THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Vigors and Horsfield only had one imperfect specimen for examination 
and they recognised it as Vieillot’s genus and species. 
Gould in his folio work, following G. R. Gray, admitted Oppel’s description 
and also the invalidity of Oppel’s generic name and therefore called the bird 
by Vieillot’s generic name and Oppel’s specific name, viz., Grallina australis. 
Almost immediately afterward, G. R. Gray examined the Lambert drawings 
and at once identified the one upon which Corvus cyanoleucus was based as 
being of this bird, and proposed the correct usage of Grallina cyanoleuca as 
the best name. With the strange perversity of the scientific mind still so 
obvious in ornithology at the present time, Strickland was not content to 
let well alone but determined the species also as Gracula picata and then wrote : 
“ As this bird was very accurately described by Latham in his second 4 Supple- 
ment ’ under the name of Gracula picata ; and as the name picata is more 
correctly descriptive than cyanoleuca , which he had previously applied to it, 
I should prefer making the permanent designation of the bird Grallina picata, 
rather than G. cyanoleuca .” It will be noted that Strickland acted here 
absolutely contrary to his own recommendations. Gould was influenced 
by Strickland’s conclusions and used the incorrect name, which usage was 
perpetuated, through ignorance, by Sharpe in the Catalogue of Birds in the 
British Museum and persisted until I rectified it. I have stated that Sharpe 
through ignorance used the name and I now give proof. 
When Sharpe reported upon the “ Watling ” drawings he really only 
used his own work for reference, practically never referring to Gould where 
so many of the points had been recorded from the Gray and Strickland examin- 
ation of the Lambert drawings. Thus he wrote : 
“No. 61. Blue-and-white Crow. Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. II., p. 117. 
Corvus cyanoleucus Lath. Ind. Om. Suppl., p. xxv. 
Grallina picata (Lath.). Sharpe, Cat. B. III., p. 272 (1877).” 
Latham does not seem to have recognised these drawings as representing 
his “ Pied Grakle ” (Gen. Syn. Suppl. II., p. 130), since he gave a new name. 
The synonymy in the Catalogue of Birds is not complete, as I have omitted 
these references of Latham’s. 
Watling’s note is : “ One half the natural size. Native name Mur-re-gan .” 
No. 62. Blue-and-white Crow Lath. 
Watling gives the following note : “ Natural size. April. Native name 
Karrook, a rare bird.” 
The latter agrees with Latham’s account best, but Sharpe did not notice 
that, nor did he observe the priority of Corvus cyanoleucus over Gracula picata , 
or he would immediately have proposed the alteration as he did in the other 
instances he noted. 
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