Viscount Walden on the Muscicapa melanictera. 321 



the " Ceylon Blackcap " of his ' Illustrations ;' and, apart 

 from the extreme improbability of Brown having described and 

 figured the same bird twice over in the same volume, or that 

 Governor Lateu, a good naturalist, should have regarded 

 specimens of the same species as belonging to two different 

 species, the figures and descriptions do not agree with one 

 another. The figure of the " Ceylon Blackcap " represents 

 that bird with yellow cheeks, while that of the " Yellow- breasted 

 Flycatcher" represents* them as black. In the first bird the 

 two characteristic white alar bars of lora zeylanica are dis- 

 tinctly shown, in the other the wing is uniform in colour. 

 Lastly, the white terminal caudal markings represented in the 

 figure of the " Yellow-breasted Flycatcher " distinguishes it at 

 once from /. zeylanica. It must be borne in mind that it is 

 universally admitted that Brown^s " Ceylon Blackcap " is an 

 lora. If we compare the two descriptions, we find internal 

 evidence which makes it impossible to believe that they are 

 taken from the same species. Brown's description of the '' Yel- 

 low-breasted Flycatcher " agrees in all respects with my Ceylon 

 specimens, and they equally resemble Le Vaillant's account of 

 the Cap Negre. With perfect confidence, therefore, I propose 

 to restore Muscicapa melanictera, Gm., to a place in our cata- 

 logue of real and distinct species, and to expunge Vieillot's title 

 of atricapilla. 



In this view the synonymy of this species will be as follows : — 



KUBIGULA MELANICTERA (Gm.). 



Yellow-breasted Flycatcher, Brown, Illust, 80, pi. xxxii. fig. 1, 

 1776; Lath. Gen. Syn, iii. 336. no. 21, 1783; Gen. Hist. 187. 

 no. 50, 1823. 



Muscicapa melanictera, Gmel. S. N. i. 941. no. 55, 1788; 

 Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. 475. no. 28, 1790. 



Le Cap negre, Le Vaill. Ois. d'Afr. iii. 172, pi. 140. fig. 1, 

 1802. 



JEgithina atricapilla, Vieill. N. Diet. i. 176, 1816. 



Le Gobe-mouche Malkola-Kourla, Vieill. xxi. 473, 1818. 



Black-capped Tanager, Lath. Gen. Hist. vi. 38. no. 49, 1823. 



Gobe-mouche noir et jaune de Ceilan, St. Croix, Diet. Sc. Nat. 

 xxxiii. 85, 1824. 



Brachypus gularis, Gould, P. Z. S. 1835, p. 186. 



N. S. VOL. II. y 



