Mr. W. T. Blanford on Indian and Persian Birds. 79 
mayer, has a rather broader bill, and is a somewhat larger 
form than II. caligata, Licht.,— r<m«, Sykes, whilst H. 
agricolensis , Hume, is a still smaller race; hut all pass, I 
think, into each other so thoroughly that I cannot distinguish 
the different forms. The type specimen of Sylvia caligata 
has, I believe, the bill distorted or altered. 
8. Acrocephalus brunnescens , Jerdon, is identical with Cur- 
ruca stentorea, H. & E. 
9. Erithacus hyrcanus, sp. nov. 
E. affinis E. rubeculce, sed pectore rufo saturatiore, supracau- 
dalibus ferrugineis, fronte rufa latiore et rostro longiore 
distinguendus. 
Hab. in provincia Persica hodierna Ghilan dicta (antice Hyr- 
canise parte) ad littus meridionale maris Caspii. 
Colour above umber-brown, more or less tinged with oli¬ 
vaceous ; upper tail-coverts dull ferruginous; tail-feathers 
rufous-brown, the outer webs having a strong rusty tinge to¬ 
wards the base; quills and wing-coverts umber, the margins 
rather paler and more rufous; forehead, with the anterior 
portion of the region above the eyes, sides of neck below the 
ear-coverts, throat, and breast rich ferruginous red, deeper 
than in E. rubecula ; lower breast and abdomen white; under 
tail-coverts isabelline; sides of abdomen, flanks, and thigh- 
coverts pale rufescent olive. 
This is a well-marked race of the Common Redbreast, pe¬ 
culiar, so far as I know, to the forest country on the southern 
shores of the Caspian. E. hyrcanus is easily distinguished 
from E, rubecula by its more deeply coloured breast, and es¬ 
pecially by the upper tail-coverts and edges of the tail-feathers 
near their base being deep ferruginous instead of olive. 
10. I quite agree with Mr. Hume Stray Feathers/ i. 
p. 189) that Ruticilla phoenicuroides, Moore, is identical with 
R. rufiventris, Vieill.; but R. erythroprocta , Gould, which 
Mr. Hume also unites with R. rufiventris , appears to be dis¬ 
tinct, as in the former the black colour comes lower down 
the breast, and all the under wing-coverts are black, whilst 
in R. rufiventris they are chiefly red. R. semirufa , H, &. E., 
is a small race of R. rufiventris. 
