NOTES ON THE LIST OF THE BIRDS OP INDIA. 183 



that such terms as " brownish ashy " are used by different obser- 

 vers in a widely-varying acceptation. I should not myself 

 describe the rump and upper tail-coverts of S. hingi as bright 

 rufous fawn, and I have specimens lying before me with the last 

 secondaries (the tertiaries of a few ornithologists, though not of 

 most writers) broadly margined with rufous. In the colouration 

 of the tail, although most specimens agree with Mr. Hume's 

 remark, some perfectly coincide with DeFilippi's description. 



As to the neighbourhood of Demavend not having been 

 explored, this is not of much consequence. I shot <S^. kingi my- 

 self only 150 miles farther south, and as no non-migratory 

 Saxicola has ever yet been found in the Palsearctic region, it is 

 very safe to conclude that S. chrysopygia is not a permanent 

 resident of the Elburz mountains in northern Persia. If 8. 

 chrysopygia be not S. kingi, what is it ? ISTo other species has 

 been discovered to which DeFilippi's description can possibly 

 apply. I admit that the description is not very good, but I can- 

 not see any sufficient reason for rejecting the identification. 



492 his. — Saxicola hendersoni. — It is by no means clear as yet 

 what this species is. Mr. Dresser and I examined some speci- 

 mens of S. morio with " dull smoky blackish grey," S. R, II., 

 p. 327 ; inner margins to the quills and the other differences are 

 in characters not unfrequently variable amongst Saxicolce. The 

 white or grey colour of the cap depends on season. A careful 

 description of 8. hendersoni in breeding plumage is required 

 before the species can be admitted. It is extremely improbable 

 that any Saxicola exists in Turkistan that does not frequent 

 India or Southern Persia in the winter. 



643. — Icarus atkinsoni. — I shewed in 1872, J. A. S. B., XII., 

 pt. 2, p. 57, that this species was in all probability the young of 

 Lopophanes beavani. As, despite all the enormous collections 

 of bird skins that have been made in Sikkim since that time, 

 this species has never been found again. I think there can be 

 no doubt my suggestion was correct. Mr. Mandelli tells me 

 he quite concurs with me. 



752 sex. — Montifringilla mandellii. — I understood it to be 

 admitted that this is Onychospiza taczanowskii, Prjevalski, the 

 latter name having priority. 



763. — Otocorys penicillata. — I cannot admit on the evidence 

 before me that 0. longirostris and 0. pe7iicillata must be united. 

 The distinction in this case is not merely a shade of colour as in 

 Caprimulgus europaeus and C. unwini, but a different distribu- 

 tion of the colours in the plumage. In O. longirostris the 

 black marks on the side of the neck are separated from the black 

 breast by an intermediate white bar ; in 0. penicillata the black 

 areas are united. This character is naturally much more con- 



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