17. MELANOCHARIS. 81 



Melanocliaris chloroptera, Salvad. Ann, Mus. Civic. Genov. viii. p, 987 

 (1875), xii. p. 33::! (1878); D' Albert. ^ Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. 

 Genov. xiv. p. 73 (1879) ; Salvad. op. cit. xvi. p. 69 (1880) ; id. 

 Orn. Papuasia etc. ii. p. 284 (1881). 



Adult male. General colour above shining blue-black ; lesser and 

 median -wing-coverts like the back ; bastard- wing and primary- 

 coverts black, edged with blue-black ; greater series and quills dusky, 

 externally yellowish olive, the inner secondaries washed with steel- 

 green ; tail-feathers black washed with steel-blue ; lores, eyelid, and 

 upper part of ear-coverts shining blue-black ; ear-coverts, sides of 

 face, and under surface of body ashy olive, greyer on the throat and 

 fore neck ; thighs ashy olive, blackish behind ; under taU-coverts 

 ashy, with broad whitish margins ; axillaries white, slightly tinged 

 with yellow ; under wing-coverts white ; quiUs dusky below, ashy 

 white along the edge of the inner web. Total length 5 inches, 

 culmen 0-5.5, wing 2-5, tail 1-9, tarsus 0-6. 



Adult female. Different from the male. General colour above 

 olive-green, with a slight wash of oily green ; wing-coverts like the 

 back ; bastard-wing and primary-coverts brown, with scarcely any 

 indication of an olive margin ; quills dusky, edged with olive like 

 the back, a little more ashy on the primaries ; tail black, with a 

 narrow fringe of white on the outer feathers near the end of the 

 inner web ; sides of face olive ; cheeks and under surface of body 

 ashy olive, paler on the abdomen ; under tail-coverts ashy with 

 whitish edges ; axillaries pale yellow ; under wing-coverts white, 

 with a faint tinge of yellow ; quills dusky below, ashy along the 

 edge of the inner web. Total length 4-9 inches, cuknen 0-55, wing 

 2-5, tail 0-75, tarsus 0-65. 



Hah. Aru Islands and the region of the Fly River, S.E. New 

 Guinea. 



c, 6. cJ ; e. 5 ad. sk. Aru Islands. A. E. Wallace, Esq. [C.l. 



(/. S ad. sk. Aru Islands ( Coc- F. U. Godman and 0. Sal- 



kerell). vin, Esqrs. [P.]. 



3. Melanocharis bicolor. 



Melanocharis sp., Ramsaij, F?: Linn. Soc. N. S. W. iii. p. 276 (1879) • 



Salvad. Ibis, 1879, p. .324. 

 Melanocharis bicolor, Ramsay, Pr. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. iii. p. 277 



(1879) ; Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov. xvi. p. 69 (1880); id. Orn, 



Papuasia etc. ii. p. 283 (1881). 

 Melanocharis ? imicolor, Ramsay, Pr. Linn. Soc. N.S. W. iv. p. 98 (1879), 



Adult male. General colour above glossy blue-black ; scapulars 

 and wing-coverts like the back ; greater coverts, bastard- wing, 

 primary-coverts, and quUls black, edged with steel-black, a little 

 broader on the secondaries ; tail-feathers black, glossed on the edges 

 with steel-black ; crown of head like the back ; lores, feathers round 

 the eye, cheeks, ear-coverts, and entire under surface of body blue- 

 black without any gloss ; thighs black ; under tail-coverts black, 

 the lateral ones pale olive, black at the ends ; axUlaries pale olive- 

 yellow ; under wing-coverts white, faintly washed with pale olive- 

 yellow, those near the edge of the wing black ; quills black below, 



VOL. X. G 



