1881.] MR. R. B. SHARPK ON SCUCENICOL.V AND CATRISCUS. 919 



Eclecti is produced by the same pigment (ara-red) as the red 

 which adonis the breast of the i\\^\e Eclecti. (see Dr. C. Fr. W. Kruken- 

 berg, 'Vergl. physiologische Studien,' ii. \^.\(j\ seq., Heidelberg, 1881; 

 and^A. B. Meyer, ' Mitth. d. ornith. Yereins zu Wien,' p. 83 seq., 



1881) facts which not only do not contradict the statement that the 



green and red Eclecti sexually belong together, but directly support it. 

 Thev, besides, give a clue to the occurrence of yellow in the females 

 and of red in the males : in the first case the male influence comes 

 into appearance in the female dress, in the second the female influence 

 in the male dress. Only a partial mixture of colour takes place in 

 Eclectus, whereas in the majority of birds the mixture of male and 

 female characters is a more complete one. 



But, however this may be, the doubts which some ornithologists 

 still entertain as to the "theory" promulgated by myself in 1874, will 

 finally vanish only after successful breeding-experiments in captivity. 

 Our hopes that this may be soon accomplished are founded on the 

 fact that Dr. Frenzel, of Freiberg in Saxony, has already succeeded 

 twice so far that two couples of young Eclecti have been developed 

 in the eggs, ready to emerge, when they died from unknown causes. 

 These four specimens are now preserved in spirit in the Dresden 

 Museum. But Dr. Frenzel informs me that now again his pair 

 (green and red) of E. pectoralis are sitting vigorously on fertilized 

 eggs^ If he succeeds in rearing up the young ones, we shall have 

 the pleasure of observing the change of plumage from red into green, 

 or of stating that the sexual difference of colour exists from the 

 beginning — a question which is, as far as I see, not yet finally settled. 



2. A Note on the Genera Schoenicola and Catriscus. By U. 

 BowDLER Sharpe, F.L.S., r.Z.S., &c., Department of 

 Zoology, British Museum. 



[Eeceived October 21, 1880.] 



During the last two years a great deal of interest has been shown 

 in India with respect to Jerdon's Scliomicola i^latyura, a little Reed- 

 bird, which was described by him as Timalia platyura (Madr. Journ. 

 xiii 'p- 170), and was afterwards made the type of the genus Schoe- 

 nicola by Blyth (J. A. S. Beng. xxxiii. p. 374). The typical speci- 

 men was lost ; and the bird remained unidentified for years, merely 

 receiving a short notice, in 1863, from Jerdon in his ' Birds of 

 India' (ii. p. 73). In 1878, however, Mr. Frank Bourdillon met 

 with the species in Southern Travancore, as recorded by Mr. Hume in 

 the 7th volume of ' Stray Feathers ' (p. 37). Again, in Capt. Legge's 

 • Birds of Ceylon,' reference is made to a speciuien which had been 

 since 18.54 lying undetermined in a box in the British Museum; but 

 Capt. Legge (somewhat inconsistently, in my opinion) only gave it a 

 place in his work in a foot-note. There is not the slightest reason for 

 believing that the specimen in question is not a genuine Ceylonese skin, 

 * See Dr. Frenzel's letter above, p. 916. 



