228 NOTES. 



Comparing: a specimen of the true Burnesia gracilis collected 

 by Canon Tristram at Genazareth, 9th March 1864, a male, with 

 Indian specimens, of the same sex, killed at the same time of the 

 year, of Burnesia lepida, I am compelled to agree with Mr. 

 Brooks that they are just separable. In gracilis the bill is 

 decidedly larger, the whole upper plumage is darker and browner, 

 and the dark striations are slightly broader. But the most 

 conspicuous difference is in the antepenultimate dark bars of 

 the lateral tail feathers, which in gracilis are conspicuously 

 broader, darker, and far better defined than in any of the 

 numerous specimens of lepida in the museum. 



Of course it is necessary in the case of all birds of this 

 class to compare birds killed at the same season of the year. 

 In the winter the bills of lepida are pale, brownish horny 

 above, yellowish horny below. In the summer they are 

 black. In the early part of the winter the entire plumage is 

 darker and browner, and it gradually fades and grows 

 greyer and greyer until the close of the breeding season. 



Doubtless gracilis goes through precisely the same stages, 

 yet the darkest and brownest November lepida is not by 

 any means so dark or brown as this sixteen-year-old March 

 specimen of gracilis. I cannot discover any difference in 

 dimensions, or in wing formula, though, perhaps, the first 

 primary of lepida may be a trifle larger. 



I Have received recently two more spcimens of Abrornis 

 jerdoni, Brooks, from Mr. Cripps from near the eastern extremity 

 of the valley of Assam. I have now four specimens, and 

 entertain no doubts that it is a perfectly good and distinct 

 species. 



To Captain Butler and Mr. Laird I am now indebted for 

 specimens of Sturnia blythi, the validity of which species 

 I formerly, erroneously, questioned. 



The essential difference between this species and malabarica 

 has never, I think, been pointed out. 



It has been called the White-headed Mynah, and the 

 whiteness of the head has always been insisted on as its 

 distinguishing characteristic ; but this, as I formerly showed, 

 is invalid. The heads of malabarica vary from French grey 

 to a white, every bit as pure as that of blythi; the real difference 

 lies in the breast, and the bird should be designated the 

 White-breasted Tree Mynah. No matter how white the head, 

 neck, and throat may be in malabarica, the breast is always, 

 in adults, more or less rufous. Some of the elongated linear 

 lanceolate throat plumes, often pure white, may overhang 



