20 H. H. Godwin-Auston— ^?>M List of Birds from the [No. 1, 



pale -shafted. Wings umber-brown. Tail darker, the four outer feathers 

 tipped with white, increasing outwards diagonally. Lores pale grey. The 

 ear-coverts only to just beneatb the eye chesnut, the feathers white -shafted. 

 Chin, throat, and all the lower parts white. Flanks pale sepia-grey ; 

 under tail-coverts the same, tipped white. 



" Irides reddish brown. Legs umber. 



*' Length 46 inches, wing 2-3, tail 9-05, tarsus 0'7, bill at front O'S. — 

 Obtained near Sadiya and Brahmakhund." 



A near ally is Staphidea castaneiceps, Moore, very common in the Khasi 

 and Naga Hills, while another very distinct species is Staphidea torqiieola, 

 Swin. ; but in this last the chestnut commences at the base of the lower 

 mandible, passes under the eye and round the nape in a broad band of 

 chestnut-brown, and the last three tertiaries are margined white on the 

 inner web. This is absent in the Assam species. 



In my note-book I find that I obtained one example in the Dikrang 

 valley, Dafla hills, which I shot at camp No. 9 ; but this was subsequently 

 lost somehow or other, and therefore I did not insert it in the List of 

 Birds from the Dafla Hills, published in the Society's Journal. 



Can this be Ixulus striatus, Blyth? Blanford in J. A. S. B., 1872, 

 p. 166, says the Darjiling bird is the same as the Tenasserim type in the 

 Calcutta Museum, but mentions that it has a rufous supercilium, which 

 none of my specimens possess. 



[Since writing the above, I have received from Mr. W. Blanford, in 

 a letter from Calcutta in reply to some questions I wrote to him regarding 

 this species, Ix. striatus, some remarks which I now quote. " I have two 

 specimens of the Sikkim bird ; I have re-compared them with the type from 

 Tenasserim, and I cannot understand how I can have identified the two. 

 The Tenasserim bird is, as Blyth describes it, greyish brown (ashy brown ac- 

 cording to Tickell), the cap may have been a trifle darker, but very little, 

 not so distinct I should say as in the Sikkim bird, and the white shafts are 

 far more conspicuous in the Tenasserim type. Above all, the bill is much 

 larger in the latter ; the difference is so marked that I think I must have 

 compared a Sikkim specimen differing from those I have now. The cheek 

 patch is distinct but faint. In the specimen from Sikkim, (loo. rufigenis, 

 Hume) which I now have, the rufous supercilium is only indicated posteri- 

 orly." This last title was given to the Sikkim bird by Mr. A: O. Hume in 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. V, p. 108. Mr. Blanford has now followed up his letter 

 by sending me two specimens from Mr. Mandelli's collection of this Darji- 

 ling form, and on comparison I find that it is quite distinct from plum- 

 heiceps. This last has the head of a decided ash-grey colour, and the 

 feathers are more lengthened behind, so as to give a sub-crested appearance. 

 Bill shorter and deeper. Legs stouter, altogether a larger bird. In one 



