250 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF INDIA. 



\ } =dominicanus, Bodd =striga Raffles) which we know to be 

 common, at Malacca, in Sumatra, Java, and the whole of Eastern 

 Asia, that I cannot doubt that these specimens are really 

 young birds of this species.* 



From all the species with which I have been able to compare 

 them, viz., pagodarum, GmeL, malabaricus, Gmel., senex, 

 Temm, andamanensis, Tytler, erythropygia , Blyth, burmannicus, 

 Jerdon, nemoricolus, Jerdon, and sinensis, GmeL, they differ, 

 setting aside considerations of size and plumage, in the much 

 greater proportional width of the basal portions of their bills. 

 Besides these species already enumerated we can certainly say 

 that these specimens are not referable to BlyfM, Jerdon, pyr- 

 rJiogenys, Miill, ruficollis, Wagler, elegans, Less., and should 

 they prove not to be, as I at present persume, the young of 

 dauricus, Pall, (which I do not know, and of which I have no 

 sufficient particulars^ they must belong to an undescribed species. 



Of all the species with which I am acquainted, our present 

 birds most nearly resemble T. nemoricolus, but the bill, legs, 

 feet, and generally the whole bird are somewhat larger. 



The irides are brown, legs and feet greenish horny, and the bill 

 dusky, while the head is unicolorous with the back, which is 

 considerably darker than in nemoricolus; the tail feathers have 

 no pale tippings, there is no large whitish patch upon the 

 greater wing coverts, and the scapulars are broadly edged with 

 greyish white. 



Supposing our birds to be indeed the young of dauricus 

 (thouoh as I repeat the character of the plumage would lead 

 one to suppose that they were adults) the following are Mr. 

 Blyth's remarks in regard to that species : — 



" To the same genus Sturnina of Lesson, must be referred the 

 Pastor malayensis, Eyton, P. Z. S v 1839, p. 103; but as an 

 aberant species with the bill short and approximating that of 

 Calornis, more slender however than in that genus, and having 

 the outline of its upper mandible less curved. Length about 

 seven inches and a quarter, of wing four and one-eight, and tail 

 two and a quarter ; bill to gape seven-eighths, and tarsi an inch. 

 Head, neck, and under parts a silky subdued whitish or drab 

 white ; whiter on the belly and lower tail-coverts, and tinged 

 with purplish on the crown and nape : an occipital spot, the 

 interscapularies, proximate scapularies, shoulder of the wing and 

 rump, black with a rich purple shine ; outer scapularies and 

 second range of wing-coverts subdued white ; as also an elongated 



* Since this was in type, Mr. Bowdler Sharpe, to whom I sent a specimen, has con- 

 firmed this identification. 



