f, failing health and 

 obliterated sight having prevented him from carrying out the cherished object of his later years, 

 its publication. On Colonel Tickcll's career as an ornithologist it is not my intention now to 

 enter. An obituary by an old friend was published last year J. Suffice it to say that he 

 belonged to that band of zoologists who, more than forty years ago, commenced in India the 

 then much neglected study of natural history, and who worshipped as simple and single-minded 

 devotees in the temple of nature, and not for their own self-glorification. Beyond a couple or so 

 of papers §, I am not aware that he published in any scientific periodical any observations on 

 birds. His collections were generally sent to Blyth at Calcutta, some of the examples with MS. 

 titles attached, under which that able zoologist usually made them known in the pages of the 



• [AntM, pp. 168, 169.— Ed.] t T. Z. S. 1874, p. 0G7. 



J 'Field' newspaper, June 1875. 



§ J. A. S. B. 1833, pp. 569-583, 1859, pp.,448-456; Ibis, 1864, pp. 173-182. His later articles in the 'Field,' 

 subscribed with the pseudonj-m of " Omithognomon," are probably well known to the readers of the ' Field.' 



