STURNIN^. 109 



(Swinhoe, Ibis, 187i, p. 159), where it had been found in abundance 

 twenty years previously by the Perry Expedition (Cassin, Exp. Am. 

 Squad. China Seas and Japan, ii. p. 220). There are half a dozen 

 examples in the Pryer collection from Yokohama ; and Mr. Ringer 

 has procured it at Nagasaki, It has also been recorded from the 

 southern group of the Loo-Choo Islands (Stejneger, Proc. United 

 States Nat. Mus. 1887, p. 413) . 



In winter it has been recorded from the Philippine Islands, and 

 from Celebes and Borneo. As it is not known to have occurred in 

 China or Formosa ; it appears to take a short cut from the Loo-Choo 

 Islands to the Philippines. 



It was described and figured as long ago as 1760 (Brisson, Orn. 

 iii. p. 446), from an example obtained on the Philippine Islands ; 

 but Brisson mistook it for a large species of Stonechat, and named 

 it Ficedula rubetra philippensis major ! Ten or twelve years later 

 Buffon and Montbeillard^s great work appeared, accompanied by the 

 'Planches Enluminees,^ in which d^Aubenton figured the adult 

 (pi. 185. fig. 2) and the young (pi. 627. fig. 2); the former being 

 described as a species of Stonechat (Bufibn, Hist. Nat. Ois. v. p. 230), 

 and the latter as a species of Blackbird ! (Month. Hist. Nat. Ois. iii. 

 p. 396). In 1783 the name of Motacilla violacea was based upon 

 the figure of the adult (Boddaert, Table Planches Enl. p. 11), and 

 that of Turdus dominicanus upon the figure of the young (Boddaert, 

 Table Planches Enl. p. 38). The nomenclature of the Red-cheeked 

 Starling was further complicated in 1788, the adult being named 

 Motacilla philippensis (Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 968) ; and again in 

 1829, though a step towards its correct systematic position was 

 made when the bird was named Pastor ruficollis (Wagler, Syst. Av. 

 p. 92). In 1847 Temminck and Schlegel, in the 'Fauna Japonica,' 

 gave it a new generic name, and two new specific names, one in the 

 text and one on the plate. In 1850 two more names — Heterornis 

 pyrrhogenys (said to reside in Japan and Borneo) and Heterornis 

 ruficollis (said to be a Philippine species) — -were added to the 

 synonymy of this bird (Bonaparte, Conspectus Avium, i. p. 418). 

 Two more names were added in 1870, Temenuchus pyrrhogenys and 

 Temenuchus rvficollis (Gray, Hand-list of Birds, ii. p. 21) ; one more 

 in 1872, Acridotheres pyrrhogenys (Giebel, Thes. Orn. i. p. 268) ; 

 one more in 1875, Sturnia violacens (Walden, Trans. Zool. Soc. ix. 

 p. 203) ; and two more in 1877, Sturnia pyrrhogenys and Sturnia 

 ruficollis (Giebel, Thes. Orn. iii. p. 550). 



