534 ON THE OENITHOLOGT OF THE PHILIPPINES. [1877. 



30. Beoderipus acrorhtnchus (90). 



Oriolns acrorhynchus. Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 97. 



Oriolus chinensis, Linn., apud Sharpe, B. M. Cat. Birds, iii. p. 203. no. 12, nee Linn. 



Mr. Sharpe has recently (/. c.) adopted the Linnean title chinensis for this purely Philippine 

 species, for the reason that that title is " undoubtedly referable to the Oriole of the Philippines " 

 (/. c. p. 197, note). Linnaeus gave the name to Brisson's Loriot de la Cochinchine (Orn. ii. p. 326) ; 

 and Brisson states that the subjects of his description were brought to Reaumur by Poivre from 

 Cochin China. Judging from the description, also, Brisson's bird could not have belonged to 

 the Philippine species ; for he describes it as possessing a yellow alar speculum, which the con- 

 tinental form has, and the Philippine bird lacks. After saying that the wing-feathers are black, 

 Brisson adds " quelques-unes des moyennes sont terminees par une petite tache jaunatre." It is 

 therefore not necessary to adopt so inappropriate a title as chinensis for the Philippine Oi'iole ; 

 and the name 0. dij^'usus, Sharpe (/. c), for the continental species must be suppressed [of. 

 Walden, Blyth, B. Burma, no. 483). M. Oustalet (Ois. de la Chine, p. 132) correctly identified 

 the Chinese Broderijnis with the Brissonian species, and adopted the Brissonian title of cochin- 

 sinensis, but afterwards somewhat hastily accepted Mr. Sharpe's view, and placed that title in 

 the list of errata and addenda. 



31. Oriolus assimilis, n. sp. (Plate LXXVI. in orig.) 



[Cebu, male, March. Iris crimson, bill dull burnt-sienna brown, legs dark lead-grey, nails 

 black.] 



Male. Above and under tail-coverts dark greenish yellow ; space before the eye, cheeks, 

 ear-coverts, chin, throat, and breast dark grey, the breast being tinged with greenish yellow ; 

 abdomen, flanks, and ventral region grey or white, with broad almost black mesial bands ; axil- 

 laries, under-surface of quills, and under wing-coverts grey ; all the quills and major coverts above 

 very dark grey, almost black, each washed with a pale grey on the outer webs, the wing, when 

 closed, appearing dark grey. Terliaries nearest the body distinctly tinged with greenish yellow. 

 Minor wing-coverts like the back. All the rectrices above dark iron-grey, almost black. Outer 

 pair with a pure yellow small terminal spot or mark at the apex of the inner web ; all the others 

 with slight indications of a terminal yeUow margin. 



Wing 4-87, tail 4-12, tarsus 0-88, culmen 1-25. 

 P.Z.S.lS/7, ^ representative form of 0. steerii, ex Negros. Mr. Sharpe, who has kindly compared it 



with the type of 0. steerii in the British Museum, considers " that it is distinct from the Negros 

 Oriole, and that it differs in having the greater wing-coverts grey and not yellow, and in having 

 the spots on the tail-feathers so very small ; the grey on the breast comes much lower down." 



82. Megalurus ruficeps. 



Megalurus rvficeps, Tweeddale, Ann. & Mag. N. H. ser. 4, vol. xx. p. 94. [Antea, p. 509.] 



[Cebu, male, March. Iris dull burnt-sienna brown.] 



Identical with the Luzon tyjjes. The sexes do not appear to differ in dimensions. 



33. Htpsipetes philippinensis (102). 



[Cebu, male and female, March. Iris burnt-sienna brown, bill bro^vnish black, legs brown.] 



