Letters, Announcements, ^c. 135 



Artamus. If we turn to the two original descriptions, we 

 certainly find a discrepancy. For the dark-coloured part of 

 his species Brisson uses the word blackish (niffricante) , 

 whereas Sonnerat describes those portions of the plumage as 

 being black {noir). Gmelin (/, c.) correctly adopts these di- 

 stinctions in his description of L. leucorhynchus and of L. do- 

 minicanus. If we refer to the plates, the shading of Brisson's 

 figure may be said to be consistent with' his description ; 

 Sonnerat's plate represents the dark plumage as being inky 

 black. The bird depicted by D'Aubenton (PI. Enl. 9. f. 1) 

 also has the dark parts of the plumage coloured jet-black. 

 A comparison of dates renders it impossible that D'Aubenton 

 could have figured from Sonnerat^s specimen; and the pre- 

 sumption is strongly in favour of his having had Brisson^'s 

 type before him ; and the title affixed by him, Pie-grieche de 

 Manille, is the one first employed by Brisson. Bufi'on cites 

 the plate as rej)resenting his Langraien ; and, as already stated, 

 Sonnerat relates that his Philippine example belonged to the 

 species mentioned by Bufi'on. 



If these discrepancies had been relied on by the older 

 authors (not Gmelin, for he was merely au indiscriminating 

 compiler) as difl'erentiating two Luzon species of Artamus, 

 I would hesitate before asserting that they had described from 

 examples of the same species. But Dr. Finsch in no way 

 relies on these discrepancies. Dr. Finsch takes his stand on 

 Lanius manillensis, Briss. (=Z/. leucorhynchus, L.), described 

 as being blackish, and unites the jet-black bird of Sonnerat, 

 L. philippensis, Scop. { — L. dominicanus, Gm.), with it, and 

 refers the Pelew bird to them. If there are two species of 

 Artamus in the Philippines, one very dark-colom'ed, the Pelew 

 bird, the other lighter-coloured, the species of the Sunda 

 Islands, the first must be Sonnerat^s {L. dominicanus , Gm.), 

 the other Brisson^s (L. leucorhynchus, L.). But Dr. Finsch 

 also unites with the Pelew bird Ocypterus leucorhynchus, 

 Temm., apud Kittlitz, "von den Sunda-Inseln,^' although 

 Kittlitz states (Kupfert. p. 29) he saw the same (that is, the 

 Sunda-Islands bird) in Luzon. The figure given by Kittlitz {op. 

 cit. t. XXX. f. 1) certainly represents the light-coloured known 

 Philippine species — that is, the Artamus of the Sunda Islands. 



