SOME RECENTLY DESCRIBED SIAMESE BIRDS. 451 
have used the old continental inch which is about 2 mm. larger than 
the English one. Finsch is therefore probably correct after all, and 
until the point is decided against him I shall prefer to remain faith- 
ful to my own selection of a name. 
‘Mixornis rubricapilla sulphurea, Kloss, t. c., p. 204. 
Mixornis sumatrana rubricapilla, or M. s. minor, Baker, Ibis 
1918, p. 595; id., Journ., t.c., p. 189. 
Mr. Baker says that Stachyridopsis sulphwrea Rippon is 
Mixornis rubricapilla pure and simple. If this is correct then 
M. minor Gyldenstolpe is a good form. I accepted an assurance 
that the first and last are the same thing. 
I have not seen either the type or exact topotypes of sulphurea, 
as Baker apparently has, but a series of minor differs noticeably 
from a topotype of rubricapilla with which I have compared it 
(vide Ibis 1918, p. 2(6, under M. rv, swlphwrea). 
Two forms, at least, occur in Siam, and it is not clear which 
Baker is unable to distinguish from true rubricapilla: sulphwrea or 
minor is found in the north and east, and connectens in the south- 
west, south and south-east: I have also recently obtained the latter 
in Cochin-China and South Annam. 
I did not point out that swmatrana is the oldest and, there- 
fore, must be the. specific name for this bird (that is Mr. Baker's 
opinion) for it is not: but I regretted that, contrary to accepted prac- 
tice, it could not be used specifically, for I should like to see the first 
known form held to be typical of the species whatever the name it 
might eventually have to be called by. Surely this is more safe 
and logical than typifying the species by a later-known form, and 
inyolves no greater change in nomenclature, 
Prinia inornata blanfordi, Kloss, t. c., p. 211. 
Prinia inornata herberti, Baker, Ibis 1918, p. 595; id., Journ., 
oe. Oe 
As Mr. Baker discovered his first error with regard to this 
bird, so lately have I also seen mine. My own specimens were in 
worn plumage and were determined with doubt, as was noted at the 
time; but I have since seen good examples from Siam collected by 
Mr. Williamson who wrote that they were typical of the bird named 
VOL. III, NO. 4, 1919, 
