1876.] MS. " ILLUSTEATIONS OF INDIAN ORNITHOLOGY." 429 



chmamomeiventHs is distinguished from S. castaneiventris are successfully portrayed on the plate 



representing the two species ; and, together with that of *S'. himalai/ensis, the tails are separately 



sketched iu Indian-ink. The lovely Dendro])hila frontalis (Horsf.) is worthily depicted from two 



Tenasserim examples. Mr. Sharpe has (Str Feath. 1875, p. 436) recently stated that the Javan 



bird differed specifically from the continental S. coralUna, Hodgs. The characters relied on are 



" the under surface being more richly coloured, and the throat being lilac-brown, like the breast," 



while "the Himalayan bird is larger, and is always to be distinguished by its white throat." The Ibis, 1S76, 



Javan bird seems to be generally somewhat smaller ; but in all other respects I am unable to P" '^^~' 



affirm that the characters stated are constant : an adult Javan example in my collection has the 



throat as white as continental individuals; and the under surface is not more richly coloured. 



A well-executed figure of Arachnothera magna, from a Darjeeling example, introduces the 

 Nectariniidw. Colonel Tickell mentions having, on two occasions, obtained this species in 

 Tenasserim. Captain Beavan obtained it at Moulmein (P. Z. S. 1866, p. 540*). Mr. Blyth 

 enumerates it (B. Burma, No. 485) as a Tenasserim and Arracan species; and specimens collected 

 by Mr. Davison at Kyouknyat and near Ye, are identified with it by Mr. Hume (Str. F. ii. p. 473). 

 We may therefore assume that the Himalayan bird, and not the nearly allied A. aurata of Peo-u, 

 inhabits Tenasserim. 



The identification of Nectarinia schen'w, Tickell (J. A. S. B. 1833, p. 577), has, since its 

 description, remained a matter of uncertainty ; and in great hopes of finding materials sufficiently 

 conclusive to settle the disputed point, I turned to Colonel Tickell's later observations in this 

 work. JEthopjga miles (Hodgson) is the title he adopts for the first species of the o-enus 

 described ; and, as a synonym, among others, he adds K seherice, Tickell. The plate, on which 

 the two sexes are figured, is also entitled jE. miles, followed by the locality where the subject of 



the plate was procured, as is generally done throughout the work. This locality is stated thus 



"Seheria, Borabhoom, Bengal, 1833." Here, on the face of it, we have a figure of the type; 



but on turning to the letterpress this contradictory passage occurs, " The individual here fi"ured 



was procured in the Tongu-ngoo f district, Burma." In his original account of the discovery of 



N. seherice {I. c), and in the letterpress in this work, where that account is given in much the 



same words, no mention is made of a female having been obtained ; and yet a female is fio-ured 



as being from Seheria. Nor in the letterpress is it mentioned where the female figured on the 



plate, and described in the diagnosis of ^. miles, came from. Fortunately, an examination of ms, 1876, 



the figure of the male, together with Colonel Tickell's later description, leaves no doubt that the P- "^'^^• 



bird he had before him was the Tenasserim and Tonghoo form of JEthofyga miles, recently 



named by Mr. Hume ("if really new") y^;;/!0/>j/(/« mra (Str. F. ii. p. 473, note). It is the 



M. miles (Hodgs.), aimd Walden (P. Z. S. 1866, p. 541 %), ex Moulmein and the Salween river, 



obtained by Captain Beavan, and also the ^. miles, apud Blyth (B. Burma, no. 491). In ' The 



Ibis' (1870, p. 32) I drew attention to some of the characters which seem to distinguish the 



Moulmein form of .J?, miles ; but, rather than risk adding a useless synonym, I refrained from 



naming it. Lately Captain Shelley kindly informed me that he was of opinion that my Burmese 



example belonged to a species distinct from JE. miles ; and a careful comparison I have since 



* \_Antea, p. 18.— Ed.] 



t [This is evidently a misrendering of " Toung-gnoo," the old, and I believe more accurate, method of speUing the 

 name of the place uow known as Tonghoo. — Ed.] + [Antca, p. 19. — Ed.] 



3ji 



