136 ADDITIONAL NOTES ON SOME 



Note that Mr. Sharpe differing from Von Heuglin gives the 

 axillaries in both these species as white, with concealed black 

 bases, thus agreeing well with the Mysore robusta. 



Mr. Sharpe's description loc. cit. answers in many respects to 

 the Mysore bird, but the breast in this latter is not orange chest- 

 nut; there is no orange about it at all, it is a cinnamon rufous, 

 the abdomen is pure white, and not buffy whitish ; and though 

 I have carefully raised both upper and under tail-coverts, I can 

 discover no white on the bases of the tail feathers. Lastly, the 

 feathers adjoining the hind neck are not white with black tips, 

 there is no trace of white on the back of the neck, and no indi- 

 cation of the white collar so distinctly shown in the P. E. 572, 

 and in Le Vaillant's figure, 0. d'A., 180. 



On the whole, therefore, I am disposed to consider the Mysore 

 robusta, as probably a local species of very limited distribution, 

 and I shall now endeavour to procure more specimens. I know 

 no one at present collecting in Mysore, but should any of my 

 readers be there stationed, I hope they will keep a look-out for 

 this bird, and perhaps, the officer in charge of the Bangalore 

 Museum would kindly examine all the locally killed Stonechats 

 he has, and see whether any of them are robusta. 



On the other hand it is to be hoped that the type, which Mr. 

 Brooks is now taking home, will be there carefully compared 

 with a good series of torquata. 



And now to return to Canon Tristram's other type of robusta, 

 which is nothing but our large Eastern race of indica. Mr. 

 Brooks persistently urges me to assign a separate specific name 

 to this form, and he declares that if I do not, he will. I have 

 consequently very carefully reconsidered the subject, and have 

 re-examined several hundred specimens from all parts of the 

 empire, but only I am bound to say with the same result as 

 before, and with a strengthened conviction that it is very unde- 

 sirable to separate this race specifically. 



The question lies in a nutshell; this Eastern form is, broadly 

 speaking, distinguished by its larger size and by its rufous color- 

 ing, descending unbroken on to the lower tail-coverts. But, as 

 regards size, a couple of hundred specimens, collected in various 

 parts of the empire, exhibit dimensions of every possible grada- 

 tion between the very smallest of the race to which Mr. Brooks 

 would restrict the name indica, and the very largest of that one 

 on which he would bestow a separate specific appellation. There 

 is nowhere a break of even one hundredth of an inch in the 

 dimensions of the wings, tail, bill, or tarsus, at which a specific 

 barrier could be erected. An absolutely unbroken series of forms 

 inextricably interlink the largest and the smallest examples. I 

 have made enormous collections to verify this, and I have now 



