XXVI 



not an Asio, so that its proper title was Bubo abyssinicus 

 (Guerin). The shape of the ear-orifice conclusively proved 

 this to be the case, as "was admitted by Mr. Pycraft, who had 

 recently made a special study of the Owls. 



Dr. BowDLER Sharpe also exhibited some specimens of 

 Turclus tristis, S wains. _, and T. hucauchen, Sclater^ from the 

 Salvin-Godman Collection. Up to the present day these 

 two species had been united together as the extremes of one 

 variable form, and the late Mr. Seebohm believed that every 

 possible intermediate link existed between them, and that 

 they were found side by side in most parts of Central America. 

 Dr. Sharpe pointed out that the splendid series now in the 

 Salvin-Godman Collection proved that T. tristis was perfectly 

 distinct from T. leucauchen, and was confined to Mexico. 

 It never had a yellow bill, even in summer, and had the tail 

 olive like the back. T. leucauchen, on the other hand, had 

 a black tail, and in summer had a grey upper surface and an 

 entirely yellow bill. In autumn and winter the bill "was 

 blackish and the plumage brown of various tints, but there 

 was no reason to confound it with T. tristis at any time of 

 year. The range of T. leucauchen extended from Chiapas to 

 Panama. This simple explanation of summer and winter 

 plumages had only now become possible from a study of the 

 large series of Central American Thrushes collected in every 

 month of the year, as "was now the case with the species in, 

 the Salvin-Godman Collection, and it would doubtless give 

 the key to the solution of many other knotty questions in the 

 TurdidiB. For instance, the black bill of Turdus dagu<s, 

 Berlepsch (Orn. IMB. v. p. 175), was not a specific character, 

 as the describer imagined, but merely an accompaniment of 

 vfinter plumage, and Dr. Sharpe believed that the last-named 

 bird would have to be united to T. leucauchen. T. phceopTj- 

 goides of Seebohm was certainly only T. phceopygus in non- 

 breeding plumage, 



Mr. Howard Saunders exhibited an example of the 

 V^ater-Pipit [Anihus spipoletta) which had been procured 



