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240 Foreign Finches m Ca/^lwi/y.
iuasnuicli as intergrades occasional!}- turn np : moreover Dr. Shai-pe says tliat
M. subinuiulafa is intermediate between J/, puudulata and M. nisoria. This I can
qnite believe ; for my birds, which came in one cage from Bombay, were considered by
Mr. Abrahams to represent these two races ; though the true j]i. nisoria is Malaj'an :
thus even the best judge of living birds is liable to mistake well-defined aberrant
examples oi Mstibiindiilata for the Malayan race.
It is therefore probable, as already stated, that the Bar-breasted Finch of the trade
is s\l. piLndnlata, and M. sulmndiilata in part; and that the Nutmeg Finch of the trade
is M. nisoria, and M. subiindidata in part : the grades of M. siihimdidaia being referred
to the race which the}' chance to resemble nrost closely.
The illustrations are from living specimens in the author's collection ; excepting
M. nisoria, which is drawn from a skin in the National collection,
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