130 THE BIRDS OF THE WESTERN HALF 



go in little mobs The Malaeopterons, on the other hand, are no 

 doubt tree birds, but their habits are widely different ; they 

 go in flocks, while Trichixos always goes in pairs, and generally 

 they are quite distinct. 

 396 ter E. — Alcippe cantori, Moore. 



There is another bird on our list, Alcippe cantori, which, 

 although I do not hold it in any way doubtful, I have never been 

 able to obtain. Considering the enormous number of Straits spe- 

 cimens that have now passed through our hands, to say nothing 

 of the huge collection our museum contains, it is extraordinary 

 that we should never have obtained this species ; that is to say, 

 if Dr. Cantor really obtained it at Penang ; but numbers of 

 species, of which he sent specimens from the Malay Peninsula, 

 were certainly never obtained there in a wild state, and it is 

 quite possible that this also may really have come from 

 elsewhere. 



For facility of reference I reproduce the original descrip- 

 tion : — 



" A. cantori. — Upper parts olive brown, tinged with rufous on 

 the rump ; crown ash brown, being much lighter than in A. 

 affinis ; nape paler; lores, a streak over and behind the eyes, 

 with the ear-coverts, ashy white; throat, belly, vent, and under 

 tail-coverts white ; breast mingled white and ash ; wings rufes- 

 cent brown, the remiges margined brighter ; upper tail-coverts 

 and tail deep rufo-ferruginous, darker towards the tip ; bill 

 horny above, pale below ; feet greenish. Length, nearly 7£ 

 inch ; of wing, 3 inch ; tail, 3^ inch ; bill to frontal plumes, ^ 

 inch ; to gape, f inch ; and tarsi, \% inch. 



Distinguished from A. affinis and A. albogularis by its larger 

 size, longer wings, and tail." 



The first characteristic point is " lores, a streak over and he- 

 hind the eyes, with the ear-coverts ashy white." The second is 

 the large size. Length, 7i ; wing, 3 ; tail, 3£. Far exceeding 

 the dimensions of both affinis and magnirostris. 



Of course placed as Moore has placed it between affinis and 

 magnirostris and under the same generic designation (wholly 

 misapplied in their cases) of Alcippe, cantori should also, proba- 

 bly like these, be classed as a Malacopterum. 

 593 ter A, — Budytes taivanus, Sioinh. 



I find on comparing a large series of Chinese and Malayan 

 examples, that this species can always be distinguished by its 

 yellow supercilium. In the old males of course the rich uniform 

 green of the head and entire upper surface, suffice, without refer- 

 ence to the almost golden yellow supercilium, but the immature 

 birds are so like the similar ones of flava, having the same con- 



