44 ON THE SPECIES OF HYPSIPETES 



the same species as an example of Hypsipetes from Mauritius; and he 

 accordingly treated this Turdus atricilla as a synonym of Blyth's Ixocinda 

 oUvacea. 



So matters stood when, in 1860, Dr. Hartlaub gave new life to the study 

 of the ornithology of Madagascar and its dependencies by the pubUcation, 

 first in the 'Journal ftir Ornithologie ' for that year*, and then separately!, 

 of his valuable work. Herein, however, it must be remarked that, as regards 

 the subjects of the present paper, he fell into two errors — the result of 

 insufficient material. He ignored the Turdus borbonicus, observing however 

 that an example from Bourbon, in the Museum of Vienna, of what he called 

 " Hypsipetes olivacea '' shewed some difference from another, the habitat of 

 which last he left unnamed, as though it were Madagascar. 



Meanwhile my brother, Mr. Edward Newton, w^ho had gone out to 

 Mauritius in 1859, had sent home a small collection of birds he had made in 

 that island, and in it some specimens of what were at first doubtfully supposed 

 to be Turdus ourovangX, but were without much delay correctly referred 

 to "Hypsipetes olivacea''^; and thus the true habitat of that form was 

 decided. 



The explorations soon after begun by MM. Pollen and Van Dam in 

 Bourbon and Madagascar enabled Professor Schlegel || to resuscitate the old 

 H, borbonicus, to point out a hitherto unknown character wherein it differed 

 from H, madagascariensisy and to reestablish the separate habitat of each as 

 originally asserted. In the complete account of the researches of these 

 explorers, published in 1867 and 1868, details as to the self- standing 

 existence and distinct habitat of each of the three forms then known were 



■^ ^^ Systematische Uebersicht der Vogel Madagascar's/^ torn. cit. pp. 1-16_, 81-1 12^ 161-180. 

 t Ornithologischer Beitrag zur Fauna Madagascar's^ u. s. w. Bremen : 1861. 

 X Ibis, 1860, p. 201. § Tom. cit. p. 307. 



II Pjoc. ZooL Soc. 1866, pp. 422, 423. 



