230 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF INDIA. 



respectively from the southernmost islands of the Andamans, 

 or the northernmost point of Sumatra. 



472.— Oriolus melanoceplialus, Lin. (7.) 



I do not think that the Andaman birds can be properly, as 

 they have been, called a small race of this species. The wings of 

 the males often run to 5 '3, which is quite as large as those of 

 most continental birds (though Northern Indian birds from the 

 foot of the Himalays run somewhat larger) ; but they seem to 

 have rather less yellow on the outer webs of the tertiaries and 

 secondaries than the majority of continental specimens exhibit. 



Davison says : — " I feel perfectly satisfied that this bird is only 

 a seasonal visitant to the Andamans. On my arrival at the 

 Andamans in December last, knowing that this bird had been 

 obtained there, I was much astonished at my not obtaining 

 any specimens, or even seeing it, but thinking- that it might be 

 rare (which comparatively it is), I kept an special look-out for 

 it, listening for its note, which I should have recognized at 

 once, as it differs very much from that of andamanensis and 

 others of the indicus type, aud with which moreover I have 

 been for years familiar ; but up to the time of my starting for 

 the Nicobars in January, I failed to either see or hear it. On 

 my return to Port Blair in April, going to Mount Harriet a day 

 or two after my arrival, it was one of the first birds that drew 

 my attention, and up to the time of my leaving the islands in 

 May, I repeatedly heard and saw it, but only succeeded in 

 securing two specimens/'' 



I am not myself so sure about the bird being only a seasonal 

 visitant, but it is certainly rare. Subsequent to our leaving the 

 islands between May and the end of September five more speci- 

 mens were procured for us, so that we got altogether seven against 

 just eleven times that number of andamanensis. It may pos- 

 sibly, however, as Davison thinks, leave the islands during Octo- 

 ber and November, and return in March or April. Certainly I 

 saw and heard it in Macpherson's Straits early in March. 



475.— Copsyclius saularis, Lin. (28.) 



The Andaman bird, although I assign it to this species, is 

 really intermediate between saularis and mindanensis. 



Mr. Ball says : — " The Andaman bird appears to belong to the 

 Indian and not to the nearly allied species C. mindanensis 

 from Malacca, Sumatra, &c. A fully grown male had the 

 four outer rectrices on either side white."" There may not im- 

 probably be some mistake about this ; we preserved eighteen 



