Psilorhinus albicapillus Blyth, 1846 : 28

Steinheimer, Frank D., 2009, The type specimens of Corvidae (Aves) in the Museum für Naturkunde at the Humboldt-University of Berlin, with the description of a new subspecies of Dendrocitta vagabunda, Zootaxa 2149 (1), pp. 1-49 : 15

Psilorhinus albicapillus Blyth, 1846: 28

TL: North-west Himalaya.

Now Urocissa erythrorhyncha occipitalis ( Blyth, 1846) . See Blyth 1852: 93, Jerdon 1863: 309, Sharpe 1877: 70, Dickinson et al. 2004b: 116.

HOLOTYPE: ZMB 2002.596. [Juvenile]. Loc.: [not given; acquired in Calcutta; Blyth 1846: 28 cited North-west Himalaya as collecting locality]. Date: [not given = acquisition date is December 1845]. Coll. Behn / Galathea . [S, Mus & Galathea labels].

COMMENTS: Wilhelm Friedrich Georg Behn (see Crypsirhina pallida Blyth, 1846 , for further details) wrote on the Galathea label that the specimen had [my translation] “been bought in Calcutta for the Kiel Museum” and that the species identification is [my translation] “ Psilorhinus albicapillus Bl. named from this specimen.” The Galathea -Expedition called in India during its circumnavigation in 1845–1846. Blyth (1852: 93) subsequently put his own name in synonymy of Psilorhinus occipitalis Blyth, 1846 , of which Psilorhinus albicapillus Blyth, 1846 , was thought to be the young. Comparisons of this specimen with other specimens in the ZMB collection show the light greyish cheeks and mantle typical of juvenile birds. Sharpe (1877) also synonymized albicapillus Blyth, 1846 , with Urocissa erythrorhyncha occipitalis ( Blyth, 1846) . Blyth (1846) referred to Behn’s specimen as follows: “the young of Psilorhinus albicapillus , [was] obtained in a small collection from that part [North-west Himalaya], purchased in Calcutta by Prof. Behn, of Kiel University, who first called my attention to [its] distinctness […].” It remains uncertain from whom Behn bought the birds in Calcutta. Blyth (1852: 93) referred to an adult bird of this taxon which he had obtained for his own collection in 1843 from Robert W. G. Frith, but whether Behn acquired his collection of Indian birds from the same source is speculation. Dickinson et al. (2004b: 116) erroneously assumed (as did I when reviewing their manuscript) that the holotype of Psilorhinus albicapillus Blyth, 1846 , might be found in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India at Calcutta.