1877.] THE MARQUIS OF TWEEDDALE ON BATRACHOSTOMUS. 427 



Batrachostomvs castaneus, Hume, St. F. ii. p. 349 (1874), 

 "neighbourhood of Darjeelmg " ( $ ?) ; op. cit. 1876, p. 376. 



Batrachostomus hodgsoni (G. R. Gray), Walden, J. A. S. B. 1875, 

 pt. ii. ex. no. p. 83. no. 162, "Karen-nee, at 6000 feet," J*. 



Batrachostomus affinis, Blyth, Walden, t. c. p. 84. 



Batrachostomus affinis, Blyth, Walden, Ibis, 1876, p. 355. 



B. castaneus, Hume, Blanford, Ibis, 1877, p. 251. 



Hab. Malacca, Burma, Darjeeling, Borneo (?), Sumatra (?) 



B. parvulus is stated by Professor Schlegel (Handleid. I. c.) to in- 

 habit Borneo and Malacca ; but at page 4 79, index to the plates, 

 no. 15, it is giveu as from Sumatra also. The bird represented, how- 

 ever, seems to belong to B. stellatus. An example of a young Ba- 

 trachostomus (rufous plumage) is contained in the British Museum, 

 and labelled "Sumatra," which may belong to B. affinis, as it cor- 

 responds well with the young example ex Malacca {^mus. nostr.^ 

 below described. But the young bird in rufous plumage is exceed- 

 ingly difficult to distinguish from the young bird of B. cornutus 

 when the latter has not arrived at dimensions equal to or greater than 

 B. affinis adult ; and its resemblance to B. javensis will be probably 

 found to be still closer. 



Of the specific identity of B. affinis with Otothrix hodgsoni there 

 is some concurrence of testimony. Fragments of two specimens 

 from Darjeeling were enumerated by Blyth (Cat. Calc. Mus. no. 

 405, B, c) under B. affimis, but stated to be " of a nearly allied but 

 distinct species." This opinion Blyth subsequently modified the 

 same year ; for in his " Supplemental note to the Catalogue" (J. A. 

 S. B. 1849, p. 806. no. 405) he remarked, " In a collection made at 

 Darjeeling we found the heads, wings, and tails of two specimens of 

 what we now consider to be the young of this species" (i?. affinis). 

 Lieutenant Wardlaw Ramsay's example of Otothrix hodgsoni was 

 obtained in the vicinity of the district from which Colonel Tickell 

 received an example of B. affinis in rufous plumage. Malaccan ex- 

 amples of B. affinis in the dress of Otothrix hodgsoni occur as fre- 

 quently as the rufous bird ; and Mr. Hume {I. c.) has described a 

 specimen of his B. castaneus, ex Darjeeling, in a plumage that agrees 

 with that of O. hodgsoni, Mr. Hume almost admits that B. cas- 

 taneus represents a phase or a sex of 0. hodgsoni. Both Jerdon 

 and Blyth in later years strongly suspected that 0. hodgsoni repre- 

 sented a phase of B. affinis. In the dimensions of the wings and 

 tail the birds at the northern limit of the range (Sikim) exceed those 

 at the southern (Malacca), while the width of gape remains constant. 



No. 1, $ (?) adult, ex Malacca {mus. nostr.) (PI. XLV.). Head, 

 elongated occipital crest-plumes, back, uropygium, upper tail-coverts, 

 scapulars, minor and major wing-coverts, exposed upper surface of 

 secondaries, and tertiaries, throat, sides of neck, breast, abdomen, 

 ventral region, and flanks pure bright rufous ; chin, forehead, and 

 supercilium tawny rufous. The elongated auriculars tawny rufous 

 and tipped blackish brown. The abdomen and exposed surface of 

 secondaries and tertiaries of a somewhat paler shade than the back. 

 Throat-plumes with a white open transverse V-mark towards the tips, 



