520 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



as Mr. Wilson of Harsil ( " Mountaineer " ), who corresponded with Hume 

 on birds, was quite aware of the existence of Ibidorynchus at Harsil, and that 

 they bred there ; but from a letter of his in " Stray Feathers " it seems, he 

 believed, they nested under logs and drift timber, so it is perhaps not sur- 

 prising he had not seen the eggs. The villagers of those parts who aru 

 constantly about on these banks do not seem to know the eggs. I found a 

 nest with the bird sitting on it not fifty yards from some men cutting up a 

 huge log — work they had been at for several days. They were much 

 pleased at being shown the nest, but said they had never seen the eggs 

 before, really one would have thought they must have trodden on them 

 sooner or later. 



However, it is a good thing they do not know of and go for these eggs, 

 as the whole breeding ground is only about ten miles long and is easily 

 searched being merely the river-bed ; and I was, therefore, careful to give 

 them no hint as to the value of these eggs to collectors, or to take them out 

 with me, as it would be a great pity were this interesting bird to be driven 

 from this very favourite haunt, the only one, I believe, that has been record- 

 ed in British India, though doubtless others exist. 



S. L. WHYMPBR. 

 Jeolikote, July 28th, 1910. 



No. XV. - A VARIETY OF THE PEA-FOWL. 



I have frequently heard Burmans say that there are two species of pea- 

 fowl, in the one a tail is grown in the male, but the other species never gets 

 a tail. I at first thought that this might be due to their being young birds 

 or to bad feeding and seasonal conditions. But I was then told that the 

 two species occur in separate flocks in the same areas, and the long-tailed 

 species has yellow cheeks, the short-tailed brown. I have obtained a 

 number of peafowl, but I have never been able to corroborate the existence 

 of two species, although I think it probable that they do exist as the Burma n 

 is an accurate observer of birds and beasts. Perhaps some other member 

 may have notes on the subject. 



.J. B. MERGER ADAM, f.ch., 

 Rangoon", 26th July 1910. Assistant Conservator of Forests. 



No. XVI.— THE INDIAN WHITE-EYE (ZOSTEROPS PALPEBROSA.) 



With reference to Captain Perreau's interesting article on the Seasonal 

 Change of Colour in the Indian White-eye, I may mention I was mistaken 

 in the same way when collecting in the Bhamo Hills : one day I shot a 

 pair of Z. palpebrosa with chestnut foreheads, and at the time thought I had 

 made a great find. But when the skins were taken to the Natural History 

 Museum. S. Kensington, it was suggested that the chestnut on the foreheads 



