303 
Molpastes magrathi Whitehead . 
Molpastes intermedius. (Plate VI.) 
Molpastes intermedius (A. Hay) ; Oates, Faun. Brit. Ind., 
Birds, i. p. 272 (1889) ; Whitehead, Ibis, 1909, p. 111. 
The three specimens from Kohat mentioned by Lieut. 
Whitehead (Nos. 634, 733, 735) appear to me to be certainly 
M . intermedius. They differ slightly inter se , the male 
having brown stripes on the lower flanks, while the others 
(male and female) are uniform ashy grey on the latter ; all 
have the dark brown ear-coverts of typical M. intermedius. 
This species probably interbreeds with M. leucogenys, accord¬ 
ing to Major Magrath, and Mr. Donald has twice seen the 
two forms pairing together. 
I have again examined the series which is enumerated by 
Lieut. Whitehead (above, p. 112), and 1 confess that I have 
never seen a more wonderful example of the hybridizing of 
birds in a wild state. There can be no question that all 
these specimens contain a certain amount of admixture, one 
of the other. Typical M. leucogenys has the chest uniform 
like M. leucotis (PI. VI.), and both have lemon-yellow under 
tail-coverts and pure white ear-coverts, whereas M.intermedius 
has brown ear-coverts and crimson under tail-coverts, as well 
as a decidedly long crest. When the hybrids have a mottled 
brown chest (M. intermedius), the ear-coverts generally 
follow the brown ear-coverts of M. interm,edius, and the crest 
is also long. The under tail-coverts vary from orange to 
crimson. There is, however, no rule as regards colour, and, 
as Lieut. Whitehead says, “ some are more like M. inter¬ 
medius, and others more like M. leucogenys or M. leucotis. 
I quite agree with what Lieut. Whitehead and Major 
Magrath say about M. leucogenys, of which the breast varies 
in colour, some birds being more ashy grey than others, but 
the under tail-coverts are always lemon-yellow. 
Sometimes there is some brown mottling on the chest, 
but as a rule this is uniform, and the ear-coverts are pure 
white, very few having any shade of dusky. Major Magrath 
observes on one of these specimens : “ Consorts with 
M. leucotis ” -, and adds that it seems likely that the two 
species interbreed, though he has not actually observed a 
