( 459 ) 



Shelley's sei)arating dijftijta.s and cr-assirestrin as two species, while not recognising 

 (jularis, occidentals, stvainsoni and ugandae is quite arbitrary ; moreover it is 

 most nucertain to accept Heuglin's name crassirostris for the thick-billed form of 

 P. diffmus swainsoni. The latter inhabits Witu, Lamn, Gongoni, Nairobe, and 

 goes as far west and north as the Omo River ; bnt that is still a long way from 

 Fazokl on the Blue Nile, where Heuglin's crassirostris was found. The type 

 should be examined before accepting the name crassirostris without reserve. 



The synonymy of motitensis and its forms in Shelley's book is quite 

 objectionable. P. motitensis, rufocinctus and shellei/i (auctorumj should be 

 " lumped " by the adherents of the old shaken school of non-subspecific ornitho- 

 logists who will only separate conspicuous forms — the " conspicuists " as they are 

 termed by Rothschild and Jordan — because the second differs from the first only 

 in the grey ear-coverts and less cinnamon, more brown and black back, the last 

 only in its smaller size and clearer tints, and a little larger and more conspicuous 

 black area be3'ond the eye. Moreover, the name cordofanicus Heuglin (not Finsch) 

 SiippL Orn. N.O. Afr. p. 141 (1871) (ex Heuglin op. cit. i. p. 634, not nom. nud !) 

 must be adopted for the bird called skellei/i in 1896, but not for rufocinctus. 

 P. mot. motitensis inhabits S. Africa, P. mot. rufocinctus the Masai country 

 (Naiwasha lake, Machako's, Nairobe, Kikuyu, extending to Somaliland, teste 

 Hawker), P. mot. cordofanicus {= shelleyi Sharpe) the White Nile from Lado 

 to Melpez in Kordofan. According to my ideas of geographical distribution the 

 Kordofau form must be that of Lado and not that of the Masai country. 



5. What is LINOTA PYGMAEA Stoliczka? 



In the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. xxxvii. pt. ii. p. 62 (1868) 

 Dr. Stoliczka described as a new species 



Linota pygmaea 

 from Chini and Padam, Ladakh. 



This description has been overlooked by Sharpe, who did not quote it in 

 Cat. B. Brit. Mks. xii., but he quoted Linnria pygmaea Gray, Pland-list, ii. p. liJU 

 (1870), from Ladakh as a synonym of Acanthis brevirostris" without saying that 

 it is a mere " nomen nudum." In Part I. of my Vbgel der paliiarkt. Fauna 

 I omitted also to mention Linota pygmaea, having overlooked it like Sharpe. 



Mr. Oberholser in Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. Bengal, xxii. p. 226 (lOtlO) adopts 

 Stoliczka's name pygmaea for the Cashmere subspecies of Acantliis J/aeirostris, 

 calling it Acanthis brevirostris pygmaea (Stoliczka). This is no doubt erroneous, 

 as the description of Stoliczka cannot refer to a form of Acanthis Jlacirostris (or 

 brevirostris). 



The statements that L. pygmaea is " considerably smaller than Metoponia 

 pusilla," that the " edges of the outer webs of the primaries and partly also of 

 the secondaries are yellow," and that the " throat is slightly tinged with yellow, ' 

 cannot refer to an Acanthis of this grou]). The Cashmere form which Oberholser 

 for the first time duly separated must be called Acanthis Jlacirostris stoliczkme 

 Hart. Under this name I described it in Viig. pal. Fauna, p. 77 (1903). 



With regard to Stoliczka's name pygmaea I do not know for certain where 

 to refer it, but I am inclined to think that it meant a young Serinus pusillus. 

 It will therefore be best to quote it with a query under the synonyms of S. pusilltis, 

 but in no case under Acanthis flaoirostris or brevirostris, the latter being certainly 

 only a subspecies of the former. 



