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Show 1877.] THE MARQUIS OF TWEEDDALE ON BATRACHOSTOMUS. 427 Batrachostomus castaneus, Hume, St. F. ii. p. 349 (1874), "neighbourhood of Darjeeling " (2?) ; op. cit. 1876, p. 376. Batrachostomus hodgsoni (G. R. Gray), Walden, J. A. S. B. 1875, pt. ii. ex. no. p. 83. no. 162, " Karen-nee, at 6000 feet," $. Batrachostomus affinis, Blyth, Walden, t. c. p. 84. Batrachostomus affinis, Blyth, Walden, Ibis, 1876, p. 355. B. castaneus, Hume, Blanford, Ibis, 1877, p. 251. Hab. Malacca, Burma, Darjeeling, Borneo (?), Sumatra (?) B. parvulus is stated by Professor Schlegel (Handleid. I. ci) to inhabit Borneo and Malacca; but at page 479, index to the plates, no. 15, it is given as from Sumatra also. The bird represented, however, seems to belong to B. stellatus. An example of a young Batrachostomus (rufous plumage) is contained in the British Museum, and labelled " Sumatra," which may belong to B. affinis, as it corresponds well with the young example ex Malacca (mus. nostr.) below described. But the young bird in rufous plumage is exceedingly difficult to distinguish from the young bird of B. cornutus when the latter has not arrived at dimensions equal to or greater than B. affinis adult ; and its resemblance to B. javensis will be probably found to be still closer. Of the specific identity of B. affinis with Otothrix hodgsoni there is some concurrence of testimony. Fragments of two specimens from Darjeeling were enumerated by Blyth (Cat. Calc. Mus. no. 405, B, c) under B. affimis, but stated to be " of a nearly allied but distinct species." This opinion Blyth subsequently modified the same year ; for in his " Supplemental note to the Catalogue" (J. A. S. B. 1849, p. 806. no. 405) he remarked, " In a collection made at Darjeeling we found the heads, wings, and tails of two specimens of what we now consider to be the young oi this species" (B. affinis). Lieutenant Wardlaw Ramsay's example of Otothrix hodgsoni was obtained in the vicinity of the district from which Colonel Tickell received an example of B. affinis in rufous plumage. Malaccan examples of B. affinis in the dress of Otothrix hodgsoni occur as frequently as the rufous bird ; and Mr. H u m e (I. c.) has described a specimen of his B. castaneus, ex Darjeeling, in a plumage that agrees with that of O. hodgsoni. Mr. H u m e almost admits that B. castaneus represents a phase or a sex of O. hodgsoni. Both Jerdon and Blyth in later years strongly suspected that O. hodgsoni represented a phase of B. affinis. In the dimensions of the wings and tail the birds at the northern limit of the range (Sikim) exceed those at the southern (Malacca), while the width of gape remains constant. No. 1, 2 (?) adult, ex Malacca (mus. nostr.) (Pl. XLV.). Head, elongated occipital crest-plumes, back, uropygium, upper tail-coverts, scapulars, minor and major wing-coverts, exposed upper surface of secondaries, and tertiaries, throat, sides of neck, breast, abdomen, ventral region, and flanks pure bright rufous ; chin, forehead, and supercilium tawny rufous. The elongated auriculars tawny rufous and tipped blackish brown. The abdomen and exposed surface of secondaries and tertiaries of a somewhat paler shade than the back. Throat-plumes with a white open transverse V-mark towards the tips, |