Vol. 5, p. 147. February 27, 1925. 



Occasional Papers 



OF THE 



Boston Society of Natural History. 



A NEW BLUE WATER-THRUSH FROM CHINA. 

 BY OUTRAM BANGS AND THOMAS E. PENARD. 



Specimens of Myophonus caeruleus collected in 1907 by the late 

 W. R. Zappey in the Provinces of Hupeh and Szechwan, China, 

 represent an undescribed form which we propose to name. 



Myophonus caeruleus immansuetus, subsp. nov. 



Type. — Adult male, Museum of Comparative Zoology, no. 50,653, from 

 Ichang, Province of Hupeh, China. 28 March, 1907. Collected by W. R. 

 Zappey. 



Subspecific characters. — Similar to Myophonus caeruleus caeruleus (Scopoli) 

 and of about the same size, but duller in color, less lustrous, the shining tips of 

 the feathers not so deep purple, more grayish blue, and the ground color also less 

 bluish, producing a much less brilliantly colored bird. 



Measurements of the type. — Wing, 175.0 mm.; tail, 121.0; tarsus, 54.5; culmen 

 to base, 29.0. 



Specimens examined. — M. c. caeruleus, seven: Fukien, 4 c^d 1 , 1 9-. 

 Kwang-tung: road between Hongkong and Canton, 1 d 1 . Yunnan: Mengtze, 

 1 cf. 



M. c. immansuetus, six: Hupeh, Ichang, 1 cf. Szechwan: Kiating, 1 c?, 

 1 9 ; Ni-tow, 1 cf ; Wa-shan, 1 9 ; Husi-chow-hsien, 1 J 1 . 



Remarks. — Sonnerat's description, upon which Scopoli (Deliciae 

 Florae et Faunae Insubricae, 1786, p. 88, sp. 42) based his Gracula 

 caerula, applies to the brilliantly colored southern bird. Very 

 properly Stresemann has, in 1923, restricted the name Myophonus 

 caeruleus caeruleus (Scopoli) to birds from the Province Kwang- 

 tung, the vicinity of Canton. Sonnerat is known to have visited 

 that province. 



There is apparently no name in synonymy applicable to the 

 duller-colored northern bird. The names Myophonus violaceus 

 (Gmelin) (Syst. Nat., 1789, 2, p. 829) and Myophonus nitidus 

 Gray (Zool. MiscelL, 1844, p. 1) both apply to the southern bird. 

 So does Myophonus brevirostris Lafresnaye (Rev. Mag. Zool., 1852, 

 p. 460), the two cotypes of which we have examined. Notwith- 

 standing the great age of the two Lafresnaye specimens, they can 

 readily be distinguished from the less lustrous northern bird. 



The specimen from Mengtze, Province of Yunnan, is in abraded 

 plumage, and probably for that reason much duller than those 

 from Fukien and Kwang-tung. It is, nevertheless, distinguish- 

 able from the northern bird, and we therefore place it with typical 

 caeruleus. 



