1919-] Eclipse Plu7na(/e of SpermoY)hi\a. \>\lea.ta. 83 



tiiat tlie necessity for proof is increased. I should rather 

 suggest that the variation in the plumage and number of 

 tail-featliers in the genus, which Captain Eeebe shows to 

 exist, are analogous to the variation of colour in Stercorarius 

 crepidutus, and in the male of Machetes pugnax ; and until 

 some proof is given that the species of this genus do meet 

 and interbreed, I agree with Mr. Stuart Baker (cf. Journ. 

 Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. xxiv. 1916, p. 633). No donbt we 

 shall have, when Captain Beebe conies to deal with the various 

 races of the genus Pl/asianus, some case which will throw 

 light on this difficult question ; but except in the solitary 

 case of the Chumba variety of the Impeyan Pheasant, which 

 was described and accepted by such good naturalists as 

 Marshall, Oates, and Sharpe as a distinct species, but which 

 is now relegated to its proper place by ornithologists gener- 

 ally, I can think of no similar instance amongst the 

 Phasianidee. 



Knowing as I do the great difficulties, both climatic and 

 geographical, which are met with in observing the habits of 

 the forest-haunting Pheasants in the dense rocky and inac- 

 cessible thickets which they love, I especially admire the 

 skill and patience which Captain Beebe shows as a field- 

 naturalist and observer; and the care which he has taken to 

 select and quote from the existing accounts of the habits 

 and life-history of the Pheasants makes his book an almost 

 unique model for future monographers. His numerous 

 photographs of their native haunts show great skill as a 

 bird-watcher and add immensely to the interest and value 

 of the work. 



V. — On the Eclipse Plumage o/Spermophila pileata. 

 By F. E. Blaauw, M.B.O.U. 



I BOUGHT a living specimen of this rare little finch in a 

 vegetable shop in Santos in Brazil in May 1911. It had no 

 black cap and no rosy gloss on the lower back and sides, so 

 that I thought that it was either a young bird or a female. 

 I was assured that it was an adult male. I bought the bird, 



g3 



