The identity of Artamus Cinereus Vieillot (Aves, Artamidae)

Artamus cinereus was described and named by Vieillot in 1817, and for a century that name was universally used for the Australian Black-faced Wood Swallow. Hellmayr (1916) discovered that in the original description the typelocality was given not as Australia, but as Timor. Hellmayr stated that he and Menegaux had vainly searched for Vieillot's type in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, but concluded that, notwithstanding certain discrepancies in the description, the name Artamus cinereus applies to a form from Timor that is closely related to the Australian bird and has been regarded as conspecific with it by most authors since Hellmayr. As a consequence, in subsequent literature, the bird from Timor, which for sixty-six years had been universally known as Artamus perspicillatus Bonaparte, 1850, changed name to Artamus cinereus cinereus Vieillot and the subspecies inhabiting the greater part of Australia received the next oldest name and is now known as Artamus cinereus melanops Gould. Apparently Hellmayr (1916) was not aware that many of Vieillot's descriptions are not based on material personally examined but have been copied, with sligth modifications, from Temminck (1807), though this had been pointed out as early as 1849 by Hartlaub. Stresemann (1953) in his clever analysis of Temminck's (1807) Catalogue has convincingly shown that in the case of Artamus cinereus: "Vieillot's Diagnose .... basiert, wie in vielen andern Fällen, ganz und gar auf Temmincks Beschreibung. Nur die Heimat hat Vieillot nach Maugé hinzugefügt". This explains why Hellmayr was unable to find the type specimen of Artamus cinereus Vieillot in the Paris Museum, and throws an entirely new