ASSAM, SYLHET AND CACHAR. 145 



Godwin- Austen said was the same as his TiLrdiniin garo- 

 ejisis. How he could possibly think this I cannot understand. 

 There must have been some strange mistake. I have good 

 specimens of both lying before me, and merely by its deep 

 colour (the upper surface of which is concolorous with his 

 Tardinus nagaensis) a child could separate tiokelli at a distance 

 of ten paces. 



As I write this an idea comes into my head: perhaps 

 Godwm-Austen when he said my tichelli was the same as 

 his Turdinus garoensis, meant that it was the same as his 

 Tuvdinus nagaensis. This slip of the pen would explain 

 the difficulty, for tichelli and nagaensis (which latter is iden- 

 tical with my Fellorneum ignotum, S. F., V, 334, a title 

 that has precedence) are very close, but yet quite distinct. 



The tarsus in all ^icMZi is always ll or over, in ignotum 

 it does not exceed 095. The whole feet, but especially the 

 hmd claw, are very much larger in tichelli. The feathers on 

 the forehead of tichelli are distinctly pale shafted ; there is 

 no trace of this in ignotum. The bill is markedly longer 

 m tichelli. This latter has the chin, centre of throat and 

 of upper breast rusty or fulvous buff; these parts in ignotum 

 are white. The wings are quite different, that of ignotum 

 in which the 6th, 7th and 8th are subequal and longest is 

 much more rounded, and that of tichelli in which the 5th 

 IS the longest, and the 6th, 7th and 8th progressively 

 shorter, much more pointed. Despite the close resemblance 

 of the upper surface, the birds are perfectly distinct, and 

 1 doubt not when this group comes to be overhauled will 

 even be placed in different subgroups, and I am quite sure 

 that if he ever really carefully re-examines the two forms. 

 Major Godwin-Austen will concur in their entire dis- 

 tinctness. 



In the meantime I hope he will correct that slip of the 

 P®^ ^^ t.^e ^is Hoc cit. sup). All these years have I, with 

 all the birds before me, been gnashing my teeth over this 

 utter impossibility— Austen with an artist's eye sayino- my 

 tichelh was his garoensis! And if till this day I ''could 

 never, make head or tail of it, what a stumbling block, to all 

 who have not seen the birds, does this passage remain ! I 

 see perfectly, now, he did not mean garoensis, a totally 

 different coloured bird, but his nagaensis, which is precisely 

 similarly coloured above to tickeUi, though differing as I have 

 above pointed out. 



To return to tichelli : In Assam I only have it from Sadiya 

 and I hnoiu of no other place in which it has occurred, except 



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