285 
Review of Dr. Finsch 3 s ‘ Die Papageien 3 
Gray's list of the Psittacidce (1859, pp. 20, 21), P. hengalensis 
and P. rosa , were nothing but phases of the plumage of the 
Nipaul bird. 
We next come upon another illustration of Mr. Hume's logi¬ 
cal obliquity. “ We are told that f Alas! the Indian ornitholo¬ 
gists give us no satisfactory answer to many of the most dif¬ 
ficult questions. Jerdon only says, that the female has a 
blue head and that the young are green"' (t. c. p.16). “Alas!" 
is Mr. Hume's rendering of the German word “ leider," and, 
with the note of exclamation introduced by Mr. Hume, helps 
to give the passage an air of contemptuous pity which is not 
in the original German. It is therefore necessary to quote 
Hr. Finsch's own words :— u Leider geben uns die indischen 
Ornithologen fiber viele derartige schwierige Fragen nicht die 
gewfinschte Auskunft" (Papag. ii. p. 47). “ Unfortunately 
the Indian ornithologists do not give us the wished-for infor¬ 
mation on many of the difficult questions of that class " is a 
fair translation of the passage; and Hr. Finsch's observation, 
being strictly accurate when he wrote, can only be met by 
Mr. Hume as follows, for he cannot quote the writings 
of a single author previous to 1868 “ Hoes he want f a full, 
true, and particular account' from one. who has taken scores 
of purpureus from their nest-holes and reared them by dozens ? 
Let Captain Hutton speak ; his synonymy is faulty, he is no 
cabinet naturalist, but he knows the birds as well as he does 
his own children " ( t . c. pp. 16, 17). And then, as usual, fol¬ 
lows an extract from Captain Hutton's paper (Str. Feath. i. 
p. 344) published five years after the publication of Hr. Finsch's 
work, but without the date and reference now given being 
quoted. Indeed the information the absence of which Hr. 
Finsch most justly regretted in 1868, is only supplied in 1873, 
and then in 1874 flung in his teeth for having wished for it. 
Further notice of Mr. Hume's criticisms in connexion with 
this species might be omitted did they not comprise the fol¬ 
lowing gross personal insult to Hr. Finsch :—“ Orange yellow 
wing-spot birds are common enough, and if he will pay the 
postage and return the specimen, I will send him one to 
look at" ( t.c . p. 17). To the word “return,” printed in 
x 
SER. III.-VOL. IV. 
