THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
in Sept., 1913, another small party was seen at exactly the same place, and 
appeared to be breeding there. It was within two hundred yards of the 
beach.” 
Whitlock has recorded : “ Breeding on the lower de Grey, and more 
commonly in the mangroves at Condon. . . The usual situation for the 
nest was in the topmost fork of the highest mangrove in the immediate 
neighbourhood. They were easily located, as the male was generally 
perched near at hand, and on my approach he gave vent to a harsh alarm 
note, to which the female usually responded and slipped off her nest.” 
In Rowley’s Ornithological Miscellany, Sharpe gave a “ Note on the 
genus Artemius and its Geographical Distribution,” observing “ there are 
several points in regard to the Australian Artami to vdiich I particularly 
invite the attention of Mr. Ramsay and other workers at the antipodes.” 
He there used the name Artamus leucogaster of Valenciennes for the species 
previously known as A. leucorhynchus on the grounds that the description 
given by Brisson of the Philippine Island bird was not sufficiently clear. 
He admitted a large range from India to the Philippine Islands and to 
Australia concluding “ 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 then 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 Menado respectively have it 5'25. Some 
individuals from N.W. Australia (A. leucopygialis, Gould) measure only 
4*95 inches in the wings ; but there is no corresponding difference in plumage.” 
In view of this account, confirming Gould’s already quoted, it is very 
strange to find twenty years afterwards the following note by Hartert : 
“ Artamus leucorhynchus parvirostris subsp. nov. Notwithstanding the 
various statements, by ornithological authorities, that the Australian 
specimens of Artamus leucorhynchus could not be distinguished from those 
of other countries, I noticed at once that they had strikingly small bills, 
and upon comparing them with our large series from many localities I found 
that the Australian specimens were exceedingly much alike, and that the 
exposed part of their culinen was generally 15 to 16 mm., and never 
exceeded 17 mm., while it was 18 to 22 mm. in specimens from other 
localities. The difference, though numerically slight, is striking in the 
specimens. Those from Celebes and the Sunda Islands have the largest 
222 
