The Mo7ilk's Arrivals. 
269 
An Indian Consignmknt. A large consignnient from Calcutta has 
recently reached the Continent. I was offered Mesias, Dhyals, Sibias, 
Cuckoos, V{\\\\.v,\\Q.V^\^ (Chloropsis aiiriftons), two species of Hornbills and 
rare Shrikes. Some of these liave found their way to the London dealers. 
At Mr. Hanilyn's I saw two Indian Cuckoos which, though not easy to 
identifv in a dark cage and minus tails, appeared to be Etidynaviis honorata. 
The male of this species is jet black with a green bill and pink eye; the 
female is speckled with white. It is parasitic on the Crow. Mr. Hanilyn's 
two males with their stout beaks, cobby shape and short tails look at first 
sight like some new species of Bower-bird. Mr. ])e Von had some Shanias 
and a nice Mesia. Curiously enough just two days before I came across this 
Mesia, one of our members asked me if I knev^ of one for sale, and as I had 
not seen any in the trade for years past, this seemed quite a coincidence. 
I notice, however, that one never has similar luck in coming across the 
bird one wants oneself. W.E.T. 
« « * 
A RAKK Bi^ACKBiRD. On the same date (arst October) Mr. De Von 
called my attention to some " South American Blackbirds." These were just 
like an Engli.sli cock Blackbird except that they had bright orange shanks 
and a different note. They were so extremely dirty that it was impossible to 
even asceitain their real colour, still, as tliere was an apparent hen amongst 
them and the price was extremely moderate I speculated in a pair and hav- 
ing washed them well and wrung them out they proved to be something 
new — the Argentine Blackbird (Tnrdus Juscadisj. When I say "new" I 
mean that I personally have not come across them before ; they may have 
been pievionsly imported. The male is a brilliant intense black ; his beak, 
feet and eyelids the brightest orange. The female is dusky or sepia, with 
brown throat, and eyelids of flesh-colour. The call-note begins with a 
luck-tuck, identical with that of our Blackbird, but ends with a curious high 
whistle. W.K.T. 
« « « 
Melophus inelanicteius. Mr. Cross recently sent me for inspection 
two Buntings which he called "Latham's Buntings." When I came to 
examine them they had been placed in a rather dark cage high up on the 
wall of the bird-room and appeared to me, coming indoors from the strong 
sunlight, to be rufous, l)ut in otliei- respects remarkably like the Hair-crested 
Bunting, a pair of which I had the pleasure of seeing in our Editor's aviary 
some time since. As I could not identify them I consulted our long-suffer- 
ing Editor who, with his usual urbanity, proceeded to in vestigate various 
works of reference, but in vain. All that he could discover was that 
" Latham's Bunting" was a synonym for the Hair-crested. Then and not 
till then did I examine the birds again and was immensely chagrined to find 
that they weie not rufous but black, streaked and splashed with cinnamon- 
brown — in fact they weie immature males of M. inelaniclerns. The moral 
of this appears to be, firstly, before attempting to identify a bird, have a 
good look at it in a good light, and, secomily, do not worry the Editor or 
