500 CYPSELIDJ5. 



Fi/>sc7t,Jouni. 3Itis. Godeffr. Tiii. p. l-') (Palau Is.) (1875) ; id. ibid. 



xii. p. -l-d (Ponapt^) (1876); Lmjard, P. Z. S. 187G, p. 50; id. Ibis, 



1876, p. 391; Finsch, P. Z. 8. 1877, p. 778 (Friendlv Is.); id. 



J.f. O. 1880, p. 285 (Ponap(5); id. P. Z. S. 1880, p! 575; id. 



J.f. O. 1880, p. 298 (Kuschai) ; id. Ibis, 1881, pp. 105, 108, 115, 



536. 

 Cypselus inquietus, Kiftl. Denkw. Heise, ii. p. 26 (1858) ; Finsch, 



Ibis, 1881, p. 105 (:=vanicor.). 

 Collocalia francica, Tweedd. P. Z. S. 1878, p. 283 (Negros) ; Steere, 



List B. 8,- Mmnm. Philippines, p. 12 (1890). 

 Collocalia, sp. inc., Scl. P. Z. S. 1879, p. 447 (Duke of York I.). 

 Collocalia linclii, Tristr. Ibis, 1879, p. 438 (Salomon Is.). 

 Collocalia cinerea, Lmjard, Ibis, 1880, pp. 223 (Loyalty Is.), 298 



(New Hebrides) ; id. Ibis, 1882, p. 503 (New Caledonia). 



Adult. Upper surface dark sooty broATn with verj' little gloss ; 

 head, wings, and tail darker and more glossy ; feathers in front of 

 the eye whitish with dark-brown tips ; lower surface brownish grey 

 with darker shaft-stripes ; under wing-coverts blackish brown. 

 Total length about 4'5 inches, bill at base O'lo, wing 4-4 to 4'7, 

 tail 2-2. 



The young bird is like the adult in plumage. 



Hah. The islands of the Malay Archipelago and Papuasia, north to 

 the Philippines, Western Himalayas to the jN^ilgherries, Ceylon, and 

 the Seychelles in the West ; islands of Santa Cruz and Duke of York 

 in the East. Some parts of Sumatra seem also to be its home, but 

 C. hivi appears to live on the same island. A careful comparison 

 of a series of specimens from Sumatra is required. 



This bird has a very wide range and forms several local races. 

 There is no difference between the birds from the Malay Archi- 

 pelago and the so-called C. unicolor from the Nilgherries. The 

 birds from the Eastern Himalayas and Manipur differ so much from 

 those of the Nilgherries, that they are considered by several orni- 

 thologists to constitute a distinct species; but after having compared 

 large series from all localities, it is evident that intermediate forms 

 occur, and therefore it is not possible to allow it more than sub- 

 specific rank. The birds from Negros in the Phihppines are very 

 black and glossy above and the wings average a little shorter, so 

 that they seem to constitute a good race, but the bird from the 

 Astrolabe range in New Guinea is exactly similar. The specimens 

 from Celebes have generally rather short wings, but this character 

 is not quite constant and does not seem sufSciently obvious to justify 

 the formation of even a distinct race. 



I have examined two specimens from the Seychelles — one in the 

 Cambridge Museum, kindly lent me by Prof. Newton, and the other 

 by Canon Tristram. They have no trace of a pale band across the 

 rump, and therefore do not belong to C. francica, but they are per- 

 fectly similar to C. fuciphaga from the Nilgherries. 



Specimens from Tahiti are so different, that it may be better to 

 regard them as a distinct species, all the more so as their abode is 

 CO far from the countries inhabited by the true C. fuci/thaga. 



