BY H. P. cirprr, m.b. 6G5 



tlie air and moved up and down in a sparring fashion. The 

 whole attitude of the Birgus when on the defensive is one of 

 dogged and determined resistance. The big pincers which point 

 downward are ready to seize anything which touches the un- 

 protected under surface of the abdomen, but as on account of the 

 position of the claws it can only forsee attacks from above ; it 

 cannot ward off a thrust directed against the abdomen, although 

 it may afterwards inflict severe injuries on the aggressor. 



XoTES ox Birds from the Solomox Islaxds. 

 By E. p. Ramsay, T.L.S., Szq. 



Amaurornis moluccaxa. 



Capt. J. Macdonald has sent to the Museum a veritable specimen 

 of Amaurornis moluccana, which is said to be identical with Gould's 

 G(dl inula riificrissa, but if Gould's plates are correct, these birds 

 are certainly distinct. Gould figures a yellowish and reddish 

 shield at the base of the bill, nothing of the kind appears in the 

 birds from New Britain, collected by the Rev. George Brown, or 

 in this specimen from St. Anna, one of the Solomon Group. 



Nasiterxa rixsciiii, Itamsai/. 



The adult male, has the cheek feathers tipped with blue, and a 

 deep orange-red spot on the abdomen ; and those I consider to 

 be the adult females have the cheek feathers tipped with rose, 

 but there is no yellow, orange or red on the abdomen; '' there is 

 no tinge of yellow on the forehead,'''' as stated by Mr. Tristram; and 

 by no stretch of the imagination can the orange-red of the belly 

 in the male be called yellow ; if Canon Tristram has a specimen 

 with a " tinge of yellow on the forehead and abdomen " and '' a 

 little pink patch on either side of the lower mandible," then I 

 should say his specimen is not my Nasiterna finschii, but a distinct 

 species : it might be the adult male of N. mortonif or perhaps 



