518 KOTES. 



" Habitat in Macao, linotce magnitudine, 4| pollices long a; 

 rostrum pedes que fuscescentes." 



The diagnosis is absolutely wrong. The wings and tail are not 

 margined with ferruginous ; there are no white spots on the 

 abdomen. The dimensions are too small. Latham, one of the 

 authorities quoted — in fact the above is his description trans- 

 lated — says of the Java Sparrow that it is of the same size as this. 

 I feel by no means certain that either Buffon's bird, or Ray's 

 " Small black and orange-colored bird, refers to this present 

 epecies/' 



The most conspicuous thing in the bird we call melanicterus 

 is the crest, but Latham, who is really the basis on which the 

 name melanicterus of Gmelin rests, says nothing about it. 

 This may be because Buffon's plate on which again Latham 

 founded his description was bad; but / can't find Buffon's 

 plate. Gmelin, Latham, &c, all quote the pi. Eulum., 

 No. 224, f. 1. Now P. E. 224 in my copy is Jacarini 

 {Tanagra jacarina, Lin.), and there is only one figure on it, 

 and pi. 223, which has two figures, has for the first Moineau 

 du Senegal, {Fringilla senegalla, Lin.), whereas the bird described, 

 by Latham and Jerdon is Moineau de Macao, of which I have 

 not been able to turn up the plate amongst the P. E., though 

 doubtless it must occur. 



On the whole the name melanicterus seems to me doubtfully 

 deserving of retention, and if discarded, it must apparently be 

 replaced by cristata, of Vigors, P. Z. S., 1831, p. 35, which 

 certainly applies to this species. 



I AM UNABLE TO discover any valid reason for superseding 

 Blyth's name leucopygialis, ^J. A. S. B., XVIII., 809, 1849) for 

 the Malayan Grey-ruinped Spine Tail by S. Miiller's manuscript 

 name coracina, which was only published by Schlegel in 1857 

 (Handl. Dierk. I. 221, 479 ; vogels, pi. 2, f. 14.) _ 



The only pretext for this seems to be that Boie, in 1844, gave 

 the name leucopygia to an African Spine Tail, sabini, of J. E. 

 Gray. 



Now, in the first place, I myself am greatly disposed to doubt 

 whether these African Spine Tails are truly congeneric with our 

 bird. I should be greatly inclined to- restrict Chcetura to the 

 American Spine Tails to place giganteus, nudipes, &c, in Hodgson's 

 genus Hirundapus (or as amended by Sclater Hirundinapus,). 

 and to create a new genus for the African Spine Tails, and another 

 for sylvatica and. our present bird. 



But setting this aside, accepting the whole as Ghatura, setting 

 aside also the fact that Boie's name is a dead synonym — a 



