38 KOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXII. 1915. 



THE BIEDS OF VULCAN ISLAND. 



By the Hon. WALTER ROTHSCHILD, F.R.S., Pn.D., and ERNST HARTERT, Pn.D. 



VULCAN Island, or MauarDudar, is an immense cone with an active volcano, 

 covered with the richest and most beantiful vegetation, and rising to above 

 1300 m. It is not more than about 12 km. from the nearest point of New Guinea, 

 and about 15 by 8 km. in size. No collections have, to our knowledge, been made 

 on this island, but Meek's party has brought together, in December 1013 and 

 January 1914, a very fine lot of birds. 



With regard to the character of the oruis of Vnlcan Island, almost the same 

 may be said as what we have said about Dampier or Krakar : it is mainly that of 

 the opposite coast of New Guinea, but even here we tind a trace of the insular fauna 

 of the Bismarck Archipelago, in Carpophaga rhodinnlaema \ and Macro)>>/qia 

 amboinensi.'s meeki, Tnni/siptera hydrocharis vulcani, and Monarcha chah/beo- 

 cepkalus manumudari are new forms, the latter deserving special attention, 

 as on Dampier Island, which is farther away from the mainland of Papua, the 

 wide-sjiread M. chalybeocephalus chah/beocephalas is found. 



1. Tringa hypoleuca L. 



Cf. antea, p. 26. 



c? ? , Vulcan Island, 3. i. 1914. (Nos. 6.501, 0502.) 



2. Tringa (Heteractitis) incana brevipes (Vieill.) 



Tolaims hreripe^ Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. iVHist. Nat. vi. p. 410 (1816— terra typica Timor, cf. 

 Pucheran, Rev. and .Mag. Zool. 1851, p. 370). 



t? ad., Vulcan Island, 24. xii. 1913. (No. 6484.) 



3. Numenius phaeopus variegatus (Scop.). 



Tantalus variegatus Scopoli, Del. Flor. et Faun. Insubr. ii. p. 92 (178G — Luzon). 

 d ad.. Vulcan Island, 3. i. 1014. (No. 6503.) 



4. Megapodius duperreyi duperreyi Less. & Gam. 



Antea, p. 27. 



5 c?c? (Nos. 6292, 6343, 6387, 6479, 6491); 3 ? ? (Nos. 6388, 6446, 6462), 

 Vulcan Island, November and December 1913. 



An egg of female No. 6388 is perfectly glossless and pale buff-pink (like 

 No. 20, pi. IV. of Ridgway's Xomencl. Col. 1886). It measures 82-2 x 46-5 mm. 



5. Chalcophaps chrysoclilora chrysochlora (Wagl.). 



Culumha i-Itrijsoehlora Wagler, Si/st. Ar., Cohiinha, sp. 79 (1827— " Ceylon, Java, Sumatra et 

 China," errore ! Substituted locality ; -Australia, because the description refers solely to the 

 Australian form. Cf. Hartert, Nor. Zool. 1904, p. 183). 



8 c?c?, 3 ? ? , Vulcan Island, November and December 1913. (Nos. 6269, 6302, 

 6307, 6313, 6314, 6354, 6371, 6377, 6396, 6417, 6432.) 



