228 The Zoologist— May, 1866. 



Draycot, in this county, but whose occurrence has, 1 think, never yet been recorded. 

 Colonel Ward also saw in his garden, in Fehrnary last, a Bohemian Wiixvving, which, 

 fortunately for its own safely, timed iis arrival on a Sunday, and so escaped ilie end 

 it would olherwise have undoulitedly met al the hands of a collector of British birds. — 

 Alfred Charles Smith ; Yatfibury RecUmj, Culne, April JO, 186(5. 



Ixos obmurus in England.— I have received the following note from Mr. G. 0. 

 Groora-Napier, of Clifion : — " Five or six years ago a-friend of mine, Mr. C. Matthews, 

 purchased al a Hastings poulterer's a stick of sn)all birds ; it was in the autumn. One 

 of these birds was an uncommon species, he tliou^-ht, and brought it to me for identi- 

 fication. I was much puzzled with it al first, but at last made it out from Bree, as 

 Ixos obscurus." 



I append Temmincli's description ofthe genus Ixos: — " Beak shorter thau the head, 

 compressed, bent downwards from the base, the point curved and slightly notched, and 

 having stiff bristles at the base of beak. Nostrils basal, lateral, ovoid, half closed by a 

 naked membrane. Feet slmrt and weak, with the tarsus shorter than the middle toe; 

 the outside toes connected at the base ; the claws short and slender. Wings short." 



" This section is a new one in the Ornithology of Europe, several representatives of 

 it exist in Africa and in the Islands of the Indian Aichipelago, where the species of this 

 genus are very numerous. Mr. Miiller, a naturalist-travelling in India, has informed 

 me that in Java the species are sedentary in their habits ; some species inhabit 

 uiouiitainous districts, and one iS found at a:i elevation of 80J0 feet; others live in 

 the plains, even in the neighbourhood of inhabited districts; their note somewhat 

 )esenibles that of our chalBiich. They generally appear in pairs or in small flocks, but 

 seldom in great numbers; they mostly fiLqueiil trees or shrubs bearing fruit or 

 berries, which form almost their only food: they are often seen on the ground, looking 

 after fallen berries, but they rarely pick up calerpiUars or other insects; indeed they 

 may almost be considered as entirely fruclivorous.' 



Description of the species : — 



Ixos OBSCORUs, Ti'mminck. 



" Crown of the head, checks and throat dull brown; back ofthe neck, wing-coverts, 

 back and rump dingy earth-brown; whole of the wing the same brown, but rather 

 brighter ; breast and flanks clear brown ; middle of belly whitish brown ; belly and 

 vent dull white; tail uniform blackish brown; beak and feet black. Length eight 

 inches: the sexes are alike. 



"This new >pecies rather resembles, in form and general appearance, the Ixos 

 plelifiiis of Noitliern Africa, figured in the Atlas of Travels in Egypt by Riippel; but 

 the colours of the plumage differ sufiBciently in these two species to prevent them 

 being mistaken. Our si'ccies, although different in colour of plumage closely 

 resembles the one figured in the coloured plates under the name of Ixos Vaillantii, or 

 Merle cut-jaune du lap (Buflbn, pi. enl. 317), which is the Brunoir of Le Vaillaiit (< >is. 

 d'Afr. pi. 106, f. \). it resembles also, in all its characters several other species of the 

 same genus. 



" Habitat. Found in Andalusia in tolerable numbers. Seen also probably in North 

 Africa. 



" Food and propagation unknown." — Edward Newman. 



