Chlamydodera jefferyi. Stoparola cerviniventris. Dicæum monticola. Calyptomena whiteheadi. We thus deduct 14 genera and 21 species which do not reach beyond the 4000-feet zone, leaving 47 genera and 51 species. In the next zone (4000-8000 feet) the following genera reach their maximum altitude and disappear : Those genera marked with a dagger (†) are peculiar to this ude on the mountain. The following species disappear below 8000 feet:— 1. Cissa jefferyi. 2. Chibia borneensis. 3. Artamides normani. 4. Chlamydochæra jefferyi. 5. Muscicapula hyperythra. 8. Abrornis schwaneri. 11. Hemixus connectens. 18. Stachyris borneensis. 22. Hyloterpe hypoxantha. 23. Æthopyga temmincki. 24. Arachnothera julie. +25. Zosterops clara. 26. Dicæum monticola. 27. Calyptomena whiteheadi. 28. Pitta schwaneri. +33. Carpophaga badia. Those species marked with a dagger (†) appear to be peculiar to the zone of 4000-8000 feet. The species which make their first appearance in this zone are:-Muscicapula hyperythra, M.westermanni, Tarsiger hodgsoni, Rhipidura albicollis, Cryptolopha trivirgata, C. montis, Horornis oreophila, Oreoctistes leucops, Chlorocharis emiliæ, Brachypteryx erythrogyna, Orthnocichla whiteheadi, Garrulax schistochlamys, Allocotops calvus, Androphilus accentor, Cory thocichla crassa, Turdinulus exsul, Pteruthius æralatus, Zosterops clara, Pitta schwaneri, Harpactes whiteheadi, Cyanops pulcherrima, Hierococcyx bocki, Cuculus poliocephalus, and Carpophaga badia. The highest zone, above the 8000-feet level, contains very few characteristic genera and species, viz. only Heteroscops lucia, Pericrocotus montanus, and Merula seebohmi. The table which I have drawn out shows so clearly the relationships of the various genera and species found on Kina Balu that I need take up no more space to compare the avifauna of this interesting mountain with the mountains of surrounding countries. It is evident that the peculiar species of Kina Balu are many, that several inhabitants of that mountain are allied to forms inhabiting the high lands of Sumatra and Java, and therefore those of the Malayan chain, Mooleyit, and the Eastern Himalayas. In drawing up this summary I have derived the greatest assistance from Count Salvadori's works and memoirs on Borneo and Sumatra, and from Mr. Hume's able résumé of the avifauna of Tenasserim (Stray Feathers, vol. vi.). I also desire to record my acknowledgments to a most useful paper by Dr. Vorderman entitled "Les Oiseaux de Sumatra et leur présence dans les îles avoisinantes" (Nat. Tijdschr. Nederl. Ind. xlix. Afl. 4, pp. 381-442). In conclusion I once more offer my congratulations to Mr. John Whitehead on the success of an expedition planned and executed with so much determination in the face of so many obstacles and dangers, while his father, Mr. Jeffery Whitehead, who provided the "sinews of war," must feel proud that his son has carried out one of the most important, as well as one of the most successful scientific expeditions of modern times-one, too, from which the gain resulting to our ornithological knowledge has not yet been thoroughly gauged. XXVI.-On Photodilus badius, with Remarks on its Systematic Position. By FRANK E. BEDDARD, M.A., F.R.S.E., F.Z.S., Prosector to the Zoological Society of London. THE close association of Photodilus and Strix, which until recently was very generally held by ornithologists, is probably largely due to Nitzsch's researches into their pterylography. So very similarly were these Owls found to be organized in this particular that Nitzsch declined even to separate them generically; they were accordingly referred by him to his genus Hybris. Before Nitzsch, however, Photodilus had been judged, on the evidence afforded by its external characters, to be closely allied to Strix. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS (Pterylosis, Oil-gland, &c.). The pterylosis of Photodilus has been described by Nitzsch, who, as already mentioned, was influenced by the arrangement of the feather-tracts to associate Photodilus and Strix together. I am not quite clear whether Nitzsch really describes the pterylosis of Photodilus, or whether his remarks under Hybris are only meant to refer to the Barn Owl; that the latter supposition is true appears to be the opinion of Professor Newton. On the other hand, I do not find any distinct statement that the account of the pterylosis of Hybris is meant to refer only to the genus Strix as we now understand it; if that were so, then Nitzsch's grounds for uniting Strix and Photodilus would be rather slender. The pterylosis of Hybris is stated by Nitzsch to be remarkable for the fact that the two branches of each pectoral tract join again behind the sternum; this was not at all clearly the case in my specimen of Photodilus, but until I have had an opportunity of examining Strix I reserve my further remarks upon the value of pterylosis in the classification of the Owls. The oil-gland of Hybris is said by Nitzsch to have two minute feathers upon the apex, which cannot be accidental, as they were constantly found. Nitzsch does not say par *Pterylography, Engl. ed. p. 70. ticularly whether he found these feathers in Photodilus; I did not myself succeed in finding them, though I made a careful search. This is a point of difference worth noting between the two genera, and it will be observed that in this respect Photodilus differs from Strix and agrees with other Owls. The rectrices are 12, the remiges 21 in number. Mr. Sharpe has observed another character which distinguishes Photodilus from Strix *, and allies it with the Bubonine Owls (Syrnium, &c.); and I can quite confirm his statement, from an examination of my specimen, that the serration of the middle toe, which is to be found in Strix, is absent in Photodilus. The claw is, however, produced laterally into a knife-edge, as in other Owls. External characters are therefore rather against the close association of Photodilus and Strix. Nevertheless, Dr. Coues, in his work on North-American Birds †, still retains the older view; he associates together Photodilus and Strix (called Aluco), mainly on account of external characters (not pterylosis), but also on account of the anchylosis of the furcula with the sternum ‡. He particularly mentions that in both genera "the inner edge of middle claw is serrate or jagged, simulating the pectination seen in Caprimulgidæ, to which birds these Owls are curiously related through Steatornis." In the paper just mentioned above, Mr. Sharpe pointed out that Heliodilus and not Photodilus is the genus which in this particular is akin to Strix. I have examined an example of Strix in which the jagged edge of the toe in question was very inconspicuous, and the question arises whether it does not occasionally disappear altogether. OSTEOLOGY. Skull. The skull (fig. 1, p. 295) is less completely Bubonine than I had at first thought it. • A note on Heliodilus soumagnii, Grandidier, P. Z. S. 1879, p. 175. Key to North-American Birds,' 2nd ed. 1884, p. 500. There is not really this anchylosis; but an appearance of such is caused by the strong ligaments, which tie down the ends of the two (separate) clavicles to the anterior end of the carina sterni. |