141 
of the Genus Pomatorhinus. 
me now. In Colonel God win-Austen^ s collection^ which he 
has kindly placed at my disposal, is a specimen from Dina- 
pur, in the Cachar hills, which agrees closely with other 
Assamese specimens : it has a faint trace only of the rufous 
patches on the sides of the neck; hut this character I find 
cannot be depended upon; for of two specimens from the Naga 
hills in the same collection, one has the rufous neck-patch 
highly developed, and the other has it only faintly indicated. 
Further, of two specimens from the Garo hills one has the 
rufous patches wholly wanting (this was the specimen Lord 
Tweeddale described 1. c.), and another has them just percep¬ 
tible, but not so distinct as in the Cachar bird. There is, I 
think, no tangible difference between the Cachar bird and 
other Assamese specimens; but not having good adult Arakan 
or Tipperah specimens* * wherewith to compare them, I am 
unable to say whether they also agree. 
Colonel Godwin-Austen writes to me, “The point of differ¬ 
ence between the Assam variety and the true hypoleucus from 
Arakan is to be found in the coloration of the sides of the 
breast and flanks: the Arakan type specimen and another 
identical with it from Hill Tipperah have these very finely 
streaked with ash-grey and centred white; but in all the 
Assam birds the grey is more pronounced, and the white 
streaks are wider and larger. If this race is to be .separated it 
will stand as P. albicolliSj Horsfield, figured in Gray^s Gen. of 
Birds ^ from a specimen obtained by Griffiths in Assam, and 
not Affghanistan, as given in the ^ Cat. B. of Ind. Museum.’ 
Now Col. Godwin-Austen^s Hill-Tipperah specimen is a 
young bird, judging from its plumage, and is in the plumage 
in which Blythes specimen (which I have before me) was at 
the time he described it (1844), and which has faded into a 
rusty brown colour on the upper surface, and a rusty white 
colour on the lower. I would therefore hazard the opinion 
error when he supposed that Jerdon took the description in question 
(P. A. S. B. 1877, p. 147) from his Cachar "bird. In point of fact, Jerdon 
never described the bird anywhere. 
* Blyth’s type (which is before me) is immature ; but even were it adult, 
it is so faded as to be wholly unfit for the purpose of comparison. 
