AYES.
Pastor tristis, Wagler, Syst. Av. Pastor, sp. 5,1827 j Sykes, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1882, p. 95; Maelell.,
Proe. Zool. Soc., 1889, p. 168; Jerdon, Madr. Journ., vol. si, p. 20, 1840; Blyth, Ann. Nat.
Hist., vol. xii, p. 96, 1848 ; Hodgs., in Gray's ZooL Misc., p. 84, 1844; Gray, Cat. Mamm.,
&c., Nepal, Coll. Hodgs., p. 104, 1846.
Maina tristoides, Hodgs., Journ. As. Soc., Bengal, yol. v, p. 771, 1886.
a. b. Katha, 20th January 1868.
e. Bhamo, 11th September 1868.
d. Manwyne, 12th M ay 1868.
Common in Upper Burma and extending across tlie Kakhyen hills.
4 6 . A c r id o t h e r e s ftjsotjs, Wagler.
Pastor fuseus, Wagler, Syst. Av. Pastor, p. 6, 1827 ; Blyth, Journ. As. Soc., Bengal, vol. si, p. 885.
Maina cristatelloides, Hodgson, Journ. As. Soc., Bengal, vol. v, p. 771, 1886.
Gracula cristatella, Sundev., Ann. Nat. Hist., vol. sviii, p. 804, 1846.
Acridotheres fuseus, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc., Bengal, vol. siii, p. 862, 1844 ; Bonap., Consp. Gen.
Av., t. i, p. 420, 1850 ; Horsfield & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. Ind. Co., vol. ii, p. 587,
1856 ; Jerdon, Birds of India, vol. ii, p. 827 ; Blyth & Walden, Journ. As. Soc., Bengal,
vol. sliv, 1875, estra No., p. 90, 1863; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Indian Birds, p. 481, 1878;
Gray, Hand!., vol. ii, p. 19, 1870.
Acridotheres cristatellus, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc., Bengal, vol. siii, p. 862,1842 ; Hodgson, in Gray’s
Zóol. Misc., p. 84,1844.
Acridotheres griseus, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc., Bengal, vol. sv, p. 82,1846 ; id., Cat. B. Mus., As. Soc.,
Bengal, p. 108,1849.
Acridotheres cristatelloides, Cab., Mus. Hein., th. i, p. 206, 1850.
Hetcerornis fusca, Gray, Gen. B., vol. ii, p. 885, 1847.
a. Mandalay, 26th September 1868.
Common in Upper Burma.
47. A c r id o t h e r e s s ia m e n s is , Swinhoe.
Acridotheres siamensis, Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1863, p. 303; Gray, Handl. B., vol. ii, p. 20,
1870.; Finsch., Ahhandl. Bremen, vol. , p. ; Blyth & Walden, Journ. As. Soc., Bengal,
vol.'sliv, 1875, estra No., p. 90; W. Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 460.
a. b. Muangla, Yunnan, 18th and 19th May 1868.
■ e. Tsaykaw, Upper Burma, 14th February 1875.
I t is to he observed that this species occurs both in the valley of the Irawady
at Bham6 and in the high valleys to the east, where it is not at all uncommon.
Genus S t t j r n o p a s t o r , Hodgson.
48. St t jrn o pa s to r c o n t r a , Linn., var. s t jp e r c il ia r is , Blyth.
Sturnopastor superciliaris, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc., Bengal, vol. xssii, p. 77, 1868; Gray, Handl.,
vol. ii, p. 22, 1870; Hume, Stray Feathers, 1874, p. 480 ; id., Nests and Eggs, Indian Birds,
p. 427, 1875; id., op. cit., 1875, p. 149; Armstrong, op. cit., 1876, p. 881.
STUENOPASTOB,. 5 9 5
Sturnopastor contra, Blyth & Walden, Journ. As. Soc., Bengal, vol. sliv, 1875, estra No., p. 90,
1875; Tweedale, Ibis, 1877 (pars.), p. 319.
a. Katha, 20th January 1868.
b. Bhamd, February 1868.
This race is very prevalent in Upper Burma, but it does not extend across the
Kakhyen hills to the east, as far as my observations go, where it appears to be
replaced by Stv/mopastor nigricollis. In specimens of S. contra, from Bengal, I find
a few white feathers Over the eye in all, so that it is only the relatively greater
development of the white on that region, in the Burmese birds, that entitles this
race to the name Blyth has given it. The white on the forehead and the browner
back appear to be more characteristic of the race than the white supercilium. In
the specimens from the above localities, the black on the breast is uniformly of
less extent than either in S. contra or in the types of the variety.
There is a skin in the Calcutta Museum of another variety of S. contra from
Malacca. I t is a larger bird with a longer tail than any of the other specimens of
this species. Another peculiarity is the greater development of the white on the
rump and the rather intense metallic blue lustre of the brownish-black of the back.
Each of the feathers on the flanks has a large deep brown spot, edged with pale
ashy or white. I t is possible that it may turn out to be the P. jilla, Horsfield, of
Java, the diagnosis of which is not sufficiently detailed to enable me to determine it.
Specimens of S. contra, Linn., from Central India have the belly markedly
greyish ashy, and the black feathers on the upper part of the chest are narrowly
margined with a grey, similar to that on the belly, and the feathers on the shoulder
and side of neck and upper back are streaked with the same colour. In true
S. contra, Linn., there is, as a rule, always more or less grey streaking of the
feathers on the side and base of the back of the neck, the prolonging back, as it
were, of the superior posterior angle of the white patch on the ear-coverts, and this
is seen most intensified in one of Blyth’s specimens of S. superciliaris, in which the
grey streaking has become a white collar, the downward and backward prolongation,
around the neck, of the white of the ear-coverts.
4 9 . S t t jrn o pa s to r n ig r ic o l l i s , Payk.
Gracula nigricollis, Payk., Nova Acta Stockh., t. xxviii, pi. ix, 1807.
Pastor temporalis, G. R. Gray, iu Griffith, An. Kingd., vol. vi, p. 422, 1829; id., Gen. B., vol. ii,
p. 334,1847 ; Blyth, Journ. As. Soc., Bengal, vol xiii, p. 866, 1844.
Gracupica melanoleuca, Less., Tr. d’Orn., p. 40, 1881.
Pastor bicolor, J. E.- Gray, Zool. Misc., p. 1, 1844.
Sturnopastor temporalis, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc., Bengal, vol. xv, p. 86, 1846; Bonap. Consp., t. i,
p . 421,1850.
Sturnopastor melanoleucus, Gray, Gen. B., vol. ii, p. 886, 1847.
Acridotheres nigricollis, Gray, Gen. B., vol. ii, p. 885, 1847; id., Handl. B., vol. ii, p. 20, 1870.
Sturnus temporalis, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus., As. Soc., Bengal, p. 109, 1849.
Gracupica nigricollis, Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. Ind. Co., p. 528, 1856; Swinhoe,
Proc. Zool. Soc., 1871, p. 884.