A NOTE ON THE GENUS ARTAMUS AND 

 ITS GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



By R. BOWDLER SHARPE, M.A., F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. 



The recent discovery of some fine Artami has directed considerable 

 attention to the genus; and I accede with pleasure to the request of 

 my friend Mr. Dawson Rowley to jot down a few notes on the Wood- 

 Swallows for the ' Ornithological Miscellany.' It would be supposed that 

 in the case of a genus of which the members are by no means rare, as 

 a rule, we should be in a position to speak very positively on the subject 

 of the species ; but such is by no means the case, and there are several 

 points in regard to the Australian Artami to which I particularly invite 

 the attention of Mr. Ramsay and other workers at the antipodes. 



In Mr. G. R. Gray's 'Handlist' we find 22 species included in the 

 genus Artamus alone, and in the Artamida are placed four genera, as 

 follows : — 



1065. Artamus. 



a. Subgenus Artamus, with 16 species. 



Of these I consider the following to be synonymous: — 4269. A. leu- 

 corhynckus, L. ; 4273. A. leucoffaster, \a\enc. ; 4279. A. leucopygiaUs, Gould ; 

 and 4282. A. papuensis, Temm. A. arnoiixi, Bp., 1 cannot make out from the 



