NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE. 



Vol. V. MAY, 1898. No. 2. 



LIST OF A COLLECTION OF BIRDS 



MADE IN THE SULA ISLANDS BY WILLIAM DOHERTY. 



By ERNST HARTERT. 



"ly/rii. nOIIERTY, in Octolier and November 1897, collected on tlie islands of 

 -'-'-'- Sula Maugoli and Sula Besi, the eastern and tljc sontheni islands of the 

 Sula gronp. The collection of birdskins he sent contains all the birds hitherto 

 known to be restricted to the Snla Islands, and almost all the species known to 

 occur there, besides some striking new species and a few other additions. 



Onr previous knowledge of the avifauna of the Sula group is but scant. The 

 Leyden Museum possesses good material sent home by some of the Dutch travellers 

 in former years, and Wallace's assistant, Mr. Allen, collected there. The latter 

 collections were duly recorded by Wallace in Proc. Zonl. Sot:. Loud. 1862. pp. 333 — 

 34f) (see also plates xxxviii., xxsix., xl.). Recently Messrs. A. B. Meyer & Wigles- 

 worth recorded a collection from Peling and Banggai, between Celebes and the Sula 

 Islands {Abk. DreMlen Museum 1896 — 7. No. 2). The ornis of these two islands 

 is essentially that of the Sula group. 



I follow, in this list, the arrangement which will, I believe, be iidoi)ted by 

 Messrs. A. B. Meyer & Wiglesworth in their forthcoming great work on the 

 Birds of Celebes, in (irder that my article can with greater convenience lie compared 

 with their lists. 



1. Spilornis rufipectus sulaensis (Schl.). 



I very much doubt the possibility of keeping this subspecies distinct from 

 S. rufipectus rufipectus of Celebes. The differences said to exist in the Gat. B. Jhif. 

 Ahm. I. do not occur, and the spotting (or barring) of the abdomen varies as mucli 

 as the colour of the chest, wiiich in one specimen from Makassar is even paler than 

 in one from Sula Mangoli. ? ad. " Iris lemon-yellow ; cere orange-ochreons ; 

 feet pale dull ochreous, claws black ; bill pale bluish horn-colour, tip black." 



Doherty collected specimens in Sula Maugoli and Sula Besi. 



2. Astur soloensis (Horsf j. 



Two adult /««/«.< and an immature mate, Sula Mangoli, November 18'.»7. The 

 old males are rather pale rufous on the breast. There may be several subspecies 

 of this bird, but I am not able to discuss them. The adult male has the " iris 

 crimson-brown, witli an outer yellowish line ; the feet ochreous, with black claws ; 

 the bill black, cere orange." 



10 



