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ON EENICOPBAFS FOERSTERI. 

 By Dr ERNST HARTERT. 



(Plate I.). 



Hcnkophujis fnerxleri Rothschild & Hartert, Bull. B.O. Cluli xix. p. 28 (December 1906 — Massawa, 



New Britain). 

 Rnnwariltoenas hleiji W. Meyer, Om. Monnlxber. 1909. p. 36 (Torin and Katabair, New Britain). 



'T^HIS beautiful pigeon, with its brilliantly shining metallic green upper wing- 

 -*- coverts and inner secondaries, was first described, in December 1906, from a 

 skin obtained by the late G. Wahnes at Massawa, New Britain. 



In 1909 it was again described by Dr. Meyer from skins from the same island. 

 The good description also supplies the coloration of the bare parts : " Iris dark brown, 

 bill blackish brown, feet cherry-red." Dr. Meyer also tells us that the native name 

 is " a munmunqiir," and that these birds keep to the ground and the branches of 

 lower trees and bushes, the fruits of which form their food. 



Besides the type in the Tring Museum I have seen another skin in the Munich 

 Museum from Weberhafen, between Kambaira and the Baining Mountains, on the 

 north coast of the Gazelle Peninsula. Tliis specimen was presented to the Munich 

 Museum by the Governor of German New Guinea, Dr. Hahl. 



The wing of the type specimen measures 195, the culmen 30'5, tail 140, meta- 

 tarsus 115 mm. The coloration is faithfully depicted on our plate. 



It is strange that such a large and showy bird has remained unknown so long, 

 since a good deal of collecting has been done on New Britain, and especially on the 

 Gazelle Peninsula. 



