Letters, Extracts, Notices, i^c. 575 



Chilliwreak, British Columbia, 

 July 1889. 



SiRj — I beg leave to send you a few ornithological notes 

 and corrections made on reading Lieut. W. W. Cordeaux's 

 article on the * Birds of Cashmere and the Dras District ' 

 (Ibis, 1888, p. 218). 



" Ruticilla leucocephaW {op. cit. p. 219) has been often 

 termed a Redstart, but, like Rhyacornis fuliginosus and 

 Adelura cceruleocephala, it has not the habits of a Redstart. 

 In these three birds the characteristic quiver of the tail is want- 

 ing, and the two first-named species are eminently aquatic. 



'' Corvus culminatus " (/. s. c.) should be Corvus intermedius 

 or some other hill-species. I was up the Scind valley myself, 

 and I did not see C culminatus there, nor in any part of the 

 Himalayas where I have been. It is essentially a bird of 

 the plains of India. 



Mr. Cordeaux failed to see any diffference between the 

 Dras Magpies and our English ones. A close comparison of 

 the skins of each would be necessary. I have never made 

 the comparison; nor have I compared the American one 

 with the European form. The latter, I mean the American, 

 never fails to find a wounded Duck, and many a Mallard 

 have I had spoiled by these birds. They turn the Duck 

 over and commence operations on the breast, and soon make 

 a deep hole. In shooting I often use stufi'ed decoy Ducks, 

 with a wooden body, weighted so as to float naturally on the 

 water. One day, having left my ambush for a short time to 

 search for a wounded Duck, I got back just in time to pre- 

 vent the mutilation of my decoys, with which the Magpies 

 were very busy, having pulled out a few feathers. 



" Geocichla unicolor" {op. cit. p. 222). — This bird is a true 

 Turdus, as much so as T. musicus. 



" Turtur meena" {op. cit. p. 222). — I only found Turtur 

 rupicola in Cashmere. T. meena is, I think, more eastern. 

 None of my Cashmere birds had the grey under tail-coverts 

 of Turtur meena. 



'^Corvus splendens" {op. cit. p. 223). — The coloration of 

 the Cashmere Common Crow is similar to that of the plains' 

 bird, but, nevertheless, it differs conspicuously. If not a 



