330 NOTES. 



The eastern race of the Orphean Warbler, Sylvia jerdoni, 

 Blyth (1847), is identical with S. orphea, var. kelena, Hempr. 

 & Ehr. (1828) ; and I am inclined to suspect that the type of 

 S. crassirostris, Riipp. (1826), is merely an individual variety,. 

 in which case Rlippelfs name would have priority. The bird 

 in the Fraukfort museum, however, has a decidedly thicker bill. 

 The eastern race is rather larger than S. orphea from Western 

 Europe, and has a longer bill, the two races passing into eacli 

 other and breeding together where they meet in the Levant, as 

 such closely allied forms generally do. 



Sylvia nana, H. & E., has been shown to be identical with 

 5. delicatula, Hartl. (by Finsch and Hartlaub and by v. Heug- 

 lin), and with S. dorios, De Filippi (by Salvadori). Another 

 synonym, I feel satisfied, is Salicaria aralensis, Eversmann 

 (Journ. f. Ornith., 1853, p. 286). 



The various forms described as Salicaria elosica, Lindermayer, 

 Curruca pallida, Hempr. & Ehr., Sylvia caligata, Licht., Sylvia 

 rama, Sykes, and Jerdonia agricolensis, Hume, all, I believe, 

 belong to one species, varying much in size and slightly in 

 structure, and belonging to the genus Hypolais. The western 

 form, H. pallida, H. & ^j., = ela'ica, Lindermayer, has a rather 

 broader bill, and is a somewhat larger form than H. caligata, 

 Licht., = rama, Sykes, whilst H. agricolensis, Hume, is a still 

 smaller race ; but all pass, I think, into each other so thoroughly 

 that I caunot distinguish the different forms. The type speci- 

 men of Sylvia caligata has, I believe, the bill distorted or 

 altered. 



Acrocephalus brunescens, Jerdon, is identical with Curruca 



STENTOREA, H. & E. 



I quite agree with Mr. Hume (' Stray Feathers,' i., p. 189) 

 that Ruticilla phcenicuroides, Moore, is identical with R. rufi- 

 ventris, Vieill. ; but it. erythroprocta, Gould, which Mr. Hume 

 also unites with R. rufiventris, appears to be distinct, as in the 

 former the black color comes lower down the breast, and all the 

 under wing-coverts are black, whilst in R. rufiventris they are 

 chiefly red. B. semirufa, H. & E., is a small race of R. rufi- 

 ventris. 



I believe that R. rufogularis, Moore, is probably the same as R. 

 Erythronota, Eversm. Unfortunately the type specimen of 

 the former is inaccessible at present, being amongst the collec- 

 tion formerly belonging to the East India Company ; and I 

 have been unable hitherto to see Eversmann's description of R. 

 erythronota, there not being a copy of the work in which it is 

 described (Addenda ad Pall. Zoog. Rosso-As., Fasc ii.) in the 



