( .'527 ) 



but differing in luiiuy points, as shown in the description, and ^especially in the very 

 long tail. M. ferroci/anea 6 ad. differs iu the more blue colour of the upper parts, 

 longer feathers of the crown, measurements and colour oi' female. -1/. cercinicauda 

 differs in the colour of the female, the male in its much shorter wings and tail, paler 

 back, and other jjoiuts. There is no very close ally. 



1-. Ptilotis notata (iuuhl.* 



A series of seven skins fnun Sndest Islaml all dilfer from a series of nine from 

 Fergnsson and Goodenough Islands in the following characters : — 

 (1) The bill is longer, slenderer, and less wide at base. 



(vJ) The yellow line below the eyes, which is distinct, j-ellow, broader, and 

 almost running into the auricular yellow patch, in those from Fergussou is narrower, 

 less distinct, very pale j'ellowish, and quite separated from the yellow auricular patch. 

 (;5) The yellow auricular patch is roundish, about as wide as it is long, while in 

 those from Fergussou and fioodenough it is nearly twice as long as it is broad, the 

 feathers being elongated. 



(4) The lateral rump-feathers have no white tips, and the rnmp seems to be 

 less varied with dusky, the rump-feathers slightly less fluffy. 



According to Messrs. Salvador! and Sharpe the form from the D'Entrecasteau.x 

 group (Fergussou and Goodenough) would be P. analoya, although the figure and 

 description of the " Ptilotis analogue " seem to agree more with notata, the name 

 that would belong to the birds from Sudest. 



All these forms were united into one species by Salvadori, while Gadow con- 

 sidered them to be subspecies and wrongly united with this assemblage Salvadori's 

 jlacirictus, Skud Sharpe separated three species and one "form." As far as lean 

 find out from the material now before me, there are two quite distinct species, as 

 characterized above. These two species, which will probably be found as different 

 as our Acrocephalus palnstris and streperus, seem to represent each other locally, 

 while occurring together in other places. We have, in the Tring Museum, P. analoga 

 from Fergussou, Goodenough, Arfak, Batanta ; P. notata from Sudest, Aru, Batanta, 

 Amberbaki, Jobi, Uamoi. All our Aru specimens are most distinctly P. notata, and 

 Sharpe's aruensis are probably females or immature examples of P. analoya, or 

 represent a subspecies of the latter ; for I cannot doubt (cf. literature) that two 

 species are found on the Aru Islands. It seems to me that the so-called gracilis is 

 not different from notata, but that the small and large specimens are connected by 

 intermediate specimens in one and the same country. I believe the so-called gracilis 

 axe. females and young birds of notata. A skin from the north coast of Xew (iuinea, 

 at 13(r 30', seems to me to be inseparable from Cape York e.xamples, e.xcept that it is 

 slightly more greenish. Of course both analoga and notata may have subs[)ecies, 

 but I cannot discuss this question now, with the material at hand. 



19. Myzomela nigi'ita louisiadensis subsp. nov. 



Thi' black Myzomelae, with whife under wing-coverts and axillaries, are very 

 constant in the same localities, but differ in the various islands where they occur. 

 In isos M. nigrita was described from Aru. It is a small form, with the wing 



* For literature sec Salvadori, Or)i. Papiiasia \l. p. :f27; .IggiiDitc II. p. 124; (iadow, Cat. H. VIII. 

 p. 227 ; Sharpe in Zool. Coll. II..V.S. Alert, p. 19. 



