THE AVIAN GENUS BLEDA BONAPARTE AND SOME 
OF ITS ALLIES 
By HARRY C. OBERHOLSER 
The group of Pycnonotidae called Bleda, or until recently Xeno- 
cichla, has long been known as a very heterogeneous assemblage. 
No satisfactory arrangement of this genus has yet been published, 
nor indeed do scarcely any two authors agree concerning the proper 
limits of the group. It is evident on even the most superficial 
examination that Bleda, constituted for instance as it is in Dr. 
Sharpe’s recent work,’ contains species of several very different 
types of structure, which are sufficiently well characterized to war- 
rant generic segregation. Most assuredly they are quite as different 
as the reasonably and almost universally recognized genera Jvono- 
tus, Phyllastrephus, Chlorocichla, Andropadus, Alophoixus, and even 
Trichophorus (Criniger Auct.), so that if the current components of 
Bleda are to be considered congeneric, there is no good reason for 
not merging all the above mentioned genera into one great group, 
which shall include Bleda also. ‘There is, in fact, no middle ground 
here, and if any criterion is to be set for generic subdivision, that 
criterion should be adhered to with at least measurable consistency. 
There is no difficulty in defining the groups recognized in the present 
revision unless they are connected by species not examined by the 
author, which from the descriptions of such seems not to be the case. 
Very naturally the proper division and arrangement of Bleda has 
involved other closely related genera, and in order that their rela- 
tionships might be best shown, these groups have been included 
in the succeeding exposition. . 
The principal measurements of which use is hereinafter made 
have been taken as follows: 
Wing.—The distance from the bend of the wing to the tip of 
longest primary, taken with dividers without straightening the 
quills. 
Tail—tThe distance from the coccygeal insertion of the middle 
feathers to the tip of the longest rectrix. 
Exposed culmen (length of bill).—The chord of the culmen, taken 
from its tip to the point where the feathers of the forehead impinge 
on its base. 
* Hand-List Gen. and Spec. Birds, 111, 1901, pp. 320-323. 
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