OF THE GENUS PERICROCOTUS. 907 
the true P. speciosus type. I think, however, that we can se- 
parate it from the latter as worthy of distinction on account 
of its minute size, as, according to my experience, its wing 
never exceeds 3°25 inches in length. Mr. Ball has made some 
excellent observations on the Pericrocuti of Central India, and 
according to the measurements given by him of a series of ex- 
amples from the Chota Nagpur district, there can be little difference 
in size between these and Himalayan birds. His largest speci- 
men, a male from Sirguja, has the wing 4°15 inches in length. 
Mr. Hume (St. F., 1875, p. 95) separates P. elegans from 
P. speciosus, and P. flammeus, and writes concerning their spe- 
cific distinctions as follows :—“ First as to P. flammeus, no 
doubt it is of much the same size, and also that the colour of 
P. elegans is, to a certain extent, intermediate between that 
of P. flammeus, and P. speciosus ; but then the red extends in 
P. elegans as in P. speciosus on to the third, whilst in P. flam- 
meus it only extends on the fifth primary. As regards P. specio- 
sus, P. elegans is only about half the bulk. I do not lay very 
great stress upon the outer web of the central tail feather being 
entirely red in P. elegans ; because I have specimens, both froin 
the Central Provinces and Sikhim, of the true P. speciosus in 
which the outer webs of these central feathers are partly or 
wholly red. The points I would insist on, as regards P. flam- 
meus, the difference in the amount of red on the wing, and as 
regards P. speciosus, the great difference in size: as regards 
the females, the same kind of differences exist,and moreover 
the female of P. elegans has, like that P. speciosus, a great deal 
more yellow on the front of the head than that of P. flammeus.” 
Lord Walden has also noticed certain differences, for he 
remarks (/bis, 1871, p. 174) :— 
“Tn all Burmese male individuals of P. speciosus (Lath.), 
which have come under my notice, the middle pair of rectrices 
have the outer webs wholly red, the inner webs only being black. 
I have never observed this peculiarity in either Himalayan or 
Central-Indian examples. The Burmese form is also smaller. 
An Assam example in Major Godwin-Austen’s collection also 
exhibits this peculiarity.” 
In order to test these observations I have re-examined our 
series, not a very rich one, in the British Museum. I find in 
one specimen of P. flammeus, that the red colour extends on to 
the jifth primary, as noted by Mr. Hume, but in another it 
only goes on to the fourth, so that character is not constant.* 
* I believe that there must be some mistake here Our museum is very rick in 
Pericrocoti, and J wrote after a careful examination of very large series. There 
are many points in this paper in which I donot concur and when I have again 
access to our collections I shall furnish a separate paper on the Indian members of 
this genus.—Ep., S. F 
