REMARKS ON THE GENUS PERICROCOTUS. 177 



I am inclined to believe that the Tenasserim birds may 

 prove distinct, (in which case they may stand as immodestus, 

 nobis), but I am by no means certain. I am not personally 

 sure that the Malaccan modestus is indentical with cinereus of 

 the Philippines, China and Eastern Siberia ; and further I am 

 not at all sure that our Tenasserim species cau be united 

 with either. 



Note that in both Malaccan and Tenasserim specimens 

 there is no white patch on the outer webs of either of the 

 first five primaries, counting" the short first one, though there is 

 not unfrequently a white liue along the edge of the fifth 

 primary. 



I have mentioned P. cantonensis* Swinh., (Ibis, 1861, p. 42 ; 

 P. Z. S., 1863, 284— Gould. B. of As., Pt. XXVI., PI. 14, of 

 which R. sordidus, Swinh., P. Z. S. loc, cit, is the young), and 

 I may remark that one of the females of the Tenasserim 

 species agrees further with those of that species in having the 

 wing bar bright yellow. The wing of cantonensis is given at 3*5. 



As far as we yet kuow our grey species, whatever its cor- 

 rect name, only occurs within our limits in the extreme 

 southern portions of the Tenasserim Provinces in the neigh- 

 bourhood, and South of Mergui. 



2.— Pericococus erythropygius, Jerd. 



Madr. Journ., XI, 17, 1840— Gould. B. of. As., Pt. I., PI. 5. 

 — Jerd. B. of. I., No. 277, I., p. 424. 



* The following are Mr. Swinhoe's original descriptions of cantonensis adults and 

 young (sordidus) — 



" Adult male. — Bill and legs black ; hides deep brown ; forehead, throat, sides of 

 nape and vent white ; the rest of the underparts dingy ; head, back, and scapulars 

 deep brown, with a wash of grey, blacker on the former ; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 light yellowish brown ; wings and tail rich hair-brown, the former edged paler, the 

 latter with the stems brownish white, and more or less white on all but the two 

 central rectrices ; white of under wing and wing bone with a wash of pale saffron 

 the yellow being rather bright on some of the axillaries ; wing-spot dingy yellow. 



Adult female . — Rump more of a colour with the back than in the male ; upper 

 parts lighter and browner ; wing spot bright yellow ; quills edged with yellow ; 

 the light part of the rectrices rather bright yellow ; axillaries and wing-bar fine 

 primrose yellow ; forehead narrow, dingy white, in other respects like the male. 



" Length, 7| ; wing, 3£ ; expanse, 9|; tail 3f. 



" Young (sordidus). — Upper parts greyish brown, paler on the forehead, and 

 darker blue-grey on the head and hiud neck ; wings and tail hair-brown ; greater 

 wing-coverts tipped with white, but no wing-spot outwardly visible ; two middle 

 rectrices unicolorous, the rest more or less white ; the throat and vent white, the 

 former tinged with brown ; a black spot in front of the eye ; under plumage greyish 

 brown ; a dingy white bar runs across the under wing, with a faint tinge of 

 primrose yellow. 



" Length, 7\ inches ; wing, 3| ; tail, 3, 7 . 



" The tendency of the female to develop the yellow tints is in this much more 

 strongly shown than in P. cinereus ; so much so that Dr. Sclater declined to accept 

 my identification of the sexes. But apart from any special examination of the 

 sexual organs the skins carry in their plumnge their sexual stamp ; for, analogous 

 to what obtains in cinereus, the male of this has a white forehead and a dark 

 head." 



