254 Messrs. E. L. and E. L. C. Layard on 



TURDUS PRITZBUERI, 11. Sp. 



Male. Entire head^ chin, throat, and upper part of chest 

 very pale sepia ; the whole of the rest of the body, above and 

 below, very dark sepia, some of the feathers of the abdomen 

 having pale sepia edges ; bill, feet, and legs pale yellow. 



Length 8", wing 3" 7"', tail 3" 3'", tarse 1" 2^'", bill 13'". 



Female (probably). Like the male, but the crown of the 

 head and lower portion of chest brownish, and general colour 

 of body not so dark. 



Young bird. Top of head brown, spotted with rufous ; back 

 as in female, but faintly spotted with rufous; underparts 

 deep warm rufous, spotted and irregularly marked with small 

 broken bars of dark sepia. 



This most interesting species is intermediate between 

 Merula tempesti, Layard, from Taviuni, and M. bicolor, 

 Layard, from Kandavu (Fiji). It approaches nearest to the 

 first named, the colours being identical ; but the Lifu bird has 

 them much more " prononce," the light sepia appearing almost 

 white by contrast. On taking it to a resident of the Loyalty 

 Islands, who is staying with my next-door neighbour (his 

 brother-in-law), his wife exclaimed, '^Oh! we eat lots of 

 those, they are splendid ' gWA&v -,"' and her servant, a Lifu 

 man, standing by, added, " Him scrape on ground, all same 

 fowl, we call him Wassasa.'^ 



23. Petrgeca, sp.. Gray. 



In his ' Catalogue of the Birds of Tropical Islands ' (p. 15), 

 Mr. Gray calls this P. forsteri {Turdus minutus, Forster) 

 and gives the Isle of Pines as its habitat. We have not yet 

 seen it. 



24. Gerygone flavolateralis (G. R. Gr.) . 

 Acanthiza flavo-lateralis, Gray, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 161. 

 [This bird, described by Mr. Gray, and enumerated by M. 



Marie as an Acanthiza, is a very typical Gerygone (see Ibis, 

 1877, p. 357).— H. B.T.] 



27. Rhipidura bulgeri, Layard, Ibis, 1877, p. 361. 

 [Included by M. Marie as R. albiscapa, Gould, to which 

 Australian bird it is closely allied, but distinct. I have com- 



