(8) 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF THH 



PAPUAN ISLANDS. 



By the HON. WALTER KOTH.SCllILD .\nd ERNST IIARTERT. 



(The work of these " contributions" is so divided that Walter Kothschild wori<s out 

 the families Pamdiseidae, Ptilonorhi/nchidae, aud liallidae, while K. Hartert 

 alone is responsible for the rest.) 



I. 



LIST OF tiii;ke s>l\ll collections from bhitisii new guinea, 



MOSTLY LKOUGIIT TOGETHER IN THE OWEN ST.\NLEV MOINTAINS. 



(Plate I.) 



ONE of these collections was made liy our collector Anthony in the Maihi District 

 during the months of .July and August; another in tlie Eafa District between 

 Mounts Alexander and l'ie41amy, in eh'vations of from .5000 to 6000 feot, in October ; 

 and the third consisted of some skins from higli elevations in the Victoria District, 

 which were purchased in London. 



Anthony left Port Moresby for the first trip on June 12th, 1895, aud reached 

 Mailu after a very long and bad passage in a small boat. He started inland on 

 •Inly Cth, marched about twenty-five miles through broken country towards Mount 

 Dayman, formed a camp, and collected for two weeks. He then made another march 

 of about twenty-five miles, and collected ten days. A third march of about ten miles 

 brought him to the foot of the mountains, where he stojjped five days, but found 

 birds very scarce, while insects were more abundant. He then ascended the top of 

 the range, where he collected three days with very little success in birds. He wished 

 to descend on the other side and to collect on the north-eastern slopes, but the 

 report of the murder of the Clarke Expedition so frightened the natives that they 

 would not proceed. He therefore followed the range in a south-easterly direction and 

 collected another three weeks, in very bad weather, rain pouring almost every day, 

 while the hills were continually envelojied in fog. After these three weeks he pro- 

 ceeded to Orangery Bay, where he reached the coast again in a place about twenty-five 

 miles to the east from where he started inland, and collected a short time near the 

 coast. Port Moresby was reached again early in September. All the birds were 

 collected in July and August, some having exact dates, others not. All the birds 

 from the second trip were collected in October, inland from Port JNloresby, in what is 

 called the Eafa disti'ict, between Mounts Alexander and Bellamy, in heights of about 

 5000 to 6000 feet. Tlie collector says he could have reached higlier elevations if his 

 natives had not refused, but they declared they could not bear the cold, and the 

 hill-tribes seemed not to know what to make of the party, as their district had not 

 been visited before by strangers. Besides he seems to consider the time of the year 

 unfavourable for shooting, aud it rained "night and day." 



No particulars could be obtained with regard to the few skins bought in I.ontlon, 

 but there were some very good things among them. 



Craspedophora intercedens Sharpe, Journ. Linn. Soc. X\I. p. 444 (1882). 

 A series of males from Mailu aud E'afa districts. The breast^shield varies in 

 certain lights from metallic green to blue. The wings are 183 — 191 mm. long; the 

 bill very constant, varying in length only about 3 mm. 



