OCR Text |
Show 920 MR. SHARPE ON SCHffiNICOLA AND CATRISCUS. [Nov. 29, as it was purchased by the Museum from Mr. Cuming, who received it doubtless from one of his correspondents, perhaps Mr. Thwaites or Mr. Layard. Anyhow, I have no doubt that the bird occurs in Ceylon, and has escaped observation there, just as it did for so long in India. In the ninth volume of ' Stray Feathers ' several notices of this bird are published. At p. 209 Mr. W . Edwin Brooks, who has made the Warblers of India his especial study, gives a minute account of the generic features of Schcenicola, based on the Travancore specimen procured by Mr. Bourdillon (Mus. A. 0. Hume) ; and at p. 211, Mr. H u m e gives an editorial note, with additional information from Mr. Bourdillon, recording the capture of three more specimens. Two of these have since passed into the collection of the British Museum, and are marked by the collector as " breeding," a statement on which Capt. Butler afterwards comments. At p. 234, Mr. Hume records the capture of a specimen by Captain Butler at Belgaum, and suggests the possibility of Schaznicola being identical with the African genus Catriscus. Lastly, at p. 260 of the same volume of ' Stray Feathers,' Mr. H u m e gives an excellent resume of the history of Schcenicola platyura as far as known, and Capt. Butler adds some most interesting notes on the nesting of the species at Belgaum. In the space of two years, therefore, this interesting bird has been rescued from the oblivion into which it had fallen, and we now know a good deal about its habits and general economy. It is with the object of answering Mr. Hume's question as to the possibility of the Indian bird being identical with the African Catriscus apicalis, that I write these few lines. A perception of affinities has been one of Mr. Hume's most noticeable qualities as an ornithologist; and his association of Schcenicola with Catriscus turns out to be perfectly correct; but the Indian species is not exactly the same as the African one. The following I believe to be the literary history of the genus, with its two species:- SCHCENICOLA. m Type. Schcenicola, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xiii. p. 374 (1844, nee Bp. 1850) S. platyura. Catriscus, Cab. Mus. Hein. Th. i. p. 43 (1850) .. S. apicalis. Clavis specierum. a. Saturate rufescenti-brunneus, regione parotica pileo concolori; hypochondriis saturate rufescenti-brunneis ; subcaudalibus ful-vescentibus vel rufescenti-brunneis platyura b. Pallide rufescenti-brunneus, regione parotica pallide brunnea • hypochondriis fulvescentibus; subcaudalibus nigricantibus pallide marginatis apicalis. 1. SCHCENICOLA PLATYURA. Timalia platyura, Jerdon, Madr. Journ. xiii. p. 170 (1844) • Grav Hand-1. B. i. p. 315, no. 4706. '' Schcenicola platyura, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xiii. p. 374 (1844) Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 73 (1863); Hume, Str. F. 1878, vol. vii. p. 37- id. Str. F. 1879, p. 97; Brooks, Str. F. 1880, p. 209 ; Hume, t. cit! |