r 589 ) 



;i>. Nasiterna naniua Tristr. 



y<isil,Tii(t iKiiiiiia Tristram, Ibis 1691. p. (iUS (13iigotu = YsabcI.I.sliunl). 



Ill Nov. ZooL. VIII. (IPOl) p. 188 we doubtfully referred a series from Knlara- 

 liaiigni to 2^. tianiiia, and have given someexiilaiiations about the i\\vioi y. naiii mi , 

 from wiiieli no measurements can be taken, as its wing and tail-feathers are not 

 much more than half grown. AVe are now fortunate enough to have received a series 

 of four from Ysabel, which we are justified in considering to be tvjiical naiiiiia, and 

 we find that they differ from those from Kulumbangra. 



Description of JVasiterna niinina Tristr. from Ysabel : cjad. Upper side grass- 

 greeu, somewhat yellower on the head ; forehead yellowish green to greenish yellow, 

 centre of crown washed with blue. (There is one feather on the crown, just above 

 the forehead, yellow with an orange tip. Whether this is normal or not we cannot 

 say.) Wings blackish, outer webs with narrow green edges, inner webs edged with 

 olive-brown. Central pair of rectrices bine with black shaft ; ue.xt pair of rectrices 

 black on the inner webs, tip greenish blue, outer webs bluish green with a black 

 patch, following pair black, broad ajiical portion green with a yellow spot on the 

 inner web, the two lateral pairs with the outer web green, inner web bhick, apical 

 tliird to fifth yellow. Underside yellowish green, darker and purer green on the 

 thighs and flanks ; feathers on the cheeks with jiale blue tips, under tail-coverts 

 yellow with wide green tips. Under wing coverts yellowish green. " Iris pale red, 

 feet jiale bluish slate, bill dark slate-colour." Wing 60, tail (with free end of shaft) 

 -JSi, bare portion of shaft about 'A — 4i, tarsns 7A, middle toes 13, bill (end of cere 

 to tijO 7 mm. (No. 3386, Meek coll.) 



? . Like the male, but cheek-feathers orange, underside perhaps slightly more 

 yellowish. The markings on the rectrices vary a little, but agree essentially with 

 those ill the male. Wings 58 — iVi mm. (Nos. 3386, 336.), 3yiHI, Meek coll.) 



The NasitcriHi from Kulanibangra (Nov. Zool. I'.HJl. p. l6s) differs, and we 

 name it : — 



Nasiterna tristrami sp. nov. 



Like N. nrniiiiij, but differs as follows : It is much larger : the bill longer 

 and wider ; the centre of the crown of a darker and more grassy green than 

 the rest of the head, but without any blue tinge. The male has narrower and much 

 paler, less conspicuous bluish tips to the feathers of the cheeks. Wing S (Nos. 

 2863, 2862, Meek coll.) 66—67, ? (Nos. 2785, 2849, Meek coll.) wings 61—62 ; 

 bill (end of cere to tij)) S 11, ? S mm.; tail 27 — 29i mm. 



llab. Kulambangra {type d No. 2863), named in honour of Canon Tristram, 

 to whom we owe much of our knowledge of the ornis of the Solomon Islands. 



It must be added that Nii!<itcn/a naniitn is most closely allied to N. aoliic fi'om 

 Guailalcaiiar, from which it differs in its smaller size, and (if the colours in onr ^V. 

 imnina are fully developed) in the lesser e.xtent of the blue area on the crown and 

 cheeks. In the Kulambangra birds there is evidently no blue at all on the crown. 

 The wings of iV. aolae measure about 64-66 mm. 



[All the Nasiteniae from tiie Solomon Islands (/.('., N. riolac, X. ixinii/n and S. 

 tri.strami — we do not yet know X. Jin-sc/ii) are ajipareutly best named trinomial ly, 

 as subspecies of one species.] 



Although we have received five species of Pxitluci from Ysabel, it seems 



