1882.] DR. W. BLASIUS ON BIRDS FROM CERAM. 707 
fication of these allied species, on account of the great resemblance 
in the markings between M. griseosticta and M. sibirica, which at first 
occurred to me, is unlikely, I conclude from the greater length of 
the bill of the first species in comparison with the last, at least from 
the comparison of the measurements taken on the specimens before 
me and those noted by Sharpe. 
Mr. E. F. von Homeyer, too, has had the kindness to compare the 
specimen in question with his skins of Muscicapa sibirica, and states 
that M. griseosticta essentially differs from M. sibirica not only 
in the larger, more elongated bill, which is narrower at its base, but 
in its wings, which are longer by some millimetres. With this state- 
ment coincides (with the exception of those of Salvadori, especially 
with respect to the length of bill of MW. griseosticta) the following 
table of measurements, in which I have reduced the English inches 
into centimetres :— 
Long. tot. Al. Caud. Culm. Tarsi. 
cm cm. cm, cm. cm. 
M. griseosticta (Sharpe) ........ 135 $3. 53 Woe 177 
i (¢d,Ceram, Platen).. 12°70 85 50 1:2 1°25 
7 (Salvadori) 27.3% 2: 1450" "82073 OO Es 
IM. sthiriea (Sharpe)... 22... - 12°% 80 5°6* 1:02 1-27 
»» (6, Baikal, Mus. Brunsw.)12°6 81 58 1.1 1°3 
It is surprising that Salvadori, evidently by mistake, should give the 
length of bill of M. griseosticta as only 0:9 cm. (the culmen must 
be meant), shorter than even the least of those of the culmen of 
M. sibirica, while Sharpe has even placed the two species, on ac- 
count of the different shape of the bills, in two different genera 
(Muscicapa and Hemichelidon). 
Furthermore, it was particularly striking to me to find that the 
character which Schrenck and Radde, who both have observed 
great numbers of M. sibirica in Siberia together with the similarly 
coloured M. latirostris, Raffl. (M. cinereo-alba, Temm. & Schl.), have 
remarked as of greatest importance for M. sibirica, in contrast to the 
last-named species, viz. that the first (spurious) quill has about a 
line less of length than the upper wing-coverts, is found very clearly 
marked in the M. griseosticta from Ceram lying before me; while 
the species of the genus Muscicapa under which Sharpe has placed M. 
griseosticta (at least the European kinds M. grisola, MW. atricapilla, 
M. collaris, and M. parva) which I have examined possess a first 
quill which is much broader and sometimes considerably longer than 
the upper wing-coverts. 
I have nowhere found recorded any remarks showing how the 
first guill of the M. griseosticta ought to stand in this respect ; 
and I owe to a kind communication of Mr. Henry Seebohm (who 
himself, however, does not possess a specimen of M. griseosticta) the 
statement that in this species generally the first quill is smaller than 
the upper wing-coverts. I am almost led to believe that on account 
of this similarity of the first wing-feather, M. griseosticta should be 
classified in the same genus with M. sibirica notwithstanding the 
different shape of the bill. 
The specimen is in the Brunswick Museum. 
