188 Canon Tristram on Birds from 



11. Myiagra luguieri, sp. nov. 

 cJ" & ? . Supra tota nitide nigro-virescens^ infra gula et pec- 

 tore splendenti-nigro-virescentibus ; abdomine, subcau- 

 dalibus et subalaribus albis ; rectricibus ad apicem albo 

 margiuatis, rectrice extima inpogonio interno albo margi- 



(2) TuHDUs xANTHOPus, Forst. 



From New Caledouia, Under this also, I am afraid, must fall T. vini- 

 tinctns, Gould, from Lord Howe's Island. Mr. G. R. Gray remarks that 

 the species are closely allied ; and a very close and discriminating com- 

 pai-ison, in company with Mr. Sharpe and Mr. Seebohm, has not helped us 

 to disting'uish them. We only know T. vinitinctus from the type pair pro- 

 cured by Mr. M'Gillivray. It is true the male has a rather darker head, 

 on which Mr. Gould dwells ; but so have some (not all) of the dozen or 

 more specimens of T. xantJiojms I have examined. In measurements they 

 correspond, except that the wing of the Lord-Howe's-Island bird is shorter 

 than that of any of oiu- New-Caledonian specimens. But these vary much 

 among themselves ; and there is not so great a difference by "lo inch be- 

 tween the shortest of them and the other species as there is between the 

 longest and shortest of the New-Caledonian specimens. In both the 

 female is a little lighter-coloured than the male. 



(3) TuKDUs viTiENSis, Layard, Ann. N. II. ser. 4, vol. xviii. p. 300. 

 This species is somewhat aberrant. It is not very unlike T. ru/i- 



ventris of South America in its coloration — dark brown head and back, ashy 

 chin and breast, and rufous abdomen. Mr. Layard found it only on Vauua 

 Levu, Fiji. 



Sect. iS. 



(4) TURDUS VANICORENSIS, Quoy. 



A very typical Blackbird, the smallest of the family in the Old World. 

 Named and figured by Quoy, the bird from the Samoa Islands having been 

 identified with it. With the latter I am familiar, but have not been able 

 to examine a specimen from Vanikoro. The description, however, of Quoy 

 does not fit our bird ; for he speaks of the black as varying in intensity 

 on different parts of the body, and of the lower tail-coverts being always 

 barred with white. Now, in the seven specimens from Samoa which I 

 have examined, there is not the faintest trace of the barring on the lower 

 tail-coverts, nor is there any diiFerence in the intensity of the black in 

 either sex. Besides, knowing the Umited range of these birds in this 

 region, it is a ;;non highly improbable that the species should be iden- 

 tical while many islands intervene each possessing their own species. I 

 propose, therefore, to separate the Samoan bird as 



(5) TURDUS SAMOENSIS, sp. nOV. 



T. imicolor, nigerrimus, albo nulla parte striatus, rostro et pedibus l?ete 

 fiavis. Long. tut. 7-5, alio •j-9.'>, eaudre 2-75, rnstri a rictu 1, tarsi 12. 

 Huh. Ins. Samoa. 



