PTILOFUS. 



101 



Adult i-EMALK. — <rV». •/■((./ cohmr ahniv, incl">/ii,i/ Ihf. I,,/, ,iii,l sij/p.s of ikf. hmd c/nv.u : on flu- 

 occiput, a ,l,vp blue ajiot .' iriiii^s i/m-u ,iwl siiiiilarlij edyr<l ivUh yUoii\ as ia the laah; hut the dark 

 blur yjiots oil l/h' inn.'')- (/ivater iriii<i-ciiveii:< are niimller ami le.sfi iiiM dnjiiieil ; no bhie sub-apical 

 viarhiiKi on llu- i-rnlral pair of tit'd -feathers ; on the under parts it dlj/ers from the adu/t nude in 

 hai:in<i the. chin whitish and the throat, fore neck and breast green, brighter in colour itt the sides, ami 

 the leathers on the lon-er lliroat hare, grey tips. U'ini/ ■' incites. 



Distrilnition. — Islands of Torres Strait, (Hieensland, New South Wales. 

 'T^'"'- Superb iMuit-Pineon is distributed over the coastal districts of tlie eastern portions 

 -L of the continent; it is likewise found in New Guinea and the Papuan Islands, in the 

 north, and has occurred as a stra^'^ler as far south as Tasmania. The latter island may be 

 safely eliminated from its tjeographical distribution, and its inclusion as a New South Wales 

 species is, so far as I am aware, fomided on three specimens. Two of these, an adult and a 

 youuL; male, are in the Australian Museum Collection, and were obtained at North Shore by 

 Mr. J. Sheedy in i.Sjb, not in the sub-tropical brushes of the northern coastal districts adjoinin,;,' 

 Queensland, but in the central coastal districts of the more temperate part of New South Wales, 

 and the third in the Snowy River District, near the southern boundary of the State, and over two 

 thousand feet above the level of the sea. The latter, a young male, was shot on the 14th 

 March, 1900, at Boloco Station, Buckley's Crossing, and was brought me for examination by the 

 late Mr. J. A. Thorpe, Taxidermist of the Australian Museu)i). 



Its normal range in .Australia, as represented by 

 other specimens in the Museum Collection, is the 

 coastal districts of Eastern Queensland, from 

 Cape York to Port r)enison,and probably it occurs 

 m the more southern portions of the State. Mr. 

 1". llislop has on many occasions found it breed- 

 ing in the Bloomheld l\i\er District. The late 

 Mr. K. Broadbent procured specimens at Cairns, 

 as likewise did Messrs. E. J. Cairn and Robert 

 Grant. L)r. E. P. Ramsay obtained examples near 

 Cardwell, and tiie late Mr. J. K'ainbird adults 

 and young at Port I'enison. 



Individual variation exists in the adult males 

 of this species; some specimens have the upper 

 portion of the rufous-ochreous feathers on the hind-neck suffused with purple-violet ; others 

 have larger purplish bases to the feathers on the foreneck. Gould, both in his folio edition 

 of the '■ Birds of Australia," and in the "Handbook," states :—" Sides and back of the neck 

 bright rufous .... breast grey, below which a band of black." In all tlie specimens before 

 me the sides of the neck and the hind-neck are rufous-ochreous, and the broad band across 

 the breast indigo-blue, not black. In some specimens, probably not (juite adult, the grey feathers 

 of the upper breast are separated from the indigo-blue band by a \ery narrow line of greenish 

 feathers. The wing-measurement of Australian adult males varies from 4-9 to 5-.. inches. 



.\dult birds of both sexes of the genus Ptilopiis inhabiting Australia have the first primary 

 al)ruptly attenuated at tlie terminal portion. This attenuation is but slightly indicated in young 

 birds. In the adult [nales of the genus Pavotia of the family Pakauiseiid.e inhabiting New 

 Guinea, it is more pronounced, the second as well as the first primary being attenuated, and 

 becoming almost spine-like at the tip. The accompanying figure is reproduced from a photo- 

 graph of portion of a wing of an adult male of Ptilopiis siipcrbiis, showing this attenuation of the 

 terminal portion of the hrst primary, which is visible only when the quills are spread, and 

 entirely hidden when the wing is closed. 



26 



■I'KKMINAI, PORTION OF WING Of A SUI'EKI! 

 FKUIT-FIi:t:ON. 



