138 



Key to the Species. 



A. With no brown on the quills. 



a. With bi'i{^-lit reddish purple on throat or crown, 

 mantle or hind neck. 

 a. Larger : tail strongly graduated, the centre 

 feathers much produced. 

 a" . Head purple ; mantle purple, separated 

 from tlie head by a glossy green collar. 

 ft'". Throat green or slightly washed with 

 purple, in either case resembling the 



cheeks and sides of the face mefallica and .'\llies, 



//". Throat uniform purple, contrasting [pp. 1-S8-141. 



with the throat, which is bright green, (jnlaris, p. 141. 

 h" , Head purple; no purple on mantle, which 



is green ^jM?7«0'e/f<7).s, p. 142. 



h' . Smaller: tail only slightly graduated ; head 

 and back oily-green, only slightly washed 

 with pm-ple ; the hind neck purple, forming 



a collar minor, p. 142. 



h. Green or greyish green, with no sharp contrasts 

 in the plumage ; no purple or bright green 

 collar round the hind neck. [pp. 14.3-149, 



c'. Green gloss accentuated chalyhea and allies, 



d! . Green gloss dull and lead-coloured obscura, p. 149. 



B. Primaries light brown, dusky at tips. 



c. Larger : head purple ; back green yrandis, p. 150. 



d. Smaller : head and back steel-green minor, p. 151. 



1. Calornis metallica. 



Lamprotornis metallica, Temm. PL Col. ii. pi. 266 (1824) ; Less. Voy. 

 Coquille, i. p. 343 (1826) ; Miill. Verk. Land- en Volkenk. pp. 102, 

 110 (1839-44); B}). Cons}), i. p. 417 (1850^; Jacq. et Pucher. Voy. 

 Pole Slid, Zool. iii. p. 81 (1853) ; Cass. Proc. Philad. Acad. 1862, 

 p. 313; Finsch, Neii-Guinea, p. 174 (1863); Cab. S^ Peichen. 

 J.f. O. 1876, p. 322. 



Stourne bronz(5, Hombr. et Jacq. Voy. Pole Sud, Atlas, pi. 16. fig. 2 

 (1832-35). 



Aplonis metallica, Gould, B. Ausfr., Suppl. pi. 33 (1851) ; Macgil- 

 livray, Voy. ' Rattlesnake,^ ii. p. 357 (1852). 



Calornis metallica, Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 327 (1846) ; Hartl. J. f. 0. 

 1854, p. 164; Scl. Journ. Li^in. Soc. ii. p. 164 (1858); Gray, 

 P. Z. S. 1858, p. 194 ; id. Cat. Mamni. etc. New Guinea, p. 59 

 (1859) ; Wall. P. Z. S. 1862, p. 335 ; Gould, Handb. B. Austr. i. 

 p. 477 (1865); Rosenh. Rek. naar Zuiduostereil. p. 80 (1807); 

 Ramsay, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 385 ; Scl. P. Z. S. 1869, p. 120 ; Gray, 



his visit to Kuschai. He writes to me : — " It. no doubt exists on Kuschai, juBt 

 as it did wlieu Kittlitz visited the island. Nobody lias reached the mountains 

 in the interior since Kittlitz's time ; and it is strictly a mountain bird. When 

 I was on Kuscliai the patli from one side of the coast was no longer used by the 

 natives, the reason being the great and rapid decrease in their number, only a 

 few hundred of them now surviving (I believe not more than three hundred 

 and fifty, all told). Kiftlilz only got two specimens, which I saw in St. Peters- 

 burg. It is a very distinct, species." 



The bird, as figured by Kittlitz, has a very slender bill, and may not be a 

 true Calurnis after all. 



