Calcutta, with Notes % H. E. Strickland. 41 



but Tr. rostratum must be distinct from M. magnum, and I have other 

 members of this group which will require subgeneric division.] 



No. 74. Malacocei-cus terricoJor is badly figured by Edwards, 

 pi. 184, on which was founded Tardus canorus of Linnseus, a name 

 which really cannot stand, as a more thoroughly songless bird does 

 not exist ; what cries it has are particularly harsh and chattering — 

 atch, atch, atch. The name Baniahbou (given it by Buffon) refers to 

 the black-headed oriole, this being called Sacit bhye (seven brothers), 

 as they always go in families ; and Chatarhcea (though it is not the 

 ChatarhcEa of Franklin), which is a much smaller bird, more striated, 

 and having a longer and more graduated tail. 



No. 74 a. Add Malacocercus Earlei, nobis. 



No. 75 a. My friend JNIr. Frith, a most accurate observer, assures 

 me that Timalia pileata, Horsfield, is to be met with. Mr. Hodgson 

 has sent it from Nepal, and it is included in Dr. M'Clelland's cata- 

 logue of the birds procured by him in Assam. 



No, 76. Several common Taylor-birds were brought me the other 

 day, on the authority of which I can now safely assert that the Or- 

 thotomus sepium of Sykes is merely the young of 0. longlcauda (his 

 O. Bennett). 



No. 76 a. Prima inornata is common in grass-jungle and reeds, 

 and it occurs also in Nepal. This and other Indian Prinite are de- 

 cidedly congeneric with the Z)ry/Ho/c« (Sw.) of Dr. A.Smith's ' South 

 African Zoology.' 



No. 76 b. Prinia flaviventris is obtained within a short distance of 

 this place. This is the Orthotomus flaviventris of Delessert, and I 

 suspect Motacilla oUvacea of Raffles ; I had previously received it 

 from Singapore and Tenasserim. 



No. 77. lUra tiphia ; distinct both from /. zeylonica of Southern 

 India, and from /. scapuluris of the Malay countries. In reply to 

 Mr. Strickland's request, I may briefly remark that the anatomy of 

 this bird is on the usual passerine type : its food small insects, which 

 it constantly seeks among the foliage and small twigs of trees, where 

 it is ever in motion, attracting attention by its lively yellow colour, 

 and more so by the great variety of its notes ; these latter are much 

 as in the Pari, and are so various as not unfrequently to occasion dis- 

 appointment to the ornithologist, who had been thus led to suspect 

 the presence of some unusual species; but its only proper song-note 

 is a very peculiar one, whence is derived one of the native appella- 

 tions of the hivd—futteekjou, the second syllable of this being exces- 

 sively prolonged. The nest is a beautiful structure, one before me 

 being of a cup- shape, resting upon and bound to a twig of guava, 

 from which a slight stem branches ofr obliquely upward on one side, 

 and the base of this is bound into the lower half of the nest ; the rim 

 and cupped portion are surprisingly thin, but still very compact, the 

 nest being chiefly constructed of fine cocoa-nut fi.bres, which form the 

 interior lining, whilst the outside is bound and fastened with a pro- 

 fusion of delicate webs of leaf-rolling caterpillars and spiders : the 

 eggs I have net seen. This genus is undoubtedly very isolated in 



