OCR Text |
Show 1886.] THE HUME COLLECTION. 69 forming a very handsome ornamentation (82. 3. 9. 5, Junkceyloii). This race represents >S. concolor, Bly.1 These three forms are all without any marked seasonal change of colour ; but in the next race, which is the original stock living in N. Tenasserim, an entirely different sort of ornamentation has been set up in the form of the assumption, during the rutting-season only, of a brilliant orange-yellow back, the sides and belly still remaining dull grey (S. caniceps typicus, 85. 8. 1. 178). Further to complicate matters, the north-western yellow-bellied race (S. caniceps pygerythrus) has again spread southwards and overlapped the range of S. caniceps typicus, which, being now provided with a highly specialized seasonal change of colour, has driven it to adopt a still further development of its own form of ornamentation, namely, the production of a dark brown stripe between the upper grey and the lower yellow, which shows up the latter in the most brilliant manner possible (S. phayrei, 85. 8. 1. 1/5, Thatone). The original grey S. caniceps has thus, except in the unorna-mented summer race of var. typicus, become entirely extinct, and has been replaced by its variously decorated offshoots. With regard to nomenclature I think it is impossible to express the present state of things in a binomial manner, but by using the following trinomials we may perhaps approach more closely to the truth :- S. CANICEPS PYGERYTHRUS3, Geof. (S. blanfordi1, Bly.) No seasonal change ; belly yellow. Burma and Pegu. S. CANICEPS PHAYRII, Bly. No seasonal change ; belly rich orange, with brown lateral stripes. Pegu and N. Tenasserim. S. CANICEPS GRISEIMANUS, M.-Edw. (S. inornatus, Gr., S. leucopus, Gr.) No seasonal change. Belly pale yellow. Feet white. Black tail-tip nearly obsolete. Cambodja &c. 1 J. A. S. B. (xxiv. p. 474, 1855), apud Blanford (J. A. S. B. xlvii. p. 1878), who in describing the present series of Bankasun specimens belonging to this form says, "These dark olivaceous forms may perhaps be sufficiently distinct to constitute a local race for which Blyth's name S. concolor may be retained, but they are not, I think, really separable from S. caniceps." Anderson, on the other hand, places S. concolor as a synonym of S. modesties, without any remark ; but pending a renewed examination of the type, I prefer to take Mr. Blanford's authority, as this course enables me to avoid giving the southern race a new name. 2 The full references to all these names will be found in Dr. Anderson's ' Monograph,' pp. 227-253. |