772 Additions to the Ornithology of Nepal. [Dec. 



What adds to my difficulty in attempting 1 to class the birds now in 

 question is, that the so-called Pastor Traillii (very abundant in 

 Nepal) is, in my judgment, a typical Oriole ; whilst the Lamprotornis 

 spilopterus (also common here) is not easily referable to Temminck's 

 genus Lamprotornis . 



Mr. Swainson, who has very recently revised the Sturnidae of our 

 modern English school, characterises the sub-typical or Lamprotor- 

 nine group of them thus. " Bill more compressed and thrush-like, 

 its base not angulated ; the tip of the upper mandible distinctly 

 notched." In the above characters I perceive some faint traces of 

 our bird : but when I turn to the indication of the entire family, those 

 traces seem obliterated, for " the conic straight bill, naked nostrils, 

 and lengthened pointed wings," of the Sturnida, essentially conflict 

 with the structure of our subject. 



"With these preliminary remarks I shall now attempt to charac- 

 terise our bird, as the type of a new genus or sub-genus, either of 

 the Lamprotornince or of the Crater opodince, as the learned shall please. 



Cutia nobis. Khutya (quasi PedatusJ of the Nipalese. 



Bill equal to the head, at base higher than broad, sub-arched and 

 much compressed throughout ; strong, entire*, obtuse. Culmen con- 

 siderably carinated between the nares, but not much produced among 

 the soft and simple frontal plumes. Tomiae erect, rather obtuse, and 

 near to the palate. Nares broad-lunate, sub-basal closed above by a 

 nude un-arched scale. Rictus moderate, smooth. Orbits and head 

 plumose. Wings short, but firm ; 5th quill usually longest ; 2 first 

 strongly — 2 next, slightly gradated up to it. Tail short, quadrate 

 and firm. Tarsi sub-elevate, very strong, nearly smooth. Toes com- 

 pressed and ambulatory ; lateral fores unequal, connected basally, 

 the outer one as far as the joint ; central not elongated ; hind very 

 large, sub-depressed and exceeding either of the lateral fores. Nails, 

 compressed, strong, moderately bent, rather blumf. 



* Entire in the majority of my full grown specimens, but in others there is a 

 faint notch. This liability to vary perpetually occurs in Cinclus, in Cinclo- 

 soma, in Cuculus, and in Timalia (not to mention more) ; rendering the task 

 of characterising justhj, a work of time and labour in comparisons. 



•f So soon as the family and sub-family of our genus be determined, a great 

 part of the above generic definition may be omitted relatively to such deter- 

 mination. At present the larger divisions sadly outrun the characters which 

 should accompany and designate them. Vide Shaw's General Zoology, vols. 

 13 and 14, where few of the larger divisions have any characters attached to 

 them. Vide also the Regne Animal, Aves, wherein the subdivisions are indi- 

 cated, passim, by two or three vague words ! 



