528 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



and that lovely bird Chalcophaj)s indica was often seen flashing 

 through the trees. Long after dark the loud scream of Pavo 

 cristatus could be heard in the jungle; but in the dense bush in 

 which it lives I rarely saw it. Gallus somierati was very common^ 

 especially in bamboo-jungle j and the only other game-birds 

 I saw were an occasional Galloperdix spadicea and Perdicula 

 erytlirorhyncho, which last was extremely abundant in the long 

 grass. Grallfs and Anseres were almost entirely wanting, owing, 

 probably, to the scarcity of water; but I saw one or two Galli- 

 nago nemoricola, and a magnificent pair of Gractdus javanicus 

 were fishing on the Perryaur. Of all the inhabitants of the 

 hills nothing interested me so much as the herds of wild Ele- 

 phants which abound there; and, owing to the care with which 

 they are protected by the Travancore Government, and the value 

 of the Cardamums grown in their favourite forests, 1 have no 

 doubt they will remain for centuries in undisturbed possession 

 of these mountains. I hope before long to have some notes to 

 send you from another part of India, and remain 



Yours faithfully, 



H. J. El WES. 



Peshawur, April 23rd, 1870. 



Sir, — I find that one of the Swans must be included in our 

 Indian avifauna. Fine specimens have, on two occasions, been 

 killed at Rawul-Pindee ; and several have been obtained in the 

 neighbourhood of Peshawur. One of these latter has been pre- 

 served in the local museum. No works of reference were avail- 

 able, and I am not well acquainted with this genus ; but the 

 specimen appeared to me identical with the species that I have 

 seen killed in our Norfolk marshes. I will let you know here- 

 after what the species really is. 



Indicator xanthonotus was supposed to have been found in 

 Sikhim only. Scarcely any of our museums contain specimens; 

 and I only know the species from Dr. Jerdon^s excellent figure 

 in his ' Illustrations of Indian Ornithology.' During the last 

 two years Colonel Delme-RadclifFe has procured two or three 



