4-30 Miscellaneous. 



RARE BRITISH BIRDS. 



To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. 



Plymouth, October l(i, 1856. 

 Gentlemen, — During the late gales we have been visited by 

 ratlier nu unusual number of the Sterna arctica and iS. hirundo. 

 Specinuns of each species have been shot in the neighbourliood. 

 Tlie Thulass'ulroma jielayica was captured alive on the 2nd of this 

 mouth, in the passage of a iiouse, ^V'oo(llane Terrace, by II. O. Bull- 

 more, Esq. The bird was iu excellent condition, fat and tleshy, but 

 right wing was broken. 



I am. Gentlemen, yours truly, 



W. P. Cocks. 



Descriptions of two Neio Species of the Genus Orthotomus. By 

 Frederic Moore, Assist. Mus. East India Company. 



At a Meeting held in the early part of the jnescnt year, I laid 

 before the Zoological Society a monograph of this interesting genus, 

 and since that time I have l}een favoured by my brother with a search 

 through the birds contamed in the Derby Museum, which has resulted 

 in the discovery of two additional iindescribcd species. These I now 

 proceed to characterize. 



ORTHOtOMUS DERBIANUS, MoorC. 



Forehead, crown and occiput dark ferruginous ; back, rumj) and 

 sides of neck ash-colour ; ear-coverts, throat and breast jjale ash, 

 with the centre of the feathers whitish ; flanks ashy-white ; belly 

 and vent didl white ; wings brown, broadly margined throughout 

 with yellowish-green ; edge of shoulder j)ale brown ; under wing- 

 coverts rufcscent-white ; tail much graduated, ferruginous-brown 

 above, dusky at base, paler beneath, and without discernible terminal 

 spots or baud ; thighs ferruginous ; upper mandible horn-colour, 

 lower mandible and legs pale. 



Length, oi inches; of wing 2 inches; tail 2|^ inches ; bill from 

 frontal plumes fths inch, to gape \^t\\^ inch, and tarsus ^Sj^ths of 

 an inch. 



Hah. Philippines ? (II. Cuming). In Derby Museum, Liverpool. 



Remark. — May be distinguished from .ill the previously known 

 species by its greater size, and in having the ear-coverts, throat and 

 breast ash-colour, with the centres of the feathers wliitish. 



Orthotomus maculicollis, Moore. 



Forehead ferruginous, becoming dull on crown ; feathers of the 

 occiput greenish-brown, faintly edged witli black ; nares, behind 

 the eyes, a hue under, with the ear-coverts and sides of neck ferru- 

 ginous-white, each feather being edged with black ; back and rump 

 greenish ; throat white ; breast, belly and vent ferruginous-white ; 

 sides of breast black, and flanks light greenish ; wings brown, edged 



