JOURNAL 
OF THE 
ASIATIC SOCIETY. 
— • — 
Part II.— PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 
No. IV.— 1872. 
Notes on a collection or Birds made in the Andaman Islands by 
Assistant Surgeon (I. E. Dobson, M. B., during the months oe 
April and May, — by Y. Ball, Esq., B. A. 
[Bead 6th, roceived 16th August, 1872.] 
A short time ago Dr. Anderson placed in my hands for determination 
a collection of birds, made in the Andamans by Dr. Dobson,* subsequently 
adding two received from Mr. Homfray. 
The collection contains 184 specimens belonging to sixty-two species, of 
which eighteen are new to the hitherto recorded avifauna of those Islands ; 
but they are for the most part migratory birds (Qralla), whose occurrence 
might safely have been predicated from their being known from the coasts 
on both sides of the Bay of Bengal, and to some extent from Malayana. 
One species only is described in the following list as new, but there are 
four others presenting certain peculiarities which may hereafter justify 
their separation from the species under which they are now enumerated. 
As these are represented by single specimens, I think it undesirable to 
exaggerate the importance of what may ultimately prove to be only individual 
variations from the type. The species are : EplnaUes spilocephalus, Blyth ? ; 
Balteomis Alexandri, Linn. ; Brachypodius melanocephalus, Gmel. ; Ballus 
striatus, Linn. One result of the examination ot this collection has been that 
while it supports Col. Ty tier’s views as to the distinctness of certain Anda- 
* Mr. Wood-Mason and Dr. Dobson visited the Andaman Islands to collect for 
the Indian Museum. The vertebrate portion of the collection was under Dr. Dobson’s 
care. 
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