( 75 ) 



rectrices onl}- about 112—120 mm. long, the second paiv from outside wider 

 than in P. fictoriae, the greyish bnif outer edge of the longest rectrices occupying 

 more than half (about two-thirds) of the length of the feathers. I adopt for this 

 new species the name 



Psalidoprymna juliae (ex Berlepsch and Stolzm.). 



It dilfer.s from P. nunn chiefly in the colour of the middle rectrices, which are 

 not wholly green, but black with green tips only. 



Mr. 0. T. Baron has also sent a series of sliins of a form which is very closely 

 allied to P. gouldi gracilis, but has generally a longer tail, a slightly stouter and 

 longer bill, and a constantly more golden tint in its plumage. This is P. chlorura 

 (J. Gould). The one skin from Peru in the British Museum agrees with Gould's 

 original description, but it does not seem to be the type. 



NOTE ON CASUABIUS CASUAEIUS SCLATERI. 



By the HON. WALTER ROTHSCHILD, Ph.D. 



THIS sulispecies has been sunk by the author as a synonym of Sclater'a 

 <'i(SU(ifii(s casnariiis heccarii from the Aru Islands; but this is not right, 

 though I cannot blame Count Salvadori for his decision, as he had only dead 

 specimens to compare. Any one who saw the two birds alive, and side by side, as I 

 have done, would not hesitate a moment to say they were separate geographical races. 

 C. casuariKS heccarii is confined to Vokan Island, Am Islands, while G. camarius 

 Hclafcri is confined to tlie soutli ami south-east, of the mainland of New Guinea. 

 Through the confounding of these two forms of C. casuarius, it has been declared by 

 all authors that C. casuarius heccarii was a most variable form ; in reality, however, 

 it is most constant, while C. ciis?/arius sclateri is variable in size and shape, not 

 only of the bird itself, but also of the casque and the wattles. 



As regards the birds themselves, when alive, the shape and contour are totally 

 different. C. casuarius heccarii has very long legs, a very small and narrow 

 compressed body, and when walking appears as if going on stilts ; while, on the 

 other hand, C. casuarius sclateri has stout short legs and a massive large round 

 body. The wattles of C. c. heccarii are joined for more than half their length from 

 the base, and so give the idea of a single wattle with a deep central cleft ; while the 

 wattles of C. c. sclateri, when young, are joined for almost their entire length, only 

 having a small niche in front. In the adult bird the wattles are, when perfect, quite 

 separate and wide apart : and while in C. c. heccarii the wattles are small, not bigger 

 than in C. casuarius casuarius, in C'. c. sclateri tliey are enormous — in some cases as 

 big as, if not bigger than, in C. c. australis. Another difference between the two 

 forms is in the colour of the immature plumage. In C. c. heccarii it is fulvous 

 brown, with scarcely any admixture of black, just as in C. c. casuarius ; while in 

 C. c. sclateri it is dark brown, with a strong admixture of black, so that some young 

 ones in their first plumage are almost as black as adults. Chicks a few days old 

 show a distinct wattle, while in most other forms of C. casuarius the wattle does 

 not appear till the bird is much older. 



