224 Mr. W. T. Blanford on 'Stray Feathers/ 



descriptions and meastirements of all species not included in 

 Jerdon's ' Birds of India/ That such a work will be a most 

 valuable boon to the ornithologists of India there can be no 

 doubt whatever. All that is needed to perfect the work, is 

 that some European ornithologist, with the requisite leisure 

 and access to books, should correct the synonymy of the Indian 

 birds. How necessary a careful work of this kind is one in- 

 stance may serve to show. Circus pallidus, Sykes, is quoted 

 in two instances in ' The Ibis ' for last year, as the oldest 

 name of the Pale-chested Harrier. The same mistake is made 

 by Mr. Gray in his ' Hand-list of Birds.' Yet Sir A. Smith's 

 name, C. sivainsoni, has priority by two years, having been 

 first published in the ' South African Quarterly Journal' for 

 1830, p. 384, whilst Sykes's name was not published before 

 1832 (P.Z.S. p. 80). 



P.S. Whilst the preceding paper was passing through the 

 press, I received, by post, the second part of ' Stray Feathers/ 

 comprising Nos. 2, 3, and 4, published together in February 

 of this year. This part consists of no less than 273 pages, 

 200 of which are devoted to a valuable paper by Mr. Hume 

 on the ornithology of Sind, containing a diary of the author's 

 journey through the province, and of his voyage along the 

 Makran coast to Muscat, in Arabia, together with copious 

 notes of the birds collected. For several of these, "provi- 

 sional " names are proposed. I can here only call attention 

 to this paper, which I believe to be the most important con- 

 tribution to Indian ornithology that has appeared for several 

 years. 



The other papers in the present part of ' Stray Feathers ' 

 are : — A list of the birds known to occur in the Andaman and 

 Nicobar islands, by Mr. V. Ball; Notes upon some of the 

 Indian and European Eagles (A. rnogilnik, A. nmiia, and the 

 forms hitherto confounded with them), by Mr. A. V. Brooks ; 

 Descriptions of the following novelties by Mr. Hume : — Col- 

 localia innominata and Brachypodius fuscoflavescens, from the 

 Andaman Islands ; P ell or neum minus, from Thayetmyo, Pegu; 

 Blanfordius striatulus, nov. gen. ct sp. (a Mai urine bird, near 



