18fi ON THE GENUS ARTAMUS 



paper of Drs. Hartlaub and Finsch on the birds of the Pelew Islands, that 

 the latter group actually contain a black-and-white Artamus, which the above- 

 named authors identify with the Lanius leucorhynchus of Linnaeus (c/". P. Z. S. 

 1868, p. 116). It will be only fair to them to quote their exact words : — 

 " The fact is that there are two species of Arfamus in the Philippines, and 

 more especially on the island of Luzon. One is the old Brissonian Lanius 

 manillensis, figured also by Sonnerat. This is the large species, black above 

 and white below. It is certainly this species which is found on the Pelew 

 Islands. The other is the well-known Javan species — a somewhat smaller 

 bird, with the upper parts of a more or less greyish or purplish brown. We 

 have examined many specimens from the island of Luzon, where it appears 



to be more common than A. leucorhynchus " My own experience 



goes with that of the Marquis of Tweeddale (cf. Walden, Tr. Z. S. ix. 

 p. 174), in so far that I have never seen but one Artamus from the Philippines ; 

 and that is the same as the ordinary Indo-Malayan bird, called in this paper 

 Artamus leucogaster (Valenc). The reason why I adopt this title is that 

 it is the first recognizable description of the species. So long as there is a 

 doubt about the Brissonian bird from the Philippines, I think that the name 

 ought to be discarded, though Lord Tweeddale says that he has " no doubt 

 that from it Brisson and Sonnerat took their descriptions." Here I can only 

 sav, " Not proven ! " 



What the bird from the Pelew Islands really is cannot be determined 

 without a specimen. 



Having examined a large series of this Artamus, from nearly every 

 locality mentioned above, I have come to the conclusion that only one species 

 can be admitted, under the title of A. leucogaster, with a record of certain 

 differences of size. Thus some examples from Celebes are larger, while the 

 Australian birds are generally the smallest. Even in the Celebesian specimens 

 the variation in size is more apparent than real, the length of the closed 

 wing being in a Bornean bird about 5"35. I find that a specimen collected by 

 Mr. Wallace at Tondano has the wing 5'3 inches ; others from Macassar and 



