.'iyu Mr. E. L. Layard (j)t the 



and vent especially^ is purer, the latter in M. azureocapilla 

 being " Isabella ^^-coloured. 



It replaces the latter species on Vanua Levu in the same way 

 that the little Lamjjrolia minor, Kleinsch., replaces L. victoria. 

 The two, with the exception of a trifling difference in the bril- 

 liancy of the centre portion of the back of the head, are exactly 

 similar; but the former is a third less in size than the latter. 



The same may be said of Myiolestes buaensis, nob. ; while 

 Ptilotis similis, nob., which extends to Taviuni, may be dis- 

 tinguished from P. carunculata of Loraa Loma by having 

 pale yellowish grey ear-ttifts instead of bright golden yellow. 

 It is also generally less brightly plumaged — less yellow-tinted 

 on the breast. 



The fine examples of Merulu vitiensis, nob., which my son 

 procured, enable me to add some additional particulars to my 

 previous description^. The abdomen and lower part of the 

 chest in a fine adult male are a warm ruddy chestnut, and the 

 vent is white. In the female the chestnut is toned down to 

 a faint brown tint, and the white vent is very circumscribed. 



I have already in another place [antea, p. \^\) expressed 

 my opinion that Platycercus tabnensis was introduced into 

 Eoa (Tonga Islands) from Fiji. My son made a special visit 

 to the aged chief "Tui-Bua^^ (lit. "KingofBua,^^ pronounced 

 in the missionary jargon Tuimbua) for the pui'pose of getting 

 information on this point. The old man, whose mother teas 

 a Tongan woman from Eoa, said that from time immemorial, 

 ever since the Tongans gained a footing in Fiji (which was 

 only in the districts where this variety of P. splendens is found, 

 not in the southern portions where the bright-coloured race 

 exists), it has been their custom to take tamed examples of Pla- 

 tycercus and Lorius to Tonga for the purpose of periodically 

 plucking their crimson feathers for ornamenting fans &c. 



I feel more than ever convinced that the Eoa Parrots have 

 sprung from introduced birds f. 



* [We have uot beeu able to find Mr. Layard's description of this 

 Thrush.— Ed.] 



t [See P. Z. S. 1876, p. 308, for an extract from Labillardiere's ' Voyage 

 in search of La Perouse/ where the introduction of Parrots into Tonga- 

 taboo from Fiji is mentioned as early as 1793. — Ed.] 



