76 A FIKST LIST OF THE 



if , as I somewhat suspect, the Himalayan bird is not distinct, 

 then of course all will stand under Vieillot's name, lineata. 



For the present, I assume that lineata is a distinct species, with 

 a wing 4*5, and that it is distinguishable, as stated in the Mono- 

 graph of the Capitonidse by my friends, the Messrs. Marshall, from 

 Hodgsoni, by its smaller size, by the brown edgings to the feathers 

 of the head and neck being deeper in color and much broader 

 than in the Himalayan birds, and by the forehead being almost 

 entirely brown instead of whitish as in Hodgsoni ; and I say that, 

 though Blyth gives Pegu as a habitat for lineata, all the Pegu 

 birds sent to me are Hodgsoni. 



If we take the true Hodgsoni from various localities, we find 

 the wing varies from 5 -15 to 5*65 ; thus, taking a small selection 

 of birds at random, the following are the dimensions of the 

 wings : — 



Simla, 5*25 ; Kumaon, 5*65, 535 ; Gurhwal, 5-5; Dehra, 5-3 ; 

 Kaladoongee, 5*4; Dacca, 5*15. 



In the Thayetmyo birds the wings vary from 5*15 to 5*4.. 

 None of these, I think it is clear, can belong to the small sup- 

 posed lineata, with a wing 45. Then, as to the other points of 

 difference, I find that some Himalayan Hodgsoni have the fore- 

 head ' ' almost entirely brown," others again have it " whitish/'' 

 The same precisely is the case with the Thayetmyo birds. The 

 amount of brown edgings to the feathers and the depth of the 

 color of these edgings varies very greatly alike in the Himalayan 

 and the Thayetmyo birds, and they are certainly not broader 

 or deeper in color in the Thayetmyo than in the Himalayan birds. 

 In fact, there is one Thayetmyo bird in which they are paler and 

 narrower than in any single one of my large series of .Himalayan 

 Hodgsoni. Further, I may note that I have a large series of 

 these Barbets from Tenasserim, from Pahpoon to Tavoy, the very 

 smallest of which has the wing 4-75, while in the great majority 

 this varies from 4*9 to 5 "3. In these, too, some have the typical 

 coloring of Hodgsoni, while in others this appears to be what is 

 considered characteristic of lineata. 



On the whole, without disputing that there may be a distinguish- 

 able smaller species, and that it may possibly also occur in Pegu, 

 what I submit is that all the birds sent to me from Pegu are 

 identical with the Himalayan bird, and must therefore, if these 

 are distinct from lineata, stand as Hodgsoni. 



Mr. Oates remarks that this species is " common in the plains, 

 and extremely common in the hills. Its cry is almost distressing, 

 uttered as it is by dozens of them all day. Its call resembles 

 ' Ko-hpo ', ' Ko-hpo ', preceded, though not always, by a sort of 

 screaming laugh. I do not know anything of its distribution 

 west of Thayetmyo. My collectors have never brought it from the 

 Arracan Hills. It is not found in the cantonments, though common 



