154 Mr. E. L. Layard on the Ornithology of Fiji. 



Mr. Pearce tells me they scrape about the ground under 

 bushes in the forest, for worms &c., and are quite like Black- 

 birds in their habits and note. 



Paciiycephala vitiexsis, Gray. 



Abundant at Kandavu, and apparently the only species 

 there. Mr. Pearce obtained nests and eggs, shooting the male 

 off one. The egg (a single one), hard-set, was large, irre- 

 gularly marked at the obtuse end, somewhat in the shape of 

 a ring, with large ill-formed purplish blotches. Breeds in 

 September. 



The nest is a coarse transparent structure of thickish root- 

 lets, with here and there a patch of cobweb. No lining of 

 any kind. External diam. 4", intern. 2" 6'" ; ext. depth 2" 6'", 

 intern. 1" 6'" ; placed in a low shrub between two lateral 

 branches. 



The genus Pachycephala is widely distributed over these 

 islands ; and the species composing it differ, as do those of 

 Myiolestes ; I am only just getting to have some clear idea 

 of them. On Ovalau, and up the Rewa, the true P. icteroides 

 (Peale) seems to prevail ; but in the former place specimens 

 are sometimes found with the yellow patch on the nostril that 

 characterizes P. graeffii, Hartl., but the yellow of the under- 

 parts is not nearly so dark. About Tai Levu, on the N.E. 

 coast of Viti Levu, a species is found with the light-yellow 

 underparts of P. icteroides, but with a perfect though narrow 

 black ring round the neck. I propose to call this P. inter- 

 media, Layard, as it is intermediate between P. icteroides and 

 my P. tarquata on the one hand, and between the former and 

 P. vitiensis on the other, the last-named having a white 

 throat. 



At Bua, on Vanua Levu, P. graeffii, Hartl., prevails, and 

 on Tavinui only my P. torquata. 



I suspect that a close investigation of some of the re- 

 maining islands of the group will reveal other varieties of 

 this genus. 



Mr. Klinesmith has just discovered a new Lamprolia near 

 Savu-Savu Bay, on Vanua Levu, which resembles//, victoria, 



