34 ON THE MUSCICAPA MELAXICTEEA OF GMELIN. [1866. 



Drapiez followed suit; for while giving our bird another specific name, nigricnpiUa, he referred 

 it to Horsfield's genus lura, which was founded on the Javan form of /. iijijhlu {I. tic(ij)ulan\s 

 Ilorsf.). In tlic Catalogue of the Calcutta Museum, Mr. Blyth removed ^. atrica})iUa, Vieill., 

 to the genus Pynwnotus, Kuhl ; but later, in the addenda to Appendix II. of that Catalogue, 

 he suggested that Drapiez's specific title would have to stand in preference to Vieillot's, as the 

 Muscicapa atricrqjilla, Vieill. * (Sonnerat's Gobe-moucJie a fete noire de la Chive), was also a 

 Pi/rnouotiis. If it were necessarj', upon the grounds of priority alone, to decide the point of 

 precedence, this last name, instead of having to be preferred, would have to give way, as it was 

 published in 1818, two years later than that of yE. atricapilla, Vieill. But the two species are 

 generically separable, and the priority of their specific names cannot come into conflict, 

 M. atricapilla, Vieill., belonging to the group of which Muscicapa hwmorrhusa, Gm., is the type^ 

 while JE. atricapilla, Vieill., belongs to the same genus as Turdiis dispar, Horsf., and Brachypiis 

 rulineits, Jerd., — the first being the type of Brachi/pus, Sw., the last of Ihihigula, Blyth. 

 However, in framing his 'Catalogue of Ceylon Birds,' Kelaart adopted Drapiez's specific title, 

 introducing R. gulaiis (Gould) into the list as an additional species. 



In 1835, under the name of Brachypus gularis, Mr. Gould described a bird said to be from 

 Ibis, 1866, Travancore. The description given agrees in every respect with my Ceylon sjiecimens, and 

 P' ^^^" consequently with Le Cap Kegre. A few years later, Dr. Jerdon, in his ' Catalogue of the Birds 

 of Southern India,' described a short-footed Thrush fi-om Malabar, under the title of BracJiypus 

 rulineus, which species, in the distribution of the colouring, and, indeed, in the actual tints of 

 the upper surface of the body-plumage, very closely resembles my Ceylon specimens ; but it is of 

 a somewhat smaller size, and the coloration of the under surface, as well as that of the wings and 

 tail, is very different. The chin is black, the throat a bright flame-coloured orange, and the 

 remainder of the under plumage is more of an orange than a saffron-yellow. The quills and 

 rectrices are olive-brown, and much paler than those of my Ceylon specimen, and the white 

 terminal caudal band is wanting. Dr. Jerdon gave a good figure of this bird in his ' Illustrations 

 of Indian Ornithology ' for 1846, at tlie time suggesting that his might be tlie same bird as 

 Mr. Gould's B. gularis, and remarking that although Mr. Gould had omitted a description of 

 the throat, it was probably through error, " as the specific name is derived therefrom." Now 

 this was merely a surmise of Dr. Jerdon, and did not rest upon a comparison made between the 

 two types. To me it appears improbable that the most prominent feature in B. ruhineus, its 

 bright orange throat, should liave been omitted in Mr. Gould's diagnosis. The name gularis 

 might most appropriately have been given to a specimen of the Ceylon bird ; for in it the yellow 

 of the throat is very much narrowed by the black of the bordering cheek-plumage, and contrasts, 

 by its greater purity, with the more olive-yellow of the breast. Anyhow, as Mr. Gould's 

 descriptitm docs not resemble B. ruhiueus, Jerd., in its most essential character, and does agree 

 in every respect with Le Cap JS'egre, I am obliged to make it a synonym of the latter species ; 



• Tliis species has boon figured in the ' U. S. Japan Exp.' (vol. ii. p. 241, pi. fi, Orn.) under the title of I.vos hcemor- 

 rJwus (Gm.), ilr. Caabin having regarded it as the true Muscicapa hamorrliusu, Gm. Gmelin's species, however, was based 

 apoa the Rvl-vented " Flycatcher " of Brown's ' Illustrations,' which comes from Ceylon. An extensive series of specimens of 

 this species b contained in the collection I have just received. They in no way differ from Malabar and South-Indian 

 cxam])les. 



