( 523 ) 



I think that Colltcrici/icla (discolor De Vis, from Sndest Islaud, desui-ibed in the 

 Kei)()rt ou New Guinea 1SS9, Birds, ]>. :!, refers to this species. The descriptiou 

 agrees generally very well with that of Pni-hycephalu forth, although the measure- 

 ments of wing and tail are rather large. 



T. Pachycephala alberti Hartert. 



/'. filberfi in Bull. B. 0. Cliih, Vol. VIII. ]i. ix (October IsOs). The original 

 descriptiou in the Bulletin is us follows : — 



"Closely allied to P. r/riseiceps G. H. (iray, but with a longer and more 

 powerful bill ; throat and Ijreast witli mure distinct dark shaft-lines in the adult 

 birds, tail with very distinct dark cross-bars in certain lights, wings and tail longer. 

 Wing !S7— 89 mm., tail 67— fis." 



To this descrijjtiou should be addeil : — The abdomen and under tail-coverts arc 

 very much paler than in P. griseiceps ; the tail, which is very greenish from below 

 in I', t/riseicep-i, is olive-grey without any distinct shade of green in /'. alberti, 

 when viewed from below. Immature birds have rufous edges to tlie remiges and 

 the bill light brown. The female has the wing 2 or 3 mm. shorter, but does not 

 difier otherwise from the male. Cnlmen from base In— 20 mm. The iris is brown, 

 the feet and bill black, in the adult bird. Mr. Meek found this interesting new 

 species not very rare ou Sudest Island. He sent nine skius. I was able to compare 

 these with eighteen skius in the Tring Museum from Kapaur, Takar, Arfak, 

 Naiabui, 8orong, and Arn, and found the diiferences very constant and easily 

 detectable, except that the cross-bars in the tail of P. alberti are not always distinct 

 and only to lie seen in certain lights. 



Compared with eight Jobi skins (\V. Doherty coll.), I tind that the .lolii furm 

 merely diifers from /'. (/riseiccps (friseiceps in the less developed brownish shade 

 across the chest and a generally longer (not shorter) wiug. It can therefore only 

 be looked upon as a subspeciiic form, and should be called P. i/ri-seicej/.s jobieiisis. 

 A specimen from the island of Gagi, west of Waigin, seems a perfect giant, with 

 the chest as pale as in P. </. jobiensis. It forms probably another unnamed 

 subspecies. 



In 1892 Mr. De Vis described iu the Report on British New Guinea, Appendix, 

 p. DCi, a bird from Sudest Island under the name of " Eop.'snltria siu/e.itensis.'' 

 Some points in the descriptiou of Mr. De Vis may induce one to think it may refer 

 to my Pachyeephala alberti. This, however, cannot be the case. First of all 

 Mr. De Vis is no doubt able to distinguish between Eopnaltria and Pachycepliala, 

 and he would not have called a tyj)ical Pachycephala an Eopisaltria. Then the 

 head, wings, and tail are not uniform dark brown, the crown of the head being dark 

 olive-grey; the tail and remiges deep brown, edged with greenish olive, and 

 not with rufous brown ; the back is not rufous brown ; there is no rufous brown 

 line over the eyes ; the upper chest is not pale rufous Ijrowii ; the abdomeu 

 is pale yellow, not white, and there are the dark shaft-lines which are not 

 mentioned in the description of E. sudesteiisis. The under tail-coverts are not 

 white, stained with brown, but pale yellow. The measurements do not agree, 

 especially those of the bill and tarsus. 



There is, on the other hand, no bird in Meek's collection answering to the 

 description of Eopsaltria sudcutcnsi.s. 



