List of Birds from the vicinity of Calcutta. 205 



dicus" — the V. indiciis of Scopoli and Latham, or the V. indicits of 

 Temminck, and whether by " Vultur bengalensis " he means the V. 

 bengalensis of Gmelin, or the bird so called by Gray. In fact, the 

 Vuliitridce, though few in number, are still in great confusion, and 

 we are much in want of exact descriptions and exact synonyms of 

 the Indian species. 



31. What are the distinctions between the " Buceros mahibaricus " 

 of Southern, and the " B. albirostris " of Northern India ? Latham's 

 figure and description of malabaricus , and Shaw's description of al- 

 birostris, both exactly agree with a specimen in my collection, and I 

 have therefore always considered them as synonymous. 



43. The generic value of Brachypternus as distinct from Tiga de- 

 pends on the amount of importance which we attach to the presence 

 of a rudimental hind toe, as compared with its total absence. Now it 

 is true, that when this member is reduced to a minimum, in one set 

 of species, it often disappears altogether in another, without invol- 

 ving any other structural ditference. But in this respect Brachy- 

 jiternus is certainly as good a genus as Tridactylia, Rissa, CaUdris, 

 Squatarola, &c., and a far better one than many which are distin- 

 guished by the mere form or even the colour of the feathers. 



77. The distinction of the /or« tiphia, zeylonica and scapularis into 

 three species is an interesting fact, and I hope Mr. Blyth will soon 

 publish the characters of them. I had long suspected that /. scapularis 

 was distinct from zeylonica. Dr. Horsfield having informed me that 

 the black-headed specimens never occur in Java. 



112. For melanotus read melanotis. This Bengal bird is probably 

 the Lanius cristatus of Linnaeus (which is said to be from Bengal). 

 In the ' Ann. Nat. Hist.' p. 36 supra, I had referred to this species 

 the L. superciliosus. Lath., of the Malay countries (which is proba- 

 bly also the L. magnirostris, Less., and L. strigatus, Eyton). But 

 as Mr. Blyth considers his melanotis to be distinct from the latter, it 

 would appear that L. superciliosus. Lath., is not the same asZ. cris- 

 tatus, Lin. The Indian bird will therefore stand as Lanius melanotis 

 (Linn?eus's name cristatus being decidedly erroneous), and the Malay 

 species will be L. superciliosus. A third allied but distinct species 

 is the L. lucioneiisis, Lin., from the Philippine Islands. 



130. Motacilla indica is described by Sonnerat as yellow beneath, 

 but Raffles states that his specimens were white beneath, and my 

 own specimen is also of the latter colour. Does this difference in- 

 dicate two species, or only a change resulting from season } 



154 a. The Vinago chlorigaster of Mr. Blyth was named almost 

 simultaneously by myself Treron Jerdoni (p. 38 supra). The yellow 

 of the lower belly seems to be a more distinctive character than the 

 green of the ventral region. 



206. Himantopus asiaticus. Lesson, seems to be the same as H. leu- 

 cocephalus, Gould, 1837. 



The two following notes refer to Mr. Blyth's paper in the present 

 Number of the ' Annals,' which furnishes another proof of that gen- 

 tleman's zeal and activity in the cause of science. 



