THE AMERICAN SPECIES OF LANIUS 543 



Ornithologicus, Latham proceeds to mix up the true L. ludomci- 

 amts with a third species, namely, the "Black-crowned Shrike" 

 of Pennant (= L. americanus Gm.), which he brings in here 

 probably because Pennant merely surmised that his own 

 Black-crowned Shrike "seems to be 77 Brisson's L. ludomdanus. 

 Finally, all these mistakes are repeated by Latham in his general 

 History, with a climax of error in the surmise that his L. ludo- 

 vicianus (now become a thoroughly composite species, having 

 no existence in nature) might be a variety of his L. nengeta! 

 which latter is itself an equally composite bird. This is, 

 indeed, " confusion worse confounded ". 



Thus, as Swainson well remarks (FBA. ii. 119), "let us 

 remember that we first began to lose sight of the true L. Ludo- 

 mdanus by an unlucky error in the Sy sterna Natures [where 

 Linnseus gave a faulty description]; that it became more 

 obscure in Gmelin's compilation ; and that it was finally lost 

 in the Index Ornithologicus, the Ludovidanus of which work 

 and of the General History is an imaginary bird [i. e. a com- 

 posite species]." 



It may be further observed, that there is in Gmelin another 

 "Lanius ludovicianus" (Lanius tyrannus, <5, ludomdanus), which 

 is an entirely different bird, namely, the Kingbird, Tyrannus 

 carolinensis. 



3. LANIUS CANADENSIS, L. SN. i. 134, n. 4. (Pie-griesche de 

 Canada, Lanius canadensis, BRISS. Orn. ii. 171, pi. 18, f. 3. Pie- 

 grieche Jiupp6e de Canada, BUFF. PL Enlum. 479, f. 2. Four- 

 millier liuppe, BUFF. Hist. Nat. iv. 476. Crested Shrike, LATH. 

 Syn. i. 182, n. 35; PENN. AZ. 239, n. 129. Lanius cana- 

 densis, GM. SN. 298 (= Linn.); LATH. IO. ii. 72 (=Linn.). 

 Lanius atricapillus, GM. SN. 303. Turdus cirrhatus, GM. SN. 

 826. Lanius pileatus, LATH. IO. i. 76. Tyrannus atricapillus, 

 V. OAS. 78, pi. 48. T. canadensis, V. OAS. 79, pi. 49.) This 

 is neither a Shrike nor a North American bird, being a species 

 of ThamnopMlus of Cayenne, &c., originally described by 

 Brisson from "Canada", probably by mistake for Cayenne. 



4. LANIUS AMERICANUS, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. 1788, 308, n. 48. 

 This is based upon the "Black-crowned Shrike r of Pennant, 

 AZ. ii. 1785, 238, n. 128, said to inhabit "North America". 

 Though Pennant says it "seems to be" the same as BETS- 

 SON, ii. 162 (=L. ludovicianus) and LATHAM, Synopsis, i. 162 

 ( = Louisiane Shrike), his bird is clearly not a, Lanius; nor is it 

 a North American bird at all. Latham reproduces a "Lauiiis 



