OBERHOLSER] THE AVIAN GENUS BLEDA 167 
wing about 4 times the tarsus; tarsus 114 to 134 times the exposed 
culmen; head not crested; nuchal hairs short, branched; rictal 
bristles rather short and weak, reaching less than half the length 
of the bill; bill short, stout, compressed, much higher than broad 
at anterior edge of nostrils, equal in height and breadth at base, its 
height at latter point more than one-third of exposed culmen; cul- 
men ridged, curved from base; gonys a little ascending; maxilla 
with several subterminal notches or tooth-like serrations on its 
cutting edge; nostrils almost linear, much operculate, the basal half 
of operculum more or less feathered; nasal bristles few and short, 
reaching scarcely beyond the anterior margin of nostrils. 
Type.—Turdus wmportunus VIEILLOT. 
The presence of serrations on the distal portion of the cutting edge 
of the maxilla in this and several allied genera is a good character, 
though by no means the sole means by which these groups may be 
separated from Arigelocichla and its near relatives, for even without 
it they can be excellently diagnosed. Captain Shelley, however, 
claims that this character is worthless, since an occasional specimen 
is found that does not possess the serrations; but it seems quite 
unnecessary to reject this as a means of diagnosis simply because in 
a very few immature or aberrant individuals it does not appear. 
Such a principle generally applied might seriously endanger some 
very good and widely recognized genera! In the particular cases 
now under consideration, moreover, the serrations on the maxillar 
tomium are so conspicuous, so nearly always present, and so entirely 
absent in all the other genera of this paper, that there seems to be 
more than ample reason for their conspicuous employment in 
diagnoses. 
Some of the recently described forms of this group have not been 
available for examination, but they seem to be correctly placed. 
Assuming this to be so, this genus consists of the following: 
Andropadus importunus (Vieillot). 
Andropadus masukuensis Shelley. 
Andropadus curvirostris curvirostris Cassin (= cameronensis Reiche- 
now). 
Andropadus curvirostris alexandri (Oustalet). 
Andropadus insularis insularis Hartlaub (= flavescens Hartlaub; oleaginus 
Peters). 
Andropadus insularis subalaris Reichenow. 
Andropadus insularis somaliensis Reichenow. 
Andropadus laetissimus Sharpe. 
*Tbis, 1899, p. 372. 
