74 REVISION OF THE GENUS TURDINUS 



Being unable to find any other mention made in lite- 

 rature about this last cited peculiarity, and even Sharpe 

 not speaking of it in the short description of T. exsul 

 (Ibis 1888), and not having all the species at my disposal, 

 I am obliged to take into consideration the length of the 

 tail in the different species only, instead of its proportion 

 to the upper tail-coverts, giving at the same time the 

 measurements in inches of culmen, tarsus and wing. 



Culmen Tarsus Wing Tail. 



T. Roberti 0,65 0,8 2,05 1. 



T. exsul 0,65 0,85 2,2 1,15 



C. epilepidota 



a. from Sumatra . 0,6 0,9 2,05 1,25 



6. from Java ... 0,7 0,95 2,05 1,4 



C striata 0,6 1. 2,4 1,4 



C. leucosticta .... 0,7 0,95 2,5 1,8 



C. brevicaudata . . . 0,6 0,9 2,4 1,5 



From this table we may freely conclude that we are not 

 entitled by any of the measurements to divide the men- 

 tioned species into two different genera. Knowing no other 

 character upon which to base a separation, I propose 

 to unite both genera under the name Turdimdus, which 

 genus may be characterized as follows: 



Small, bill slender, compressed on its anterior half, 

 nostrils covered by a membrane , nasal aperture split- 

 shaped and placed along the bottom near the front of the 

 membrane, tarsi and toes long, the first more than half 

 the length of the tail , which is very short, giving, together 

 with the rounded wing, the bird a ball-like appearence, 

 much reminding a Troglodytes; rictal bristles short, plu- 

 mage mottled above and below , the feathers on the back 

 with white or pale fulvous shaft-streaks ; rump-plumes un- 

 striped, very long and fluffy, superciliary streak and triangular 

 spots on the tips to the wing-coverts and inner secondaries 

 white or pale fulvous. — Six species. 



Range. Indian Continent , Sumatra , Java and Borneo. 



JS^otes from thie r-ieyden IMuseutii, Vol. XVII. 



