S NOVITATKS ZOOIOGIOAE XXV. 1918. 



failures of C. L. Brehm. It must also here be pointed out that the beautiful 

 collections made by his sons, chiefly Alfred Edmund Brehm, in N.E. Africa, 

 Spain, and Norway were never thoroughly worked out. This was chiefly because 

 C. L. Brehm's greatest works, the Beitrdge zur Vogelkunde, the Lehrbuch, and the 

 Handbuch, were written long before these collections reached him, and, more- 

 over, dep-lt only with the birds of Germany and Europe, but also because 

 father Brehm was then an old man, and possibly want of literature was a 

 hindrance too. A. E. Brehm, who at first walked closely in the footsteps of 

 his father, never had the inclination for detailed systematic work, but soon 

 took up the study of biology, and wrote his immortal work Das Thierleben. 



(A number of Corvus cornix and frugilegus, among others, must have been 

 lost ; there are no type specimens of any of the forms of C. cornix and frugilegus 

 named by Brehm.) 



6. Monedula septentrionalis Brehm = Coloeus monedula spermologus. 



Monedula septentrionalis Brehm, Handb. Naturg. Vog. Deutschl. p. 173 (1831 — " Sie bewohnt das 

 nordliohe Europa, kommt namentlioh bei Helsingoer vor, nur zuweilen in das nordwestliche 

 Deutsohland "). 



Type : ? ad., Helsingoer, October 1823. 



In 1903, when I wrote the fifst part of my Vog. pal. Fauna, I thought that 

 Brehm's septentrionalis would refer to the Jackdaw of the " nordhche Europa," 

 which chiefly is Scandinavia ; I therefore placed the name as a synonym of 

 Coloeus monedula monedula (L.). This, however, cannot be upheld. Though 

 Brehm, said " das nordliche Europa," he had probably only the one specimen 

 from Helsingoer, which is in Denmark, on the island of Seeland, and then gene- 

 raMzed, as he sometimes did. I would have thought that the Helsingoer bird 

 belonged to C. m. monedula, but comparing it with specimens from Sweden 

 and particularly with one in the Brehm Collection, I find that the underside is 

 darker, agreeing with that of German specimens. Moreover Brehm did not 

 mention the paler coloration at all, but only mentions the short bill and low 

 vertex, and he also says that it goes sometimes to North- Western Germany. 

 What misled me in placing the name was a Swedish specimen also called 

 septentrionalis in A. E. Brehm's handwriting ; this, moreover, was collected in 

 1849, and, according to the handwriting, by W. Meves in Stockholm. The label 

 looks more hke "1819," but careful examination proves it to mean 1849 ; 

 moreover, 1849 is the time in which Meves collected, not 1819 ! The Stock- 

 holm specimen cannot, therefore, be the type, as it was collected long after the 

 description of septentrionalis, and the latter name must be treated as a synonym 

 of spermologus, the Jackdaw of West, Central, and South Europe. 



*7. Pica caudata melanotos A. E. Brehm = Pica pica melanotos. 



Pica caudata melanotos A. E. Brehm, AUg. d. Naturh. Zeit. 1857. p. 44G (" Haiifig in Mittelspanien 

 und Andalusian "). 



Type : tJ ad., Madrid, 18. ii. 1857. A. E. Brehm leg. 

 8. Nucifraga brachyrhynchos Brehm = N. caryocatactes caryocatactes. 



Nucifraga brachyrhynchos Brehm, Lehrh. Natvrg. eiir. Vog. i. p. 104 (1823—" Sohoint das nordosfliohe 

 Europa zu bewohnen und sich selten naoh Deutsohland zu verirren "). 



Type : 3 ad., Thiiringer Wald, 10. x. 1821 ; shot together with the paired ?. 



