444 Notices and Descriptions of various [M'ay, 



tip of the short first primary to that of the wing, Ph. fuscatus gives 

 but an inch (in four specimens under examination), while Ph. giiseolus 

 gives an inch and a half. 



It would seem that Ph. fuscatus undergoes a certain seasonal change 

 of colouring : the whole plumage being less olivaceous, and more of a 

 fuscous-ashy above, with a faint ruddy tinge on the supercilium, ear- 

 coverts, and slightly on the under-parts, and the bill and feet being 

 darker, in a specimen shot late in April, than is observable in others 

 killed during the cold weather.* Perhaps, however, the former may be 

 merely a very bright old bird, and it is to this specimen in particular 

 that Ph. griseolus shows a marked approximation : but the difference in 

 the length of their first primaries betokens their distinctness ; and the 

 latter has also the wing fully a quarter of an inch longer than in the 

 other. 



Regulus cristatus, Ray. This species visits Simla, and a fine speci- 

 men procured near that station has been obligingly presented to the 

 Society by Capt. Thomas. It is quite undistinguishable from the 

 British bird ; and the genus has not heretofore been recorded as Hima- 

 layan. 



JEgithalus flanimiceps, Burton, P. Z.S. 1835, p. 153. In XIII, 379, 

 I suggested that this might probably turn out to be a Stachyi'is, 

 Hodgson : but I have lately obtained a specimen, and consider it to be 

 rightly classified. The Dicceum sanguinifrons of Lord Arthur Hay, 

 XV, 44, refers evidently to this bird : but the affinities of the genus do 

 not seem to be with Dicceum, and indeed are at present very obscure. 

 I certainly do not think that JEgithalus approximates Parus, near 

 which it has been currently arranged ; nor do I know of any Old World 

 form that much resembles it. 



Parus, Lin. A synopsis of the Indian species of this group was 

 attempted in XIII, 942 ; and a new species from the eastern ghats of 

 the peninsula described in XIV, 553. I have now to add three others, 

 two of which have been overlooked hitherto from their similarity to 

 allied species. / 



P. aplonotus, nobis : P. ccanthogenys apud nos, XI, 59, and probably 



* Another, recently obtained (March 17), resembles that above described; and tha 

 difference from Ph. fuscatus is so marked, that I cannot help here also suspecting- a 

 distinctness of species. 



