( 440 ) 



introduce a binomial nomenclature into Osbeck's work is made by the translator : on 

 the contrary, in mentioning Osbeck's name " Carv^i^ javanensis," be added in l)raikets 

 that it was the Gracida relvjiosa of Linnaeus. In the Catalogue of Birds XIII 

 p. 102, " Eidahes javanensia " Horsf., Trans. Linn. Soc. XIII, 1820, p. 162, is quoted, 

 but that is a misprint or lapsus calami, as Horsfield called the bird Eidabes religiosa. 

 Cuvier, 1829, was the first to clearly separate E. religiosa of India and E. javanus 

 of Java, and his name must therefore be used for the Javan Mynah. 



74. Dicrurus jentincki (Vorderm.). 



Cliibiajenlhul-i Vorderm., A«(. Tijdscln: AVrf. Jml. LIT (18'J.S) p. 194 (Kangean). 



P'ive nudes and femcdee, Kangean E.. \V. " Iris gelbweiss (gelblichweiss, gnin- 

 lichweiss, braun •), Schnabel und Fiisse scliwarz." (Nos. 4. 22. 23. I(i4, 21(i.) Local 

 name : " seran, serang, seran baru." 



It is impossible to pass over a D'lcrwms without a longer discussion, as the genus 

 Dicrurus comprises some series of very closely allied, but locally almost everywhere 

 distinct, forms. Only the actual comparison of a series from the \arious localities 

 can have .satisfactory results, some of t lie descrii)tions not being sufficiently e.xact. In 

 employing liinomials for the forms under consideration, 1 do not wish to indicate that 

 these birds have any more claims for an exalted position than other geographical 

 representative forms of birds, mammals or insects ; but I am not able at j)reseiit to 

 make a comi^ete study of the genus, and do not, therefore, know where to begin and 

 where to end. Nevertheless it seems to me as if nearly all the forms hereafter 

 discussed will one day figure as subspecies of Dicrurus bracteatus Gould, 1 842. 



Dicrurus jentincki has been compared by Dr. ^'orderman with D. himaensis 

 fi-om Sumbawa, Lombok, and Flores. It differs indeed from D. himaensis in its 

 considerably larger size (bill, wings, tail), much larger, wiiler and more greenish, less 

 purplish spangles at the tip of the feathers on the foreneck and chest, and the colour 

 of the iris, which is yellowi.sh white and not crimson. 



Much more similar to D. jentincki than D. hiinaensis is to D. pectoralis from tlie 

 Sula Islands, and there is hardly a difference between the latter and D. jentincki, 

 except that the iris of the Sula form (pectoralis) is orange in the adult, yellowish 

 white in the adult Kangean bird (^jentincki). 



D. leiicops, the Celebes form, differs in its larger size (longer wing), bul has tiie 

 iris milky white, thus rather similar to that of D. jentincki. 



Messrs. Meyer and Wiglesworth {B. of Celebes II pp. 439, 440) state that there 

 is no difference between D. leucops and D. pectomiis except in the colour of the eye, 

 and that all other differences that were said to exist by Dr. Sharpe and others between 

 them fail if a series is examined. They are correct with regard to the colour differences, 

 but not about the size. The Sula form (D. pectoralis) is always smaller, if males are 

 compared with males and females with females, than the Celebes form (/). leucops). 

 (Cf. Nov. Zooi,. 1898 p. 1.S3.) 



Dr. Guillemard {P. Z. S. 188o p. 2.59) and Sliarpe {/his, 1894 \<. 250) have 

 united the birds from the Sulu Islands with those from the Sula Islands and Borneo, 

 Guillemard even going as far as uniting D. bomeensis and D. pectoralis. This is all 

 more or less incorrect. The Sulu form differs from the Sula* bird in smaller size 



* This is a young bin). 



t I expect that it is known to every student of tl>e fauna of the Eastern .^n-liipelago that tlie Sulu 

 Islands extend from British North Borneo to Basilan (near Mimianao. I'liilipijines), wliile llie Suhi group 

 lies between Celebes and Obi Major (Moluccas). 



