20, APLONis. 235 



Adult male. General colour above brown, washed with oil-o-reen 

 varied with slight purplish reflexions, the feathers margined Vith 

 glossy green, before which is a subterminal shade of blackish • the 

 lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts edged with ashv grey • 

 wing-coverts and quills brown, the former margined with ashv 

 brown ; the primaries light rufous brown, darker brown at the 

 ends ; tail-feathers dark brown ; crown of head and neck sides of 

 face, ear-coverts, cheeks, throat, and chest dull glossy oil--reen with 

 a shght purplish shade ; breast brown, tlie feathers edged with oil- 

 green ; remainder of under surface brown,with ashy-brown maro-ins • 

 thighs, under tail-coverts, under wing-coverts, and axillaries lighter 

 brown ; quills light brown below, reddish for the greater part of 

 the inner web: "bill and legs black; iris dark brown " (^ L 

 Laycml). Total length 10-5 inches, culmen 1-2, wino- 5-3 tail 3-75 

 tarsus 1-3. '^ ' ' 



Tomuj female. Much browner than the adults and much more 

 uniform, with very few glossy edgings to the feathers of the upper 

 surface ; the head having a slight purplisli gloss ; scarcely any pale 

 edges to the feathers of the under surface. 



Hah. Samoa or Navigators' Islands. 



a, h. Ad. sk. Samoa. 



c, d. Ad. sk. Samoa. Rev. S. J. Whitmee 



[0 1 



e. S ad. sk. Ana, Upolu, Samoa, Dee. 19, Twee'ddale Coll 



1875 {E. L. Layard). 



f. S ad ; (J. 2 Apia, Samoa, Jan., Dec. {E. Tweeddale CoU 

 juv. sk. L. Layard). 



14. Aplonis inornata *. 



Aplonis mavornata (!), Buller, B. Neio Zealand, 2nd ed. i. p. 25 (1887). 



Adult. Entirely brown above and below, with a slight bronzy 

 gloss on the head; under tail-coverts entirely brown like the 

 breast, on which are a few hair-like whitish shaft-lines. Total 

 length 7-2 inches, culmen 0-75, wing 4-2, tail 2-6, tarsus 1-05 



Hah. ? Raiatea Island, Society Group. 



"•'^'^•'^'- [? Raiatea.] Old Coll. (.? Type of 



Turdus ulietensis.) 



This IS a most curious species, a dimmntive of A2}!o7ois atnfmca, and as 

 far as I can see, it has not got a name. The specimen is very old and 're 

 mamed for many years imnotieed in the collection of mounted birds • if 

 vvas apparently not recorded by the late G. E. Gray either in his ' Catalogue o f 

 the Birds of the Tropical Islands of tlie Pacific Ocean ' or in his 'Hand-llr- 

 1 he specimen agrees fairly well ^-ith Forster's drawing of Turdm badius, and may 

 thereiore be Tardus ahctcn„s of Gmelin-probably" he very identical specimen 

 belonging to Sir Joseph Banks (./'. Lath. Gen. Syn. ii. pt. I p S ThZ7, 

 no warrant for Sir. Seebohm making Tardus baius of Forster'into a MTnda 

 and adding a yeUow eye-ring which does not exist in Forster's descrin iou o^ 

 picture! Forster only admits the bird as a Tardus with great reluctance 



