( ■^-'i ) 



Brissoii {Ih-nith. II. p. 0, 1700) ciillis I lie bird " Lc Cornrias /(U/je','" " Coracia 

 cristata." He gives au excellent synonymy up to his time, adding to the references 

 already mentioned uliove : " Jonst., Aci. p. ',)5 " ; " Willugh. Orn. p. 300"; 

 •• 8chwenck., Ari. Sil. p. 245 " ; " Rzac, Atict. Hist. Nat. Pol. p. 375 " ; '•' Klein, Aci. 

 ji. Ill, No. 16" ; and " Barr., Ornith. Class IV. Gen. IX. sp. •>." None of these 

 authors adds anything new, nor does Brisson himself give anything but a digest of 

 Gesner. 



Jonstonns, ///,«/■. _.\(it. de .\rihi(S, 1657, p. 95, only gives au extract of 

 Gesner's article, and in the edition of 1750 {Theatrum L'ltiversale. de Acihun, I. 

 p. 130) the same is rej)rinted verbatim. The plate (47) is also the same in the two 

 editions, and on it we find reproduced both (jlesner's " WaUlrapf) " and Aldrovandus' 

 " I'halacrocorax ex llbjrio mis.v/.t." 



Willughby, Oriiith. p. 3(10 (1070), again repeats Gesuer, and adds that he 

 susjiects " this bird to be uo other than the Gomcias or Pi/rrkucora.r. But if it be 

 rightly described its bigness and the crest on its head forbid it." Tlie same is said 

 on p. 390 of the English edition (1078). Klein, Hist. Av. Prodromu.'i, p. Ill, only 

 quotes from Albin. SchwenckfelJ, 'riieriotroplieum Silesiacum, pp. 245, 246 (10o3), 

 evidently mixes the notes on several birds, but does not refer to our bird at all, for 

 he says: '^ Corcus alpiniis, Pijrrhokora.e, Corvus sylvaticus nocturnus, .\lpia)jjie, 

 Waldrappe, Nachtrabe, Steinrabe. Totus niger est, Cornice minor. In montibus 

 altiss. vivit, noctu clamore molestus : Diurno tempore raro conspicitur." Rzac- 

 zynski in his Jlist. Sat. Cur. Rctjru Polon. (1721) only refers i^^ Schwenckfeld's 

 bird, and is therefore wrongly referred to in this synonymy. 



Barrere (^Ornith. Class IV. Gen. IX. sp. 2) calls this bird ^'- Arqaitla 

 sylwtica nigra,^^ and shows at least some judgment in removing it from the 

 crows. 



Latham,^je/;. Si/nopnis of Birds, I. p. 403 (1801), quotes from Gesner and others, 

 and adds : " Neither the young nor the very old birds are said to have the crest, 

 whence they have been called Bald Crows. Buffon wonders why M. Barrere should 

 call this a species of Curlew ; but could he have seen either Albin's figure, or such 

 another, the head would have led him to think so, for it seems quite naked of 

 feathers, similar to the baldest species of Ibis." 



Bechstein, Gemein. Naturg. Deutschl. II. p. 470 (1791), again only translated 

 from Gesner, but he adds (PI. XVII.) a figure, which is probably made up from 

 several of the former figures, or given to liim by a person who actually saw the 

 bird. 



lu the second '• vennehrte und verbesserte "' edition (ISOo), pp. 12, 41, however, 

 he only reprints his former j)aragra])h (ex Gesnero) as a footnote, and repeats the 

 coloured picture (faitiifuUy reproduced in our PI. IX.), but under the CorctM graculus 

 L. he says (translated) : — 



" We do not yet know its history very well, but there is no doubt that Gesner 

 gave it under his ' Corctis eremita.' For this is no other bird, as all the Swiss orni- 

 thologists are now convinced. Gesner was swindled with this specimen, which was 

 artfully in;ide up, to make it more acceptable." 



Therc^ can be no doubt that I'echstein was wrong, for tiiere are many points 

 which forbid the supposition that Gesner described the Corsus graculus under the 

 name of his " Waldrapp," especially since he described and knew the chough as 

 well. 



Bechstein's verdict, nevertheless, seems to have settled all about the Corcus 



