1887] Zoology. 189 
rusty grackle (Scolecophagus ferrugineus) was shot last autumn 
at Cardiff, Wales. 
The Birds of India.—W. T. H. in Ward’s Science Bulletin 
‘gives a short notice of the comprehensive ornithological survey 
of India that has for several years been carried on under the 
direction and at the expense of Mr. A. O. Hume, Secretary to 
e Government. Not only India, but British Burmah, Ceylon, 
the Malay Peninsula, and the Andaman Islands are included in 
this work. Besides doing a vast amount of field-work himself, 
and writing largely upon the subject, Mr. Hume has constantly 
kept from one to three corps of collectors in the field. Among 
the- results of the work is a collection of over forty-five thou- 
sand bird-skins and unnumbered eggs at Simla, a superb four- 
volume work upon the Game Birds of India, and a work on the 
Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds. Mr. Wm. Davison, one of 
Mr. Hume’s collectors, has found five hundred and eighty species 
in Tenasserim, and seven hundred and twenty-eight in British 
Burmah. 
The Zoology of British Burmah.—Apropos of the preced- 
ing note comes a condensed account of the contents of the 
Revue Scientifique of April 1. The mammiferous fauna presents 
many relations to that of the Sunda Isles, and includes four species 
of rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus, Rh. indicus, Ceratorhinus 
crossi, C. sumatrensis), the tapir (Tapirus malayanus) and Orcella 
Juminalis, a peculiar form of fresh-water dolphin, the anatomy 
of which has been fully described by Mr. Anderson. The bats 
hibernate as in Europe, and the genus Taphozous is particularly 
remarkable for the reservoir of fat stored in its tail for winter 
use. The roussettes do not hibernate. 
Mr. E. W. Oates enumerates seven hundred and seventy-five 
species of birds, or a hundred more than is contained in all 
urope. these, four hundred and fifty are also found in 
Hindostan, about one hundred of which are water-birds common 
to all the Old World, and winter visitants of Burmah; one hun- 
dred and fifty Malayan species, the northern limit of which is in 
Burmah; fifty species common to Burmah, Siam, and China 
level. Birds identical with or closely related to those of Europe 
are few; among them are Cotyle riparia, Chelidon urbica, Strix 
. flammea, the cuckoo, the wrens, the skylark, the pipits, and Saxi- 
la. 
co 
The variety of the fauna is’ explained by that of the country, 
