424 THE MARaUISOF TWEEDDALE ON BATRACHOSTOMUS. [May 15, 



the bird on which Gray founded his Otothrix hodgsoni was a 

 female. If this be so, the conclusion that the females of this species 

 are always rufous, and the males grey, is very much shaken ; and it 

 is most desirable that Mr. Hodgson's own words should be made 

 known ; for the accuracy of zoological facts stated by Mr. Hodgson 

 may be said to be more than " probable." Of the specimens of B. 

 crinitus, ex Gilolo and Batchian, with sex determined, the females 

 are in rufous plumage or rufous brown {B. psilopterus). The females 

 of other Papuan forms of Podargus appear also to be rufous, such as 

 P. ocellatus. It may be added that the white marlcings on the 

 nuchal, gular, and pectoral plumes and on the scapulars and wing- 

 coverts (where they occur) are very similar in adult birds of either 

 sex, B. moniliger in part excepted. 



There is no evidence that the young, even nestlings, of both sexes 

 wear plumage of the same colour. On the contrary, from the little 

 that has been published on the subject, the young of the species 

 known have grey or rufous predominating from the first. 



Of the two nestlings from Darjeeling identified by Blyth as be- 

 longing to B. affinis, one is described as being " mainly of a light 

 chestnut hue, with nearly obsolete barred markings, and throwing 

 out deeper chestnut or light-bay feathers on the crown and shoidder 

 of the wing ; while the other is profusely mottled throughout with 

 black on a pale ground, but faintly tinged with chestnut" (J. A. 

 S. B. 1849, p. 806). The nestling obtained along with the adult of 

 Otothrix hodgsoni (Mus. Brit.) is in pale rufous barred plumagf. A 

 nestling of the Travancore bird discovered by Mr. Bourdillon is de- 

 scribed by Mr. Hume as a "little rufous brown ball" (Str. F. iv. 

 p. 380). 



If it comes to be established that the adult females wear the 

 rufous dress, and the adult males the more sombre grey and brown 

 plumage, we shall have the fact that the females of the species be- 

 longing to the genus Batrachostomus are far more brightly coloured, 

 and therefore more conspicuous than the males. The white orna- 

 mental plumes, the erect, frontal, half-developed, crest-like feathers, 

 the true occipital crests, and the long hair-hke auriculars are equally 

 prominent in adults of both sexes, species by species, the white sca- 

 pulars in the B.-aitritiis group excepted. But the fact will remain 

 that the bright colouring belongs to the females. It is a coincidence, 

 though perhaps nothing more, that all seven were first made known 

 from rufous examples. 



The genus Batrachostomus was formed by Mr. Gould (Icones Av. 

 ii. p. 13) for the reception of P. auritus^ Vigors. Captain Hay 

 three years later (J. A. S. B. 1841, p. 573) also proposed to make 

 the same species the type of a genus which he called Bombycistomus. 

 It is diflScult to detect any external characters sufficiently definite to 

 warrant the removal of B. auritus, or any of the other Asiatic Ba- 

 trachostomi, from the older genus Podargus. Mr. G. R. Gray 

 (P. Z. S, 1859, p. 101) created a separate genus under the title 

 Otothrix, mainly relying on the long hairy auriculars, for the re- 

 ception of the species obtained near Darjeeling by Mr. Hodgson. All 



