1868.] ON LANIUS MELANTHES AND LANIUS CEPIIALOMELAS. 51 



the attention of Dr. Hartlaiib ; for, in a paper entitled " Zwei unbcschriebene Vogel dcs Leydner 

 Museums" (Journ. fiir Orn. 1855, pp. 3G1, 302), we find that eminent ornithologist, under the 

 name of " Lanius luguhris, Temm.," describing another specimen of the same species in the 

 following words : — "Supra obscure nigro-cinereus, tergo, uropygio et tectricibus caudse superioribus 

 nonnihil brunnescentibus ; alis, cauda, fronte, superciliis et capitis lateribus nigris ; remigibus, 

 gula et jugulo obscure fuscis ; subtus fusco-cinerascens ; crisso et subcaudalibus brunnioribus ; Ibis, 1S68, 

 subalaribus nigris ; rostro plumbeo-corneo ; pedibus nigris. * * * China. Grosse typische Art." P- 't^- 

 Furthur on, in the same vohime (p. 426). in his ' Index ' to Dr. Pucheran's series of papers on 

 the types in the Paris Museum, Dr. Hartlaub alludes to Lesson's species in a way which seems 

 indirectly to identify it with that of Temminck ; for he says, " Lanius fuscatus. Less. p. 368. — 

 Quidl China. (Bona species : Hartl. Mus. Lugd.)"f 



This Shrike seems to be closely allied to L. tephronotns (Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 43). 



Lanius cephalomelasX, Bonaparte (Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1853, p. 436), is another doubtful 

 Shrike, which does not appear to have been satisfactorily identified. The Prince described it 

 from INIanilla specimens of Consul Lannoy, in the Brussels Museum, and of Kittlitz, in 

 that of Frankfort. The diagnosis is thus given: — "Major: niger ; subtus albus; dorso 

 griseo, hinc inde albo, postice cum uropygio et hypochondriis pallidissime rufo : speculo 

 alari remigibus interne ad basin, secundariis apice quoque, albis : cauda valde cuneata ; rectricibus 

 subtruncatis, prima et secunda latissime albo marginatis, tcrtia utrinque macula mediana 

 marginali pogonii interni apiceque albis." It is impossible to read this description, coupled with 

 the consideration of the Philippine origin of the types, without at once recognizing Sonnerat's 

 " Pie-grieche d'Antigne" (Voy. a la Nouv. Guin. p. 114, pi. 70), to which Scopoli (Fl. et Faun. 

 Insub. ii. p. 85, no. 13) in 1786 gave the name of Lanius nasutus, Sonnerat's specimen having a 

 prolonged and malformed maxilla. The cai'eless Italian author says " mandibula inferiorc 

 elongata incurva," notwithstanding Sonnerat's observation, " La partie superieure en est tres- 

 longue, et sa courbure paroit si excessive, qu'on pourroit croire que c'est un defaut de conforma- 

 tion dans I'individu qui a servi pour la description." Gmelin in 1788 (Syst. Nat. i. p. 30], 

 no. 29), upon the same plate founded his L. antiguamis. This black-headed Shrike is closely 

 allied to, if not identical with, the Hindostan L. nigriceps (Frankl. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 117). Ibis, 1868, 

 Indeed Scopoli's and Gmelin's designations have usually been associated with Franklin's on the ^'' 

 hypothesis that Sonnerat described and figured an Indian specimen ; but Bonaparte's species 

 seems to establish the existence of a Philippine black-headed Shrike ; and until specimens from 

 both localities are compared, it will be reasonable to presume that they belong to two distinct 

 species. 



t I bave an impression, although I cannot refer to the passage in which he did so, that Bonaparte subsequently 

 united the two species'. 



X [This word is printed eejphalomelus in the passage cited, but of course by mistake. — Ed. of ' Jlis.'] 



' Comptes Eendus, 1856, vol. xlii. p. 767. — Twbeddale. 



h2 



