384 Letters, Announcements, S^c. 



preserved it in his cabinet/' " The inhabitants of Manilla call 

 it Langni-Langnaien." Brisson called it Lanius manillensis. 

 Now as to his description of the specimen^ which we know 

 he had before him ; for two asterisks precede the title. He 

 says that " the head, throat, neck, scapulars, wing-feathers, 

 and those of the tail are blackish '^ ("noiratres^' in the French, 

 " nigricantes" in the Latin), that is,blackish or swarthy, but not 

 jet-black, nor even black. Mr. Sharpe says that the title " leu- 

 corhynchus" caxmot be retained for the Philippine bird, as its 

 colours are stated to be '^ black and white.'' They are so 

 stated to be by Sonnerat describing other species, not so, as I 

 have shown, by Brisson. Mr. Sharpe goes on to say that the 

 question is somewhat complicated by the fact that there are 

 certain black-and-white Artami, such as A. melaleucus and A. 

 maximus, but is of opinion that " it is highly improbable that 

 either of these species formed the subject of Brisson or Son- 

 nerat's descriptions." It is not necessary to prove to what 

 species Sonnerat's type belonged ; but it is clear that neither 

 of the species above named could have been before Brisson ; 

 for the first is from New Caledonia, and the other from New 

 Guinea, and Brisson describes the colour as being blackish, 

 not black. The colouring of many examples of the Phi- 

 lippine species (and there is only one species known to in- 

 habit the Philippines) is blackish. " Noiratre " or nigricans 

 are terms which fairly convey the general tone of the dark 

 colour of the phase of plumage exhibited by the Philippine 

 bird; for, as I have shown elsewhere (P. Z. S. 1877, p. 544), 

 Philippine individuals occur wearing a dark smoky-brown 

 plumage. We have thus the fact that Brisson circumstan- 

 tially stated the origin of his type specimen, and that the de- 

 scription of it given by him is strictly applicable to at least one 

 of the styles of colouring which the Philippine bird, as known 

 to us, very frequently assumes. It may also be added that 

 A, leucorhynchus is one of the commonest and most widely- 

 spread birds in the Philippines. Mr. Everett writes that you 

 see it everywhere. And although it is unnecessary to resort 

 to probabilities, these are enormously on the side of Brisson's 

 specimens having come from Manilla. 



