Siphia enganensis Ogilvie-Grant

LeCroy, M., 2008, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History. Part 7. Passeriformes: Sylviidae, Muscicapidae, Platysteiridae, Maluridae, Acanthizidae, Monarchidae, Rhipiduridae, And Petroicidae, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 313 (1), pp. 1-287 : 94-95

Siphia enganensis Ogilvie-Grant

Siphia enganensis Ogilvie-Grant, 1895c: 2 (Cape Engano, Luzon).

Now Cyornis herioti herioti Wardlaw Ramsay, 1886 . See Dickinson et al. 1991: 352.

SYNTYPES: AMNH 450782 , adult male, collected on ‘‘ North Luzon’ ’, 18 April 1895 ; AMNH 450783 , adult male, 29 April 1895 ; AMNH 450784 , immature male, 9 May 1895 ; and AMNH 450785 , adult female, 18 April 1895, all collected at Cape Engaño, 18.35N, 122.08E ( Dickinson et al., 1991: 419), Luzon Island , Philippines, by John Whitehead (nos. A 238, A 319, A 392, and A 241, respectively). From the Rothschild Collection .

COMMENTS: In the original description, both male and female were described but no type was designated. Ogilvie-Grant (1896: 112–113), in his more complete report on Whitehead’s Cape Engaño collection, again did not mention the number of specimens collected, and Whitehead (1899: 111) said that he obtained this form only at Cape Engaño and that it was ‘‘decidedly rare’’.

Ogilvie-Grant apparently had the entire collection in hand when this species was described ( Whitehead, 1899: 85). Ultimately, not all of the specimens remained at BMNH. Correspondence between Rothschild and Whitehead (Archives, BMNH) shows that Whitehead attempted to support his various expeditions by the sale of his specimens. He received sponsorship from patrons through BMNH, and presumably the specimens purchased by them are the ones that stayed at BMNH, where there is a male syntype of this taxon ( Warren and Harrison, 1971: 171). Other Whitehead specimens were bought by Rothschild from Whitehead directly or through the dealer Jenson (Archives, BMNH), as well as from Whitehead’s family after his death. AMNH 450782 is the only specimen previously included in the AMNH types; Hartert (1920) did not list it, and it bears only an AMNH type label. The original label is of stiff paper, about 1 by 3 inches in size, marked ‘‘F’’, ‘‘20/–’’, ‘‘Cotype’’, and ‘‘A 238’’, with the ‘‘F’’ perhaps referring to a consignment sent to Rothschild for his consideration, the price apparently being 20 shillings.

AMNH 450783–450785 bear the more usual small J. Whitehead printed label, written by him. On the reverse of the specimen now numbered AMNH 450785, ‘‘Type of ♀ ’’ is written and initialed by Whitehead. It was apparently the only female specimen. Only the female syntype at AMNH and the male syntype at BMNH were listed by Dickinson et al. (1991: 352).

Watson et al. (1986b: 361) included herioti in the genus Niltava .