Mr. Oates's ^ Birds of British India.' 59 



IV. — A few Remarks on Mr. Oates's ' Birds of British 

 India.' By W. E. Brooks. 

 Everyone who has consulted Mr. Oates^s volumes on the 

 Birds of British India must be delighted with this excellent 

 and very useful work. There are, however, a few corrections 

 which I should like to make, as the results of my own obser- 

 vations. 



Vol. I. p. 17. — The Himalayan Crow, Corvus intermedins, 

 AdamSj is united with the large Crow of the plains, C. nia- 

 crorhynchus, Wagler, formerly known as C. culminatus. 

 This is wrong, for the hill bird has a hoarse Raven-like 

 voice, while that of the })lains bird is a clear-toned note : 

 there is quite as much difference in their notes as there is 

 between bass and tenor of the human voice. I found, too, 

 that the tail of the hill species, as a rule, exceeded in length 

 that of the plains bird. Crows do not vary much in size, 

 and not at all in colour when wholly black ; but this extreme 

 difference in voice entirely forbids, I think, the union of the 

 two species. And is there no difference in form of bill ? I 

 think there is. 



Vol. I. pp. 3M-345. — The difference between the two Gold- 

 crests consists in the lighter coloration of Regulus hima- 

 layensis and the grey colour about the neck, which I have not 

 observed in R. cristatus. In this respect the Himalayan 

 species is more like the North-American R. satrapa. I am 

 inclined to think the Japanese species may prove identical 

 with the Himalayan one, but have not the means for com- 

 parison. I would keep Regulus himalayensis, Blyth, distinct 

 from R. cristatus, with which it does not altogether agree. 



Vol. I. p. 393. Hypolais caligata. — This bird was con- 

 founded in collections with H. rama. Looking over my 

 collection, Dr. Jerdon suggested that the smaller birds were 

 distinct; and this led me to procure large series of both 

 species, from which it resulted that when freshly moulted 

 H. rama is a sort of pale greyish or mouse-brown, while 

 H. caligata is a warm rufous-brown, like Acrocephalus agri- 

 cola. I refer to the upper surface of the birds. In a short 

 time the bright sun changes both birds to much the same 



