On a Collection of Birds from Borneo. 85 



pomeranus, Sparrman, Mus. Carls, fasc. i. no. 1^ pi. (1786), 

 an excellent description and plate of an adult Woodchat. 

 By early authors^ and by compilers like Degland and Gerbe, 

 Gmelin is frequently quoted as the author of this name ; 

 and it is his No 33, Syst. Nat. i. p. 302 (1788) ; but he 

 avowedly took it from Sparrman. So, unless some one can 

 discover an earlier and valid title, it seems to me that the 

 name of the Woodchat must stand as Lanius pomeranus. 



Just for curiosity, let us look a little further and see what 

 others have done. Lanius rifus 7, Gm. S. N. i. p. 301, is 

 a supposed variety 7 of his L. coUurio, No. 12. Lanius ru- 

 ^27?/5, Latham, Ind. Orn. i. p. 70 (1790), is recognizable as the 

 Woodchat, but anticipated four years by L. pomeranus. 

 Bechstein, in his Vog. Deutschl., 1st ed., i. p. 387, taf. 15 

 (1791), calls the Woodchat L. coUurio; but in the 2nd ed. ii. 

 p. 1327, taf. 15. fig. 1 (1805), he names HL. ruficejJS, Retzius, 

 Fauna Suecica, p. 89 (1800). On referring to that page, 

 Retzius appears to have given it no such name, but called it 

 L. rufus. But what a waste of time it is to dig up these 

 musty old authors, who cannot even quote their authorities 

 correctly, and to try to make out their imperfect descrip- 

 tions, so as to get a year or two nearer to the ornitho- 

 logical era 1766. The earliest unimpeachable description and 

 figure of the Woodchat is that oi Lanius pomeranus , Sparrman; 

 and by the existing rules we must accept it, and get used to 

 it as soon as possible. Those who refuse to do this, and 

 adopt names merely because they have been sanctioned by the 

 number or the authoritative weight of employers, will certainly 

 go further and probably fare worse. 



VI. — On a Collection of Birds from Borneo. 

 By Francis Nicholson, F.Z.S. 



Mr. E. G. Lempriere, who is now collecting in Borneo, has 

 forwarded to England a series of beautifully prepared skins, 

 on which I have written a few notes. 



The birds are from three localities, and include a number 



