108 Mr. C. Bodeu Kloss on Birds [Ibis, 



section : those which have been recognized are hrachyurus 

 (or squamiyularis) of the Malay Peninsula, ivilliamsoni of 

 south-western Siam, and gularis of southern India. 



The Ceylon bird, while otherwise resembling gularis, 

 differs in its darker colour, which is nearer bay. It may be 

 known as 



Micropternus brachyurus lanka, subsp. nov. 



Further I find that some birds in the Indian Museum 

 from Cuttack, Calcutta, and " Bengal " have the darkened 

 wing-shafts of gularis, but lack the notably dark throat- 

 feathers of that race which are pale-edged near the apices 

 only : they are thus intermediate between phaioceps and 

 gularis, but belong to the brachyurus group on account of 

 their darkened wing-shafts. I would call them 



Micropternus brachyurus mesos, subsp. nov. 



The phaioceps group is less easily disposed of, owing to 

 the fact that the several names proposed have distributions 

 attached which overlap. These names are: — 



Micropternus phaioceps Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 

 xiv. 3845, p. 195. "India proper extending eastward to 

 Tipperah and Arakan.'' Subsequently {t. c. p. 551) this 

 bird was stated to occur in " Bengal, Nepal, Assam, and 

 Arakan,^^ so that Bengal should be regarded as the typical 

 locality. Picus rufinotus Bp. (Consp. Av. i. 1850, p. 113) is 

 said to have come from Central Asia, but the type, which is 

 in the British Museum, is labelled " BengaP' ; thus rufinotus 

 is probably rightly placed as a synonym of phaioceps. 



Phaiopicus blythii Malh. Rev. et Mag. Zool. 1849, p. 534. 

 " Himalayas, Arakan, Tenasserim, and Nepal.'^ As Hume 

 says that birds from Sikkim are much larger than those of 

 the plains (' Stray Feathers,' v. 1877, p. 479), and I find the 

 same to be the case with specimens from Khatmandu, Nepal, 

 this name is available for the race of the eastern Himalayas. 



Micropternus burmanicus Hume, Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal,- 

 1873, p. 70. " Thayetmyo, North Pegu." This name will 

 serve at present for Burmese birds which are not phaioceps 

 (s. s.). The race was said to be most nearly allied to 



