Nomenclatural and taxonomic status of bird taxa (Aves) described by an ornithological swindler, Josef Prokop Pražák (1870 – 1904) Author Mlíkovský, Jiří text Zootaxa 2011 3005 45 68 journal article 46961 10.5281/zenodo.202788 37c1b93e-9c92-45e1-a140-5fe4810c5b16 1175-5326 202788 Parus caeruleus obscurus Pražák [ Parus caeruleus ] obscurus Pražák, 1894f : 246 . NOW. Parus caeruleus obscurus Pražák, 1894 . See Hartert (1905 : 348, 1907b: 213), Vaurie (1959: 502) , Snow (1967: 114) , Dickinson (2003: 525) and Dudley et al . (2006 : 555). Syntype . NHMW 10662, collector unknown, collected on 2 July 1887 at Avington, England . Obtained from R. B. Sharpe in 1891. Syntype . NHMW 10663, 3, collector and date unknown [= prior to 1892] at Avington, England . Obtained from R. B. Sharpe in 1891. Remarks. Pražák (1894f: 246) stated that he studied “eine Reihe englischer Exemplare” (“a series of English specimens”), without designating the holotype . Only two relevant specimens were available to Pražák prior to 1895, which thus represent the syntypes of P. c. obscurus . All other specimens may have existed only in Pražák’s mind. Pražák (1894f: 246) did not specify the type locality of P. c. obscurus , but both syntypes were collected at Avington, England . R. Prÿs-Jones (in litt. 2010) observed that here are two villages of this name in England , one in Berkshire [ 51.40°N , 01.47°W ] and the other in Hampshire [ 51.09°N , 01.24°W ]. The Hampshire Avington was the seat of the English ornithologist George Ernest Shelley (1840–1910) and the place where Shelley and R. B. Sharpe collected many birds during 1871–1886 ( Sharpe 1906 : 477; R. Prÿs-Jones, in litt. 2010). I agree with Prÿs-Jones (in litt. 2010) that it is thus “quite certain that the specimens came from Avington, Hampshire”. I thus restrict the type locality to the latter place. Clancey (1948: 108) erroneously believed that Pražák’s types did not survive and restricted the type locality to the “Lake District, England ” (see also Vaurie 1959 : 502; Snow 1967 : 114), which is an invalid action (Art. 76 of the Code).