56 NOVITATBS ZOOLOQICAB XXII. 1915. 



to do. It is a much larger bird and has a softer plnmage ; the sides can hardly be 

 called " barred " with black, bnt with black rather longitndinal markings than 

 cross-bars. 



In Sh&rpe's Handlist this species has been leftont. 



2. Lonchura castaneothorax nigriceps (Rams.). 



[Amatllna casUineoihorax Gould, St/nops. B. Austral, pt. ii. pi. 21. and text, 1837 — " Australia."] 

 DoiiamUi nigriceps Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Snc. N. S. Wales i. p. 393 (1876 — near Port Moresby, New 

 Guinea). 



(We have come to the conclusion that " M. nigriceps " and " M. sharpei" are 

 best treated as subspecies of castaneothorax. The differences in colonr are not 

 very essential, bnt generally the crown is strikingly different. While the feathers 

 of the crown in castaneothorax are brown with wide brownish grey edges, they are 

 brownish black with narrower and smaller brownish grey tips in nigriceps, still 

 paler brown than those of castaneothorax, and with pale brownish grey borders all 

 round in sharpei, where they are often so wide that the crown appears to be 

 whitish grey altogether. The colonr of the rump and upper tail-coverts varies ; 

 although it is, as a rule, very diiferent in the three forms, one can, sometimes, hardly 

 find any difference.) 



(The name Lonchura for this genus had been rejected on account of a prior 

 Lonchurus, and Munia was generally accepted instead. Modern nomenclators will 

 use Lonchura again, as has been done by Mathews, who separated also three new 

 subspecies in various parts of Australia, which we cannot discuss for want of 

 material, and without knowing on what material they were based, as the author 

 does not enlighten us on that point.) 



We have of Lonckm-a castaneothorax nigriceps the following specimens : 



3 ad., inland of Holnicote Bay, British New Guinea, llohu coll. 



6 ad., without exact locality, British New Guinea. Purchased in London. 



cJ ad., Milne Bay, 24. x. 1898. No. 2105, A. S. Meek coll. 



3 c?d', 2 ? ? ad., Aroa River, January and February 1905. Nos. B 193, 194, 212, 

 213, 214, A. S. Meek coll. 



4 <?(? ad., 2 ? ? ad., 1 jnv., Kumusi River, British New Guinea, July and 

 August 1907. Nos. 3337, 3350, 3371, 3386, 3445, 3446, 3447, A. S. Meek coll. 



3. Lonchura castaneothorax sharpii (Mad.). 



Doiiacicola sharpii JIadardsz, Bull. B.O. Club, iii. p. xlvii. (1894 — " Finisterre" Mountains, German 

 New Guinea) ; Aquila i. pi. i. 



? ad., Astralobe Bay, German New Guinea. Kunzmann coll. (exchanged from 

 Berlin Museum). 



(S ? ad,, Stephansort and Friedrich-Wilhelms-Hafen, October and December 

 1898. E. Nyman coll. 



5 c?(?, 5 ? ?, Vulcan Island. See antea, p. 45. 



4. Lonchura caniceps caniceps (Salvad.) 



Munia caniceps Salvador!, Ann. .Mus. Civ. Gen. ix. p. 38 (1876— Naiabui, Hall Bay, S.E. New 

 Guinea). 



1 "<J" 4 " ? " ad., Yule Island, September 1904. A. S. Meek coll. 

 1 c? ad., Aroa River, 11. ii. 1905. No. B 218, A. S. Meek coll. 



