184 



parts violet or greenish shaded steel-blue, by its bright yellow and red pectoral tufts, and by the 

 black abdomen. In its general colouring it nearly approaches C. lotenius, but is readily distin- 

 guished from that bird by the black instead of brown abdomen, as well as by the smaller size of 

 the bill. 



In the notes sent to me by Messrs. Hume and Davison, Mr. Hume observes : — " This species 

 has been rather hardly treated by us in India of late years. First I divided off the larger-billed, 

 more brilliantly coloured eastern and southern birds as Arachnechthra intermedia ; and now 

 Mr. Blanford has separated the rather smaller shorter-billed western birds (which moreover have 

 the under surface in the winter plumage paler and whiter) as A. brevirostris. 



" In my opinion neither of these species merit retention ; but certainly of the two, A. inter- 

 media is the most strongly characterized. A. brevirostris appears to me to be nothing but the 

 ordinary A. asiatica of the whole of the dry-plains portion of India ; and I think I understood 

 Mr. Blanford himself to say that Sindh specimens were probably not separable from A. brevirostris. 



" I have measured the bills of a considerable number of specimens, and with the following 

 results : — 



" From Sehwan and Larkhama, Sindh ; Sambhur, and near Moulmein : bill 0*60 inch. 



" From Rangoon ; Kutch ; Mount Aboo : 062. 



" From Dera Ghazi Khan ; Muttra ; Sambhur ; Sehwan ; Goorgaon ; and Bampur, Balu- 

 chistan ; and one of Mr. Blanford's specimens of A. brevirostris: 063. 



" From Goorgaon : - 64. 



" From Bombay ; Goorgaon ; Sambhur ; Mussoori ; Attaran R. ; Burmah ; Pahpoon : 065. 



" From Goorgaon ; Raipoor ; Rangoon: - 67. 



" From Muttra, Sindh ; Raipoor; Ootacamund: 0'G8. 



" From Ryoukphor ; Lutocorin ; Simla; Agra: 0-69. 



" From Tipperah ; Mynal ; Travancore ; Tipperah ; Ootacamund ; Raipoor ; Dacca ; Mate- 

 reau ; Salween district, Burmah : 0*7. 



" From Salem ; Sumbulpoor : - 72. 



" From Raipoor ; Salem ; Tipperah ; Dacca : - 73. 



" From Raipoor : 0"74. 



" From Raipoor : Dacca: 0-75. 



"All these specimens are perfect adult males. Other measurements differ somewhat 

 similarly, but not quite proportionally ; and I cannot see myself how the difference in dimensions 

 will assist any one to divide this species. A. brevirostris is said to have a green instead of a 

 purple gloss on the upper parts ; but so have at least three fourths of the Indian birds from the 

 plains portions of the country. I have a dozen specimens from different parts of India absolutely 

 inseparable in every respect from the specimen of A. brevirostris, Blanford, which I send you. 

 To see the purple gloss in perfection you must get a Rangoon or Cominillah bird. In my opinion 

 all that can be said is, that the western birds from the dry-plains country run smaller and greener, 

 while those from the well-watered eastern and northern regions run, as a rule, larger and more 

 purple. 



"I should unhesitatingly suppress A. intermedia myself; and I think A. brevirostris should 

 likewise be suppressed. 



