3820 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
a large speckled Thrush, presumably T. viscivorus; of Ruticilla 
frontalis a pair; Henicurus maculatus of course near water: this is 
one of the most beautiful and conspicuous of Himalayan birds. 
I knocked over a bird without knowing what it was; it proved to 
be a young one in very mottled plumage of Petrophila erythro- 
gastra, so I fancy this Thrush is a late breeder. It is pretty 
common on the lower ranges, but not so conspicuous a bird as 
P. cinchlorhyncha, which delights to “pour forth” its rather 
pleasing ditty from the topmost branch of a tree; and why these 
two birds are called “‘ Rock Thrushes” I know not, for they are 
essentially sylvan in their habits. Just as I reached the Fagoo 
Bungalow, I got a specimen of Zoothera monticola, an odd- 
looking, ungainly bird for a Thrush, if Thrush it be; the first 
example of it I secured the previous winter below Kussowlie at 
first puzzled me; I thought the strangely long bill was an indi- 
vidual deformity. 
Oosrao had been successful in the forest again, and brought in 
a brace of Kalij Pheasants and a splendid Hagle, Spizaetus 
Nipalensis, an adult male. These Hagles are, in my poor judg- 
ment, a good deal mixed up in books, but this bird answers to 
Jerdon’s description pretty well; a series of specimens and 
works of reference are, however, essential for the determination of 
species whereof individuals are found to differ according to age, 
sex, and sometimes season of the year. 
My friend Capt. T. rode up to the door just in time to share 
my dinner, and he would have had short commons had I not 
ordered one of the Kalij Pheasants to be spatchcocked; and we 
resorted to the same excellent mode of cooking them on many 
other occasions. As we were sitting down to dinner I saw a 
large Owl glide past the verandah and settle on an oak behind 
the bungalow; my gun was dismantled at the time, having just 
been washed out; on putting it together I cautiously crept out, 
and after much dodging knocked the bird off its perch; but 
unfortunately a shot had carried away a portion of its bill. I 
sent this specimen to Calcutta, labelling it S. aluco ; but Blyth in 
acknowledging it informed me it differed from that species, 
and called it S. nivicolum of Hodgson. I afterwards had 
an opportunity of comparing this specimen with examples of the 
European bird in the Asiatic Society’s Museum, and confess I did 
not then see sufficient grounds for separating them. In after 
