Erithacus rubecula melophilus Hartert, 1901

Mary, Croy, History, Bulletin Of The American Museum Of Natural, At, Central Park West, Street, Th, York, New & Ny, 2005, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History. Part 6. Passeriformes: Prunellidae, Turdidae, Orthonychidae, Timaliidae, Paradoxornithidae, Picathartidae, And Polioptilidae, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2005 (292), pp. 1-132 : 11

[ Erithacus rubecula melophilus Hartert ]

This subspecies was named by Hartert (1901c: 317) from the British Isles, but no type was designated. Later, Hartert (1920: 474) designated as lectotype a specimen from Barnet, near London, collected on 14 December 1896 by W. Burton. This specimen came to AMNH with the Rothschild Collection and was cataloged as AMNH 450912. On 21 September 1936 it was presented to BMNH where it is now BMNH Reg. no. 1936.10.15.8 ( Warren and Harrison, 1971: 346). Now Erithacus rubecula melophilus Hartert, 1901 ( Cramp, 1988: 596) .

Erithacus rubecula witherbyi Hartert

Erithacus rubecula witherbyi Hartert, 1910a: 753 (Hamman R’Hira, Nordalgerien) .

Now Erithacus rubecula witherbyi Hartert, 1910 . See Vaurie, 1959: 375, and Cramp, 1988: 596– 597.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 579387 , adult male, collected at Hamman R’Hira , northern Algeria, on 27 April 1904, by Harry Forbes Witherby (no. 100). From the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: In the original description, Hartert cited Witherby’s field number of the holotype and stated that he had four male and two female specimens. Of these, only one paratype came to AMNH with the Rothschild Collection: AMNH 579392, female, from Camp de la Sante´, Tunisia.

Molecular studies of Erithacus rubecula are reported by Wink et al. (2002a, 2002b). The genus Erithacus is treated by Sibley and Monroe (1990: 532) in the tribe Saxicolini , subfamily Muscicapinae ; Dickinson (2003: 675) placed it in the subfamily Saxicolinae , family Muscicapidae .

Hammam­Rirha (5 Hamman R’Hira) is 11 mi northeast of Miliana ( Seltzer, 1962: 752), 368209N, 028159E (Times Atlas), northcentral Algeria.