Letters, Announcements, ^c. 249 



P.S. lu ' The Ibis ' for 1866, Mr. Blyth says (p. 354) :— 

 [* There must surely be some mistake about Picus macii oceur- 

 }ing in Ceylon." I felt certain that I never got it ; so I referred 

 to the ' Birds of India ' to see what Dr. Jerdon could have said 

 [about it. To my surprise I found (vol. i. p. 273) " and (ac- 

 cording to Layard) to Ceylon." Now I included it only on Dr. 

 Kelaart's authority (Ann. & Mag. N. H. 2nd ser. xiii. p. 448), 

 adding " sed non vicli." The Doctor and I did not always agree 

 about our identifications. I sent all my birds to Mr. Blyth, as 

 I did not trust my own judgment. I fear many of Dr. Kelaart's 

 species are wrongly named, but I do not wish to have his errors 

 fathered on me. 



Sir, — I have two remarks to make on Captain Beavan's 

 ' "Notes on various Indian Birds" ('Ibis/ 1867, pp. 430-455). 



407. Garrulax leucolophus. The true Himalayan race is 

 common in Arakan ; but that found on the banks of the Salween 

 is G. belangeri, Lesson, with the back wholly rufous, and the 

 ' white of the breast extending down the middle portion of the 

 abdominal region. I never saw an intermediate specimen. G. 

 bicolor. Lesson, of Sumatra, is equally albescent, as must also be . // / -<■ ^ 

 G. diarcli, Lesson [G. leucogaster, Walden, P. Z. S., 1866, 

 p. 549 ; ' Ibis,' 1867, pp. 381, 382) , of Siam and Cochin China. 

 I also obtained G. chinensis (Scop.), in company with G. belan- 

 geri, in Upper Martaban. 



461. Pycnonotiis ptjgceus. Should not this rather range as 

 P. cafer (L.) ? See Mr. Layard's remarks in his ' Birds of 

 South Africa' (pp. 139, 140). Brachypodius melanocephalus, 

 marked by Capt, Beavan with a note of doubt, is common in 

 Burma. 



The only addition to the avifauna of India, of which I know 

 at present, is the common Bean-Goose {Anas segetum). Mr. 

 Gould possesses the skin of one procured in the Diikhun. 



I am, &c., 



E. Blyth. 



