135 [Vol. xl. 
whereas in Jfrita it is comparatively much shorter. In fact, 
it is quite inconceivable how anyone comparing Todopsis 
wallaeei with Ifrita could have placed the latter in the 
genus Todopsis. 
The bird in question must stand as [frita kowaldi (de Vis). 
Mr. P. A. Buxton exhibited specimens of Persian Rock 
Nuthatches, and made the following remarks :— 
The essential fact that.in Persia there are two species of _ A 
Rock Nuthatches, a large and a small, is not realized by * 
some recent authors, though attention was drawn to it/as JUN LE 
early as 1873 by Bleneare and since then by Zarudny and , 
by Buturlin. “é 
I am showing to-night specimens of the two species 
collected by myself at Menjil or within a few miles of it, at 
between 1000 and 2000 feet, in the valley of the Sufed Rud, 
in the Elburz Mts., N.W. Persia. These two species, Sitta r. 
rupicola and S. newmayer obscura, differ not at all in colour, 
and very much in size; in the same way in 8.W. Persia 
there is a pair of very pale subspecies, even more different 
in size, S. r. tschitscherini and S. n. dressert. I am fortunate 
enough ito be able to show nearly all the races of both 
species, from the National Collection, also Blanford’s type 
of Sitta rupicola from Tring, ; 
I do not propose to discuss the literature of the subject, 
which is considerable. After examining all the specimens 
at Tring and in the British Museum, I have come to the 
conclusion that the following species and subspecies occur 
in Persia :-— 
(1) Sitta rupicola rupicola Blanf. 
Sitta rupicola* Blanford, Ibis, (3) vol. ii. p. 87 (1873), 
and Hastern Persia, ii. p. 225 (1876): HElburz Mountains, 
N. Persia. 
Sitta syriaca parva Buturlin, Ibis, (8) vol. vi.p. (1906) : 
Akhalzikh, Kura Valley, Transcaucasia. 
Sitta neumayert parva Zarudny, Journ. £. Ornith. lix. p. 219 
(1911). 
Sitta zarudnyt Buturlin, Mitth. (Izv) Kauk. Mus. iii. 
(1907). 
