314 mr. r. b. sharpe on birds from madagascar. [apr. 18, 



2. Tylas eduardi. 



Tylas eduardi, Hartl. ; Sharpe, Cat. Afr. B. p. 385. 



Several specimens of this bird are in the collection just received. 

 They differ somewhat in coloration, some examples having white 

 marks on the throat and the bill of a yellowish horn-colour, the upper 

 plumage being more tinged with brown. I believe these to be 

 younger birds, as one of my specimens, evidently quite adult, has the 

 throat jet-black like the rest of the head. 



7. Ceblepyris major. 



Ceblepyris major, Sharpe, P.Z. S. 1870, p. 389. 

 Campephaga major, Sharpe, Cat. Afr. B. p. 53. 

 Additional specimens of this Shrike confirm the distinctness of the 

 species from C. cana. 



15. Mystacornis crossleyi. 



Mystacornis crossleyi, Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 392, pi. xxix., et 

 Cat. Afr. B. p. 20. 



Mr. Crossley, on seeing the plate of this species, was not a little 

 astonished to find the birds placed on reeds, a locality never affected 

 by the species at all. He told me that they ran along the ground in 

 the thick forest, and were shot for him by the natives with blow-pipes ; 

 so in my recently published Catalogtte I relegated the genus Mysta- 

 cornis to the family Timaliidce, of which family there are certainly 

 some forms present in the ^Ethiopian region. The reason that I 

 originally referred the genus Mystacornis to the family Sylviidce was 

 the fact of M. Grandidier having originally placed the typical species 

 in the genus Bernieria, which I was always inclined to consider, along 

 with Tatare, a Sylviine form closely allied to Calamoherpe. I had 

 not at that time carefully noticed the remarks published by Mr. 

 Edward Newton (Ibis, 1863, p. 343) to the effect that the first 

 specimen of Bernieria which he obtained was seen " hopping about 

 in a thicket," while the second example was "also among some 

 thick bushes." It seems therefore that Bernieria and Mystacornis 

 are not reed-birds at all ; and I suppose that Tatare will prove to be 

 a forest form also. Mr. George Robert Gray, in the ' Hand-list ' 

 (vol. i. p. 194), places Tatare in a subfamily, Tatarince, G. R. Gr., 

 at the end of the family Troglodytidce, while Bernieria he places in 

 his comprehensive genus Criniyer, near to C. syndactylus {Xeno- 

 cichla syndactyla). I believe that this is probably the correct posi- 

 tion of Bernieria, viz. close to Xenocichla, but that Tatare and Mys- 

 tacornis must certainly follow. 



It will be noticed that Mr. Edward Newton (I. c.) says that the 

 native name for Bernieria madagascariensis and B. minor were the 

 same, "Tra-trak," and adds, "My people could not detect the 

 difference, and called them both by the same name." During his 

 recent visit to England, M. Jules Verreaux mentioned to me in the 

 course of conversation that M. Grandidier had taken great pains to 

 investigate the subject, and had assured himself that these two sup- 



