Letters, Announcements, fyc. 
135 
Artamus. If we turn to the two original descriptions, we 
certainly find a discrepancy. For the dark-colonred part of 
his species Brisson uses the word blackish [nigricante), 
whereas Sonnerat describes those portions of the plumage as 
being black ( noir ). Gmelin (l. c.) correctly adopts these di¬ 
stinctions in his description of L. leucorhynchus and of L. do- 
minicanus. If we refer to the plates, the shading of Brisson’s 
figure may be said to be consistent with his description; 
SonneraFs plate represents the dark plumage as being inky 
black. The bird depicted by D'Aubenton (PL Enl. 9. f. 1) 
also has the dark parts of the plumage coloured jet-black. 
A comparison of dates renders it impossible that D'Aubenton 
could have figured from SonneraFs specimen; and the pre¬ 
sumption is strongly in favour of his having had Brisson^s 
type before him; and the title affixed by him, Pie-grieche de 
Manille, is the one first employed by Brisson. Buffon cites 
the plate as representing his Langraien; and, as already stated, 
Sonnerat relates that his Philippine example belonged to the 
species mentioned by Buffon. 
If these discrepancies had been relied on by the older 
authors (not Gmelin, for he was merely an indiscriminating 
compiler) as differentiating two Luzon species of Artamus, 
I would hesitate before asserting that they had described from 
examples of the same species. But Dr. Finsch in no way 
relies on these discrepancies. Dr. Finsch takes his stand on 
Lanius manillensis, Briss. (=L. leucorhynchus, L.), described 
as being blackish, and unites the jet-black bird of Sonnerat, 
L. philippensis, Scop. [~L. dominicanus, Gm.), with it, and 
refers the Pelew bird to them. If there are two species of 
Artamus in the Philippines, one very dark-coloured, the Pelew 
bird, the other lighter-coloured, the species of the Sunda 
Islands, the first must be SonneraFs [L. dominicanus, Gm.), 
the other Brisson* s (L. leucorhynchus, L.). But Dr. Finsch 
also unites with the Pelew bird Ocypterus leucorhynchus, 
Ternm., apud Kittlitz, “von den Sunda-Inseln/* although 
Kittlitz states (Kupfert. p. 29) he saw the same (that is, the 
Sunda-Islands bird) in Luzon. The figure given by Kittlitz ( op . 
cit. t. xxx. f. 1) certainly represents the light-coloured known 
Philippine species—that is, the Artamus of the Sunda Islands. 
