Letters, Announcements, S^c. 529 



specimens (one of which he has kindly presented to me) in 

 Huzara, of an Indicator, which is probably /. xanthonotus, 

 although it differs from that figure in being of a somewhat 

 deeper brown, and in having the middle of the back pale straw- 

 colour, and the lower part of the back and rump orange-yellow, 

 instead of the whole of the back and rump golden-yellow. If 

 distinct, I would name it, after the accomplished Falconer who 

 first brought it to notice, I. radcliffii. 



Hodgsonius phcenicuroidcs, supposed to be confined to Sikhim, 

 is not uncommon in Cashmere : the Marquess of Huntly pro- 

 cured a specimen there; and Colonel Maister has just given me 

 another, which he shot there last year. I am at a loss to com- 

 prehend how Dr. Jerdon could place this bird, along with 

 Brachjpteryx, among the Thrushes. It cannot possibly be 

 dissociated from Larvivora, Cyanecula, and so forth. 



Stumus unicolor, a well-marked species, as I now consider it, 

 with its yellow bill and long brilliant neck-hackles, hitherto 

 recorded only from Cashmere, 1 found to-day breeding in holes 

 in willows in Peshawur — the nests, composed of grass, all ready, 

 and both birds constantly in and out of the holes, but no eggs 

 laid as yet. 



Picus scindianus, supposed to belong chiefly to Scinde, but 

 already recorded by me, on the strength of a specimen obtained 

 by Capt. C. H. T. Marshall, from Bhawulpoor, I have recently 

 found very common in the Salt-range, aud everywhere west of 

 the Sutledge, at Uawul-Pindee, Attock, and Peshawur; and 

 Colonel Maister has given me a specimen killed at Goolmerg, 

 in Cashmere. 



The avifauna of the Peshawur valley needs careful study. 

 Numerous species, hitherto unrecorded as Indian, or only re- 

 corded from the Himalayas, appear not uncommonly there ; and 

 many other novelties may be expected to be met with. 



Passer saUcicoIus, Ruticilla rufiventris and Ammomanes lusitana 

 are all apparently breeding here now ; I have not succeeded in 

 finding either eggs or nests, nor, occupied as I am, am I likely 

 to do so ; but the condition of the testes and ovaries leaves no 

 doubt on the subject. Yours &c., 



Allan Hume. 



N. S. VOL. VI. 2 p 



