389 
Letters, Announcements, Sfc. 
with black margins.” Now, on the other hand, Blyth dis¬ 
tinctly stated, in his original description of B. affinis (J. A. 
S. B. 1847, p. 1180), that it “has no white spots on the 
wing,” that the “throat and breast” are “plain rufous, 
with a few white feathers, having a subterminal dusky border 
on the fore neck and sides of the breast.” Mr. Blyth intro¬ 
duces B. affinis as being “very similar to B. javensis in the 
plumage figured by Horsfield ” (Zool. Res. Java, t. 37)—that 
is, with unspotted wings—-but “smaller.” Again, two years 
later (op. cit. 1849, p. 807), Mr. Blyth, when detailing the 
characters which distinguish B. moniliger , Layard, from P. 
javensis , Horsf. apud Blyth (nec Horsf., sed — P. stellatus, 
Gould ,—B.stictopterus, Cab.), and from B. affinis , remarks :— 
“the bright white spots on the wings” (of B. moniliger) 
“distinguish it as readily from B. affinis .” Indeed it is 
the uniform chestnut-coloured unspotted wing which at 
once distinguishes B. affinis , Blyth (when in rufous plumage), 
from both B. moniliger , Layard, ex Ceylon, and B. javensis, 
Horsf. apud Blyth, ex Malacca, nec Horsf. It is essential 
to the argument to bear in mind that the larger of the 
two Malaccan forms (I am excluding B. auritus) is the bird 
always referred to as B. javensis , Horsf., by Blyth, except 
where he quotes Horsfield’s plate (Zool. Res. Java), and that 
Blyth, like every one else, until Dr. Cabanis descriminated 
and clearly described the Malaccan species (for Mr. Gould’s 
diagnosis is too vague, and he gave Java as the habitat), 
assumed the latter to belong to the same species as the 
Javan bird. The Malaccan bird, B. stellatus—B. stictopterus, 
has spotted wing-coverts in both its rufous and brown phases 
of plumage ( ? ?); and from Mr. Blanford’s clear descrip¬ 
tive remarks, it is evidently the species identified by him in 
Mr. Hume’s museum as belonging to B. affinis, Blyth. It is 
a bird of which examples occur in almost every Malaccan 
collection of any importance, either in the bright rufous or 
in the brown phase of plumage, while B. affinis does not appear 
to be so common. The difference in the width of the gape 
noted by Mr. Blanford is just the difference observable be¬ 
tween the gape of P. javensis, apud Blyth, ex Malacca (==P. 
stellatus, Gould), and B . affinis, Blyth. 
2d 
SER. IV.-VOL. I. 
