on Mr. G. R. Gray's ' Genera of Birds. ^ 29 



Birds,' vol. ii. p. 58. The lengtli of the legs, the absence of a spu- 

 rious quill, and the geographical range of these genera show that 

 they do not belong to the Muscicapina. 



The Cryptolopha poiocepliala should be called C. ceylonensis, Sw., 

 as it had been known as the Platyrhynchus ceylonensis of Sw. ' Zool. 

 111.' nearly twenty years before Mr. Swainson changed its name to 

 poiocephala. 



I cannot but think it injudicious in Mr. Gray to transpose the 

 names Butalis and Muscicapa, after Boie and Brehm had referred 

 M. grisola to the former and M. atricapilla to the latter genus, an 

 arrangement sanctioned by the high authority of Bonaparte. 



P. 33. For Leiothrix write Liothrix. 



The name Pteruthius of Swainson, to be consistent with etymo- 

 logy, should be written Ptererythrius (from Trrepov and epvdpos) ; but 

 should it be thought that this is taking too great a liberty with the 

 original name, we may, at least, venture to write it Pterythrius. 



The name Laniisoma, Sw., 1831, should be used instead of Pti- 

 lochloris, Sw., 1837. Authors should not be encouraged in chan- 

 ging names, even of their own composition. A father may give his 

 son what name he pleases at baptism ; but once given, the law very 

 wisely pronounces that name unalterable. 



For Phoenicircus write Phoenicercus. 



For Pipraeidea write Piproidea. 



P. 34. Mr. Gray has correctly disentangled a difficulty by re- 

 storing the name Procnias of Hoffmansegg to the Averanos (Chasma- 

 rhynchus, Tem.). The fact is, that Vieillot having in 1816 given 

 the name Tersa to a part of the old genus Procnias, this name ought 

 to be retained for the remainder (the Averanos) ; whereas Tem- 

 minck in 1 820 restricted the name Procnias to Vieillot's genus, and 

 gave a name of his own to the Averanos. 



I may remark in passing, that the genus Tersa appears to connect 

 the Ampelid(S directly with the Tanagrida. 



The name Bomby cilia was first used generically by Vieillot, not by 

 Brisson. 



Ptiliogonys, Sw., should be written Ptilogonys. 



Cuvier, in his ' Reg. An.' vol. i. p. 363, states that the name Cam- 

 pephaga, Vieill., was subsequent to his name Ceblepyris, but I am not 

 aware in what work the latter name was first published. Indeed, I 

 cannot learn whether Cuvier published any new genera of birds be- 

 tween 1802, when the first volume of his * Comparative Anatomy' 

 came out, and 1817, when the ' R^gne Animal' was published. I 

 should be obliged by any information on this point. 



The groups Campephagincd and Dicrurince seem to belong more 

 naturally to the Laniadce than to the Ampelida:. 



Lanius ferrugineus, Gm., seems to be incorrectly quoted under 

 Oxynotus ferrugineus , Sw. Latham's description of L. ferrugineus 

 exactly agrees with a bird in my collection which is clearly a Dryo- 

 Scopus, Boie ; and instead of the dorsal feathers being " very rigid" 

 as in Oxynotus, they are very soft and downy. 



