56 On the Names of some Australian Birds. 



that the latter makes no reference in his description to the 

 very characteristic white hand on the occiput. Jardine and 

 Selby, in their 'Illustrations of Ornithology ' (vol. iii. pi. 134), 

 figure M. atricapilla under Shaw's name of lunulata, and on 

 the same plate figure, and on the following page describe, the 

 Black-headed Honey-eater of Tasmania under the name of 

 Meliphaga atricapilla. The latter name, however, is pre- 

 occupied by Latham for the continental species. Jardine 

 and Selby state : — " The two birds which we have now 

 figured appear to be involved in some obscurity with regard 

 to each other .... They both inhabit New Holland, Van 

 Diemen's Land, and the islands of the Southern Ocean." 

 Lesson's description of Eidopsarus affinis, published in the 

 1 Revue Zoologique ' in 1839 (p. 167) — "capite, genis, 

 gulaque nigerrimis," — apparently applies to the Tasmanian 

 species, but the habitat is given as " Nova Wallia meridion- 

 alis." In the ' Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum ' 

 (ix. p. 207), Dr. Gadow refers to this description as of "Meli- 

 phaga " affinis and places this as a synonym of Gould's later 

 description, published in the P. Z. S. 1845, p. 62, under 

 the name of Melithreptus melanocephalus. If it is really 

 synonymous with the latter species, Lesson's specific name 

 "affinis" should take precedence. It is to be regretted, 

 however, that Jardine and Selby did not give a distinctive 

 appellation of their own, instead of using a preoccupied name 

 of Latham's, for theirs is the first accurate description and 

 figure of the Black-headed Honey-eater of Tasmania, these 

 having been published in their ' Illustrations of Ornithology ' 

 in 1835. The habitats of the two species figured and 

 described are partly incorrect, for the Lunulated Honey-eater 

 is confined to Australia, and the Black-headed Honey-eater 

 to Tasmania and some of the larger islands of Bass's Strait. 

 But the assignment of wrong habitats was of common occur- 

 rence at that time when so little was known of the Antipodes. 

 The next species to which I wish to refer is the Corvus 

 paradoxus of Latham, which was erroneously stated to 

 inhabit New Zealand, a habitat also given by Gould in his 

 original description to Oreocincla macrorhyncha. 



