DUTCH BOHNEO-EXPEDITION. 257 



SO betrachten die Dajaks als ein günstiges Zeichen von 

 seiteu der Geister. Es wird nun diesen zu Ehren eiu kleines 

 Feuer angemacht uud in einem Bambusrohr etwas Reis 

 gekocht. 1st der Reis gar, so nimmt jeder der sick an der 

 Reise betheiligen will, eine Fingerspitze voll Reis zu sich, 

 worauf der Marsch uuverzüglich angetreten wird in der 

 festen üeberzeugung, dass wahreud der Reise keiu Unglück 

 geschehen wird." (v. Berchtold). 



226. Copsychus musicus. 



Lanius musicus Raffl. Trans. Linn. Soc. XIII, p. 307 (1822). 

 Copsychus mindanensis Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 254. 

 Copsychus musicus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Br. Mus. VII, p. 63 ; Everett, 

 L. B. Born. p. 99; Sharpe, Ibis 1893, p. 384. 



A fine series of adult and young birds of both sexes 

 was collected at Pontianak, Smitau (Kapoeas R.), Nanga 

 Raoen (Mandai R.), Poelau (Sibau R.) and on the Upper 

 Mahakkam. — Iris dark brown, bill and feet black. 



This is the ooly species of Copsychus I met with in 

 Borneo. Along the Kapoeas and its tributaries it is a com- 

 mon bird in and round the native campougs, and we found 

 it also very often in old ladangs (plantations) far off from 

 any human habitation, and, when the water was getting 

 low, on the exposed mud- aud sandbanks along the rivers, 

 searching for worms and insects. It is a very lively bird 

 and an excellent singer. Its breeding time is about April, 

 but as I was collecting that time in the Liang Koeboeng 

 Mountains, where it is not found, I had no chance to pro- 

 cure its nest and eggs. 



This species is spread over the whole Indo-Malayan re- 

 gion, being known from Siam and Malacca, Sumatra, Banka, 

 Billiton, West-Java and Borneo. On this latter island it 

 seems to be less generally distributed than its black-bellied 

 congener C. amoenus, as it was hitherto only recorded from 

 Sarawak (Salvadori, Everett). As to the distribution of the 

 present species on the island of Java, a series of 26 spe- 

 cimens contained in the collection of Mr. Vorderman shows 



Notes from the Leyden ^luseum, Vol. XXI. 



17 



