MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. I73 



Previous to collecting for the British Museum I collected for the Karachi 

 Museum, sending specimens from Ormara (Mekran), Bushire (Persia) and 

 Fao(Me8pot). 



Among the specimens sent to the latter institute, was one of a Warbler 

 which was identified as Scotocerca inquieta or to be more correct that name 

 was supplied to me for the specimen sent ; at the time 1 was not in a posi- 

 tion to know that this was an error and accepted the identification as 

 being correct, hence my labelling the eggs sent to the British Museum as 

 belonging to this bird. It was onlj' on receiving Dr. Bowdler Sharpe's list 

 published in the Ibis that I knew an error had been made. 



Some years later I came to know that some of my specimens from the 

 Gulf got mixed up in the Karachi Museum with some others collected in 

 Sind, with the result that certain specimens from the Gulf were included 

 in the Sind Fauna, and I conclude a specimen of Scotocerca inquieta 

 collected in Sind, was taken as part of my Fao collection, which will ac- 

 count for the wrong name being supplied to me. 



As to Mr. Jourdain's remarks that Hypolais imllida and not K. lanrjuida 

 breeds in Fao, he is probably correct, for I accepted Dr. Bowdler Sharpe's 

 identification and concluded, without examination, that all the Hypolais 

 were lanc/uida, as certainly were the two I sent home, thus havin^^ as 

 I thought established the breeding of H. languida. 



Lanius/allaa, 1 csinnot see that confusion is made worse; Dr. Sharpe 

 originally identified my specimen as falla.r, later on he thought he had 

 made a mistake and changed the identification to assijnilis. These names 

 were widely used at the time, but since the revision of nomenclature they 

 have been discarded for the prior names of aucheri and j^allidirostris, 

 respectively, both of which birds are known to occur in Mesopotamia. At 

 the time Dr. Sharpe wrote, these grey shrikes were not so well understood 

 as at present and his confusion of the two races is understandable. As to 

 which race my specimen belongs, Mr. Jourdain can easily satisfy himself, 

 as the specimen should be in the National Collection. 



Hartert in "Die Vogel des Paliartic J anna", page 450, gives falla.v as a 

 synonym of L. aucheri, 1853, and on page 4i'9 ibid states " assimilis. Brehm, 

 1854 — pallidirostris . Casein 1852 ". 



Cumming's Chat — I did not know such a bird existed till about 1908, 

 when asked by a Collector for some skins of <S'. cummin;/i — the red-tailed 

 Chat — beyond this I knew nothing of the bird till within a few months ago 

 Capt. Ticehurst gave me a description and particulars of it. Dr. Bowdler 

 Sharpe never informed me of the correction and as he identified all my 

 specimens sent to the British Museum, I naturally concluded that on going 

 over the chats at a later time, he identified the bird as new and named it 

 after me. 



I have always felt that this would prove to be an individual variety, 

 until I found out that Dr. Hartert in his " Vogel des Paliartic Fauna " 

 states that more than one specimen has been secured. 



As to Garrula, I do not know what puzzled Mr. Jourdain for as far as I 

 can now recollect, my notes are correct as applying to Fao. The Euro- 

 pean bird was plentiful as a bird of passage at the time stated, while the 

 Indian bird was a rare visitor actually at Fao, but it may be more plenti- 

 ful above this station; at no time did I come across more than one or two 

 birds within twenty miles of Fao and then not as a resident. 



The nestlings received by me were taken by an Arab about 30 miles up 

 river beyond Fao. 



Possibly the Indian bird comes to breed in Mesopotamia for I feel sure 

 the winter is too severe for it to remain on. 



W. D. CUMMING. 



Karachi, 7th February 1920. 



