IN TmOB'LAUT, 



361 



albis ; Cauda niffra,recfriclhts duabw eztemis albo termiiMtU ; rostro ^ 

 pedibas niffris: lomj. iota 6*2, alee iJ*7, Cauda 3 '3. 

 Hob, InRs. Tenimberenses. 



Obs. Afflnis L, airo-virenti et L. iricolori, sed saperciUis curtis albia 

 divideuda. 



80. Artamus lzccooastzb, Val. 



A, musadienbrtteki, Meyer, toe. sup, cii 

 Eah. Larat, iaa» TemmbereBBem. 



Artamm mmscJicnhroeJei, is the name proposed by Dr. Meyer for the 

 Timor-!aut Wood-SwftlloW| wliich has been aetenmned by Dr. Sclater as 

 A. lttico<ja)iter, Val. (P. Z. S. 1883, pp. 51 and 200"). Of the Artamus from 

 I)r. Meyer's identical locality I have in my ovra collection tliree specimens. 

 I have examined earefully seventeen others from different localities, in the 

 very long series in tlie British Museum derived from ( Wt Ao*-, tire FhiUp- 

 pines, .S«m<ifra, Jjiva,Loralx)ck,Flores, Timor, Batjian, Bnni, fhdmaheira, 

 Goram, Aru, Batautii, and from N. Australia. The species in the Dresden 

 Museum from the underlined localities are ailmitted by Dr. Meyer to 

 beloug to A. lenctt^jtistsi-. It is iiiificisfiible to seffaF/ite my Timor-laut 

 skins from sixicimens coUeott'd in Ztihu bv the Cftallemfr Expedition, 

 and determined by Lord T^recdd!ilo (P. Z's., 1877, pp. 5-14-54b). The 

 colour in Unh is absolutely the siime. Lord Tweetidnle, however, remarks 

 on the difference of dms.*;— "one in which the upper plumaj^ is of a 

 light bluiftb and cinereous colour, the other where it is of a more smoky 

 brown and bluish ash. This does not seem to depend on sex ; for one of 

 these examples (Zebu 3C2) is marked ^ , while I possess a Luzon example 

 exactly similar, which Dr Meyer determined to be n $ . The other Zebu 

 example (No. 370) is marked ? , and is in the paler bluish-grey attire." 

 I feel satisfied, afier examining the specimens in the British Museum and 

 in my own collection, that the difference in coloration is one due to age^ 

 for in young birds, the plumage is lighter than in the atiiilt state. Dr. 

 Meyer's observation that the dark mantle reaches, in Timor-laut skins 

 only, j list to the root of the tail, while in A. hmoyaitfer it overlaps by 

 alx>ut a centimetre, iSf in as far oa the series referrtxi to enables an opinion 

 to be formed, one not sufficiently constant to support specific separation. 

 In several Tunor-Iaut sjiecimeDS examined, the dark plumage overlaps tho 

 tail more than 1 centimetre, and even more than in others from different 

 pe^s of Uie Arch iiTel ago which have been hitherto recognised as A. 

 leuoogaeier. In skins of A, iettroi/asier from Mysot and MacasKir, the 

 mantle is just conterminous with the root of the hiil. Really, however, 

 the absolute constancy of these measurements can be determineti only with 

 occtiracy in the flesh, for the way in which the skin is inaiiipidatcd wUl 

 increase or diminish them by several centimetres. The same holds with 

 regard to another character given as differential — the greater amount, in 

 Timor-laut specimens, of white on the mmp and upper tailHSoverts. In 

 my own specimens the white on the rump varie"* from 22-31 millim. 

 in length, while in eight otiier skins from different regions of the 

 Archipelago the range is from 20-3'2 millim., giving in the latter indeed 

 a wider zone tlian in those frcini Timor-laut In the long series of 

 British Museim:! skins, the white tijKi of <iU hit the turn middle taiJ-fmthcr$, 

 another of Dr. Meyer's differential characters^ is «iuite inconstant. In 

 several Timor-laut skins not only these two tail feathers, but several 

 others of the remiges, are without a white band, while in some examples 

 it is even less than in undispvitcd A. leu^ogmter. In f/'yunr/ birds the white 

 tips are very pronounced, not on the remiges only, but on the primaries 

 and (secondaries of the wing aliso. The Philippine (Zubu) birds, already 



