provinces, tributary to Siam, who had been summoned on Government business to Bangkok, declared it to be a bird belonging to his district. He likewise declared that another bird, sold to me as the female, smaller in size with brown plumage, to be really the female; though the size and colour of the two are entirely different. As regards manners, however, and the peculiar cry of recognition when a person whom they know is approaching, or is to give them food, these are entirely similar. M. von Martens, the naturalist of the Prussian expedition under Count Eulanburg, was of opinion that the bird in question was the female of D. Crawfurdii. Still I should be glad to obtain other proofs. If this bird belongs to the northern (or rather eastern) Shan States, you, through Major Tickell or some other friend at Moulmein, will be able to procure further information. At Major Tickell's house I saw a living specimen of the bird; but the Major was absent during my visit."

Extract from a letter from W. T. BLANFORD, Esq. (written on his voyage to Suez) to Mr. BLYTH; dated from Galle, May 30th, 1862. I promised, if I could, to write you a few notes about the distribution of the Burmese animals, on my way from Calcutta to Galle. I now hurriedly jot down the more important points which struck

me.

“You know that Lower Pegu is distinguished from Upper Burmá, as regards climate, pretty much as Lower Bengal differs from the Upper Gangetic plains; but in a much greater degree: Pegu being damper than Bengal; Upper Burmá dryer than the N. W. provinces. The great change takes place above our territories, and is most strongly marked after passing Mendha. But a very considerable alteration in the vegetation, and a corresponding one in the Fauna, take place at a much lower point, and are perhaps first to be noticed about Akouk-toung, a rocky promontory on the banks of the Irawádi about 30 miles below Prome. A comparatively dry region, however, stretches down the eastern flank of the Arakan hills, so far as they form a high connected range, that is-to a little below the parallel of Henzada; and of this the Fauna of the range of hills stretching to Cape Negrais is, in its principal features, essentially Arakanese, the hills being covered with dark evergreen jungle. My experience of both regions is mainly confined to the west side of the Irawádi river.

"Of the upper dry region, the most characteristic animal is perhaps a ground Thrush (Chatarrhea gularis, Blyth). I have never met with this bird below Prome; nor have I ever seen it in thick or high jungle. It is entirely an inhabitant of bushes. It is common at Thayet Myo; and higher up, about Yenán-phyoung and Pugan, it far exceeds any other bird in its numbers. Your Lepus peguensis is also, so far as I know, confined to this dry region ;* as are also the few Jackals which occur in Burmá. I have not heard of them, however, above the frontier; but suspect they will be found there, as well as at Meaday and Prome.

"Dr. Jerdon's new species of Magpie (Crypsirina cucullata), and his new Pericrocotus,† and probably his new Mainas, are other species peculiar to the dry region; none of them appearing to occur below: your Urocissa magnirostris I met with, near the base of the Arakan hills, as far south as the neighbourhood of Gnathem-phyoung, but no further.

"Of the damper climate of Lower Pegu, one of the most typical birds, so far at least as abundance is concerned, is the large Buceros plicatus (your ruficollis, the species with deep notches on the sides of the bill,) of Arakan.§ Sciurus Keraudrenii I have seen near Myansoing; but it is far more common to the south; where, also, a peculiar variety of Sc. bicolor, with a light patch or band on the back, is tolerably abundant. If Sc. bicolor exists in Upper Burmá, it must be excessively scarce. Sc. assamensis (?) is common throughout the Bassein district; and another species (Sc.-?) is said to occur above; but of this I am far from certain.

* I was assured of the existence of Hares on the left bank of the Salween, above the junction of the Yunzalin river.-Cur. As. Soc.

+ P. albifrons, Jerdon, Ibis, 1860.

Major Tickell called my attention to a white-headed Maina, which, he remarked, he had only seen about Rangoon, where I sought for it in vain. It is doubtless the Temenuchus burmesianus, Jerdon (loc. cit.), obtained by him at Thayet Myo, and by Mr. Blanford in various parts of Upper Burmá. I observed, however, in Col. Phayre's compound in Rangoon, a flock of the beautiful Ploceus hypoxanthus, (Daudin); Dr. Jerdon obtained this bird at Thayet Myo; and Sir R. H. Schomburgk in Siam (P. Z. S. 1859, p. 151): it having previously been only known from Jáva and other islands of the great Eastern archipelago. Cur. As. Soc.

§ The most characteristic bird of the Martaban and Tenasserim jungles is certainly Garrulax Belangeri, at all elevations. The Sháma (Kittacincla macroura) is also very abundant.-Cur. As. Soc.

It is not likely to occur in Upper Burmá, to judge from the analogy of Sc. purpureus of Central India, the range of which does not extend to Upper Hin dustán.-Cur. As. Soc.

"I pointed out to you when in Calcutta the distinction between the three Kingfishers of salt-water and those of fresh-water streams and pools.*

"The Irawádi Porpoise abounds in many parts of the river. I saw them in great numbers above Ava in the gorge below Malé, and from their extreme scarcity in Pegu during the rains, I think it by no means improbable that they migrate up the river at that season, I believe something similar has been observed in respect to the 'Susu' of the Ganges.†

"Of the new birds in my collection, the Maina (Temenuchus burmesianus, Jerdon,) is from Thayet Myo, and will doubtless prove another of the peculiar species of the dry region. The little black and white bird (Rhodophila melanoleuca, Jerdon,) is from the same place. Of Mulleripicus Heddeni, I believe that I obtained one specimen at Thayet Myo, and subsequently I again shot it S. of Bassein. It is a very wary bird. The rare Bunting (Emberiza rutila, Pallas,) I found in grass on a stream, at the base of the Arakan hills near Gnathim-phyoung. The Rhodophila was shot in elephant-grass in the plains near Henzada.

"That is all I can think of at the moment. Of course you may insert in any way you please. The land mollusks fully bear out the separation of the two provinces, Arakan and Lower Pegu from the Upper Irawádi valley. Scarcely a species is common to the two regions."+

*Halcyon amauropterus, H atricapillus, and Alcedo meningting, being the salt-water species noticed by Mr. Blanford, which are replaced higher up the rivers by H. leucocephalus, H. fuscus, and A. bengalensis. The little Ceyx, also, appears to be peculiar to brackish water; but I observed H. atricapillus about 100 miles up the river Salween.-Cur. As. Soc.

+ The Porpoise' of the Irawádi has not yet been scientifically examined.Cur. As. Soc.

Here I may remark, that the zoology of the more distant (and more recently acquired) dry region of the Upper Irawádi has hardly, as yet, been more than commenced upon. Though I collected pretty largely both at Moulmein and in Upper Martaban, I obtained no new species of bird whatever; and only one dubiously new mammal (a Rhizomys) in the latter region. The same number of species collected in Upper Pegu would, doubtless, have yielded at least several novelties ; and it was there that Dr. Jerdon and Mr. Blanford discovered their various new birds. I was successful, however, in procuring capital specimens of sundry desiderata.-Cur. As. Soc.

A further Note on Elephants and Rhinoceroses.

There is a notice of the wild Elephants of Borneo in Mr. Spencer St. John's Life in the Forests of the Far East' (1862), I, 95. This author writes" Among our Malays was one who had frequently traded with the north-east coast [of Borneo], and the mention of gading (ivory) brought to his recollection that Elephants exist in the districts about the river Kina Batangan. I have seen many tusks brought to Labuan for sale, but never measured one longer than six feet two inches, including the part set in the head.

"I have met dozens of men who have seen the Elephant there, but my own experience has been limited to finding their traces near the sea-beach. It is generally believed that above a hundred years ago the East India Company sent to the Sultan of Sulu a present of these animals; that the Sultan said, these great creatures would certainly eat up the whole produce of his little island, and asked the donors to land them at Cape Unsang, on the north-east coast of Borneo, where his people would take care of them. But it is contrary to their nature to take care of any animal that requires much trouble, so the Elephants sought their own food in the woods, and soon became wild.

"Hundreds now wander about, and constantly break into the plantations, doing much damage; but the natives sally out with huge flaming torches, and drive the startled beasts back to the woods.

"The ivory of Bornean commerce is generally produced from the dead bodies found in the forests; but there is, now living, one man who derives a profitable trade in fresh ivory. He sallies out on dark nights, with simply a waist-cloth and a short, sharp spear: he crawls up to a herd of Elephants, and, selecting a large one, drives his spear into the animal's belly. In a moment, the whole herd is on the move, frightened by the bellowing of their wounded companion, who rushes to and fro, until the panic spreads, and they tear headlong through the jungle, crushing before them all the smaller vegetation. The hunter's peril at that moment is great, but fortune has favoured him yet, as he has escaped being trampled to death.

"In the morning he follows the traces of the herd, and, carefully examining the soil, detects the spots of blood that have fallen from

the wounded Elephant. He often finds him, so weakened by loss of blood as to be unable to keep up with the rest of the herd, and a new wound is soon inflicted. Patiently pursuing this practice, the hunter has secured many of these princes of the forest."

In another place (I, 396), but again with reference to the valley of the Kina Batangan river, Mr. St. John remarks-" As this is the only country in Borneo where the Elephants are numerous, it is the only one where ivory forms an important article of trade in the eyes of the natives."

Now, I am well aware of Mr. Darwin's calculation as to what the accumulated progeny of one pair of slow-breeding Elephants might amount to, in the course of five centuries, supposing that naught happened to check their increase in the geometrical ratio; but I doubt exceedingly that, in the instance under consideration, the existing great herds of Elephants in the N. E. peninsula of Borneo have descended from some two or three individuals put ashore by the order of the Sultan of Sulu, a little more than a century ago; continually decimated, too, as these Elephants would seem to have been and are at this time: and I doubt it all the more, because it appears that wild herds of Elephants existed until recently in Sulu! Why, therefore, should the few tame Elephants presented to the Sultan of Sulu be landed in Borneo? The remnant of the wild race existed in Sulu within the memory of people now living! On this subject, Mr. St. John fortunately helps us with information. In his notice of Sulu, he remarks (II, 243),—" Remembering Forest's statement that Elephants were found in his time in the forests which clothed so much of the soil of the island, I asked Dater Daniel about it; his answer was, that even within the remembrance of the oldest men then alive, there were still a few Elephants left in the woods, but that, finding they committed so much damage to the plantations, the villagers had combined and hunted the beasts till they were all killed: I was pleased to find the old traveller's account confirmed." II, 243.*

*Unfortunately, Mr. St. John is no naturalist. The little Mouse Deer' he calls the Moose Deer' (II, 52), like some of our countrymen in Ceylon; thus confounding the very smallest of the Deer tribe with the very largest; and the tiny animal of the tropics with the giant of northern regions! Of his two kinds of horned Deer (Ï, 33), I take the Rusa Balum to be the Javanese Rusa, and the Rusa Lalang to mean the Muntjac. The latter, however, is elsewhere