New Caledonia, Lifu, and the New Hebrides. 181 



rated. The other birds are in younger plumage. If the sexes 

 are correctly marked, these examples are considerably smaller 

 than specimens from Tasmania, in length of tarsus, tail, and 

 wings. They are the first Mr. Layard has met with in New 

 Caledonia. 



3. Strix delicatula, Gould. 



4. COLLOCALIA LEUCOPYGIA, Wall. 



5. Nymphicus cornutus (Gm.). 



On comparing specimens with Gmelin's description, there 

 can be no doubt that his Psittacus caledonicus is the imma- 

 ture, not the female, of N. cornutus. The adult female is 

 crested, though the plumes are shorter than in the male. 



6. CucuLus BRONziNus, G. R. Gray. 



I cannot discriminate the New-Caledonian bird from C. 

 simus, Peale, of Fiji, except by the aid of a well- subdivided 

 scale. The barring on the inner webs of the tail-feathers in 

 the former is wider and deeper than in C. bronzinus ; and it is 

 altogether a trifle smaller. Both are well distinguished from 

 C. cineraceus , Vig. & Horsf. 



7. Chalcites lucidus (Gm.). 



I have compared four specimens, marked by Mr. Layard 

 as C. basalis, with Australian examples of that Cuckoo. 

 They are certainly distinct ; and all belong to the large broad- 

 billed species known as C. lucidus, Gm. But if, as I believe, 

 the New-Zealand bird, to which Gmelin's specific name was 

 first applied, be distinct from the Australian, then the latter 

 must be C. plagosus, Lath. The New-Caledonian bird is 

 certainly identical with the Australian species. 



8. Halcyon juli^e, Reich. 



We have here from A^nsevata, New Caledonia, a specimen 

 which ought to have come from the New Hebrides, while 

 from the New Hebrides we have, as I have noticed in other 

 collections from these islands, both forms (this and H. sancta) 

 from the same locality. With a series of over forty speci- 

 mens of these birds from various South-Sea Islands before me, 

 I am inclined to believe that, when the synonymy is properly 

 worked out, man j^ so-called species will disappear. At present 



