" Contributions to Malayan Ornithology.^' 173 



discover the solution if we start by refusing to acknowledge the 

 facts presented to us by nature, or if we make the amount of 

 difference necessary to establish a species an arbitrary matter 

 of degree, dependent on individual opinion, and not on posi- 

 tive fact. 



67. Lanius lucionensis, Linn. 



Probably L. cristatus, Linn., which certainly occurs in the 

 Malay peninsula. I very much doubt the Nicobar and Andaman 

 habitat of L. lucionensis. 



68. Lanius magnirostris, Less. 



Lanius waldeni, Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 131, pi. xi, ex 

 Szechuen, is nothing but this species in breeding-plumage ; and 

 I am much disposed to the opinion that L. phoenicurus, Pall, 

 is L. cristatus, Linn, in breeding-plumage. Lake-Baikal ex- 

 amples are only to be distinguished from Indian by the purer 

 rufous of the upper plumage and the purer white of the 

 under. 1 have received L. cristatus from the N. W. Provinces 

 of India. 



69. Tephrodornis sordida, Wallace. 



This is Lesson's specific title (Voy. Bel. p. 253, 1834) for 

 T. pondiceriana [Gm.). T.grisola, Blyth (described J. A. S. B. 

 1842, p. 799, named op. cit., 1843, p. 180 bis) is probably the 

 species meant. It is again referred to by Mr. Blyth, op. cit. 

 1846, p. 305, where he states that he had received an un- 

 doubted specimen from Java and another from Penang. The 

 type was shot by Mr. Blyth in the neighbourhood of Calcutta 

 along with, curiously enough, a young individual of 2\ pondi- 

 ceriana. It is included by Dr. Jerdon in his ' Birds of India ' 

 (i.p.411). 



The type of Swainson's genus Tephrodornis is Lanius virgatus, 

 Temm. = Lanius guluris, Raffles (if the Javan and Sumatran 

 species are really identical, which has yet to be proved). 71?- 

 phrodornis is therefore, on Dr. Stoliczka's own showing, equal to 

 Tenthaca, Hodgs., the type of which is Tenthaca pelvica, Hodgs. 

 The only generic title available for the other members of the 

 group is Keroula, Gray. 



