134 A FIRST LIST OF THE 



females. Still the males have more black on the fourth tail 

 feather than is usually seen on typical saularis, and probably 

 the upper surface of the females would prove to be slightly 

 darker than in the females of typical saularis. I have already 

 explained (Stray Feathers, 1874, p. 230) how the Andaman birds 

 are exactly intermediate between saularis and mindanensis ; these 

 Thayetmyo birds are, I take it, intermediate between the Andaman 

 birds and saularis, but nearest to the latter. The Tenasserim 

 birds on the other hand are more like those from the Andamans. 

 Mr. Oates remarks : " Common in the plains, but I never met 

 with it on the hills. " 



476.— Cercotrichas macrourus, Gm. 



I have seen no specimens myself from Thayetmyo. 



Mr. Oates says : " On the hills this bird is very common, and 

 it occurs also in the plains, but is less abundant there. It may 

 frequently be heard in the Rifle- Range Nullah at Thayetmyo by 

 any one who cares to go and listen to our finest songster. 



" The dimensions of males and females that I measured were as 

 follow : — 



"Males: Length, 1035 tolOS; expanse, 11-75; tail, from 

 vent, 5-9 to 6-2; wing, 37 j bill, from gape, 092 to 0-95; 

 tarsus, 1*09 to 1*1. 



"Females: Length, 925; expanse, 11*1 ; tail, from vent, 5; 

 wing, 3' 65 ; bill, from gape, 0*95; tarsus, 1*01. 



' ' The bill is black ; iuside of mouth, fleshy ; legs and claws, 

 fleshy pink ; iris, dark brown ; eyelids, plumbeous. This species 

 breeds with us about the end of April." 



481.— Pratincola caprata, Lin. 



Thayetmyo specimens are identical with Indian birds. 

 Mr. Oates remarks that it is " common in the plains from 

 Thayetmyo to the foot of the Pegu Hills." 



483. — Pratincola rubicola, Lin. 



One specimen of this was sent by Mr. Oates, shot at Wadow. 

 He says it is " common in the plains only, and on waste ground 

 where there are patches of dry grass and small shrubs." 



This specimen belongs to the smaller darker race, which many 

 ornithologists separate as indica. In this, however, I cannot 

 follow them, as any really large and carefully selected series 

 sufficiently proves in my opinion that the two races grade ab- 

 solutely insensibly one into the other ; of course, naturalists who 

 separate them explain this on the theory that they interbreed on 

 the extreme limits of their respective areas of distribution, and 

 they would doubtless explain the occurrence of typical specimens 



