NOTES. 153 



427.— Actinodura egertoni, Gould. 



In his Paper on the Birds of the Khasia and North Cachar 

 Hills, (J. A. S. B., XXXIX, Pt. II, 105, 1870) Major Godwin- 

 Austen referred to an Actinodura, near egertoni, which he said 

 differed " in the crown and nape being ashy brown ; shoul- 

 der of wing and coverts olivaceous brown ; tail pale rufous 

 brown ; all the feathers distinctly barred ; beneath pale rufes- 

 cent ; no ashy tinge, and pale rufous on the neck and breast ; 

 the principal point of difference is in the centre tail feathers 

 and its rather smaller size. Wing, 3*2 ; tail, 4"5." 



Later in his list of Birds of the Dafla Hills, op. cit. XLV., 

 Pt. II., 76, 1876, he remarks :— 



" I mentioned the points in which the Khasia Bird differed, 

 and I now see that not the least important of these is the dis- 

 tinct difference in the colour of the shoulder of the wing, the 

 Lack and rump, which is an ochrey olivaceous, but in the Dafla 

 specimen red brown, as given by Jerd on for the same parts of 

 true egertoni. All the birds (I have a large series from the 

 Hill ranges south of the Brahmaputra) are identical, and so 

 distinct from the egertoni of the Eastern Himalaya that 

 they must receive a specific title, which I propose should be A. 

 khasiana." 



I must wholly dissent from this view. I also have large 

 series from both the Khasia Hills, and from Sikhim and Nepal, 

 and I must distinctly assert that there is no constant difference 

 in size, in the colour of the head, in the barring of the tail, or 

 in the colour of the chin and throat. The only constant 

 difference is the more rufous tinge of back, wings, tail, breast, 

 and abdomen, in Sikhim and Nepal specimens, very pronounced 

 in some specimens, slight in others, and barely recognizable in a 

 few. Considering the deeper and more rufous character of the 

 plumage of all such birds from Sikhim, e.g. in Pomatorhinus 

 Tuficollis, Trochalopteron rufogularis, &c, &c, this difference in 

 coloration so slight in some specimens, although generally ap- 

 parent enough, will certainly not, in my opinion, justify specific 

 separation. 



Half the Passeres in Persia and Beloochistan, for instance, 

 would have to be constituted distinct species on similar grounds, 

 running as they do so constantly paler than their European 

 representatives. 



A comparison of a specimen of 

 ItAYARDIA RUBIGINOSA, God-AllSt. 



P. Z. S., 1874, 47 ; J. A. S. B. ; XLIIL, 164, pi. V., 

 S. F., Ill,, 397, Djsscr. 



20 



