THREE UNPUBLISHED PAPERS BY BLYTH. 311 



Malayan peninsula (especially about Penang), and has been 

 obtained so high as at Sandoway, in Arracan, where deemed a 

 rarity. Mr. Jerdon observed it "in vast numbers at the foot of 

 the Nilgiris, both at Metapollium and Goodaloor. It flies with 

 amazing velocity." 



A. FuscA (?) ; Hmmdofusca {?), Shaw; Chcetura australis (?) 

 Stephens; C. macroptera {?), Swainson, Zool. 111., 2nd series' 

 pl. 42 ; a nudipes, Hodgson, J. A. S. v. 779 ; Cypselus leuconotm, 

 Mag. de Zool. 1840, Ois. pl. 20, and figured also in the Souvenirs, 

 &c., of M. Adolphe Delessert, pt. ii. pl. 20, p. 25.— Similar to A. 

 caudacuta, but having the whole chin and throat pure white, and 

 the spinous tips to the rectrices much less developed, the medial 

 scarcely protruding i in. In A. caudacuta also the barbed portion 

 of the rectrices narrows off to its termination, as in most Wood- 

 peckers ; whereas in A.fusca {?} the barbed portion rounds off at 

 tip, so that the spinous ends of the stems protrude abruptly 

 Mr. Hodgson gives the length of the recent bird as "8i in and 

 alar expanse 20 in. Weight 4i oz. Irides dark brown. Sexes 

 ahke. The young," he adds, "want the blue or green gloss of 

 maturity; the clear whity-brown of the back and pure sooty- 

 brown of the belly are in them blended into an uniform dusky 

 hue ; and their throat is of a very sordid white." 



Hab. Nepal, Sikim, and Bootan; and, to judge from the 

 figures published by Mr. Swainson and Mr. Gould, it would 

 appear to be perfectly identical in Australia. Mr. G E Gray 

 however, in his illustrated ' Genera of Birds,' enumerates thj 

 Himalayan and Australian species as distinct. In Nepal Mr 

 Hodgson states that-" Its habitat is the northern region, whence* 

 It sometimes wanders into the mountains of the central, avoidin^r 

 however, the open and plain country. It climbs with great powe?' 

 aided equally by its talons and its tail." 



_ In an obliging communication from Captain Tickell, received 

 just in time for insertion here, this naturalist remarks •-" After 

 much patience I shot one of these birds at Darjeeling, where they 

 first appear in September. In the plains I have not seen them • 

 and It IS probable that they pass from the Himalayas to the hicrh 

 ghats of Central India without halting intermediately. It is In 

 September that the snow, gathering on the higher Himmalas 

 drives down hordes of birds to lower ranges, and amongst them 

 immense flocks of Hirundines " (i. e., Hirundinidce and Cypselidce). 



