144 THE AUSTRAL AVIAN RECORD [Vol. IV. 



ciyierea Bp. ex Vieill. Cassin notes that Motacilla tractrac 

 Wilkes, Ency. Lond., Vol. XVI., p. 89, 1817, was based on the 

 same plate and is earlier than (Enanthe cinerea Vieillot 1818 

 on same plate. Many such instances appear obvious. 



TURDUS VARIUS. 



As proposed by Pallas and accepted as of 1811 this name was 

 long in use for the rare British Bird commonly known as 

 White's Thrush. In 1821 Horsfield used the same combination 

 for an allied, but dijfferent, Thrush. It was then found that 

 Pallas's name could only be used as dating from 1827, and 

 consequently was preoccupied, but a name earlier than that 

 date was unearthed. Previously, however, Horsfield's Thrush 

 had been renamed T. horsfieldi, but of course when it was 

 recorded that Pallas's name was later, a reversion to Horsfield's 

 varius became necessary. In the Vogel cler Palaarktischen 

 Fauna, heft vi., 1910, Hartert did not make this correction, 

 but we believe it has since been revived ; in the same place 

 Hartert, p. 643, used Turdus dauma major (Ogawa) ex 

 Geocichla major Ogawa 1905, while on p. 647, as a sjaionym of 

 T. V. viscivorus, Turdus major Brehm 1831 was included. Such 

 action is more confusing than genus splitting, as to the majority 

 Oreocinda is an easily recognisable genus from Turdus s. str. 

 as typified by viscivorus. In the same place (p. 664) we find 

 Turdus torquatus orientalis (Seebohm) ex Merula torquata 

 orientalis Seebohm 1888 but there is Turdus orientalis Gmelin, 

 Syst. Nat., pt. ii., p. 821, 1789. Recently Hemichelidon 

 fuliginosa Hodgson 1845 has been renamed because Hartert 

 classed it under Muscicapa as M. sibirica fuliginosa, and there 

 was a prior M. fuliginosa Sparrman. This seems somewhat 

 ridiculous, but it may prove the best method of attracting 

 attention to the absurdity of genus lumping when carried to the 

 extreme. The lumping of the various forms of Oreocinda under 

 one species name is also unscientific, as the variation in the 

 number of tail-feathers should indicate. After this preamble 

 we arrive at the item of importance, the existence of a Turdus 

 varius anterior to either Pallas " 1811 " or Horsfield 1821, 

 namelv of VieiUot 1803. This means the recognition still of 



