Hemipode from New Britain. 429 



Besides my specimen I have seen two quite similar ones, 

 also females, one kindly lent me by Canon Tristram, the 

 other in the collection of the British Museum. Both these 

 were collected by Mr. Layard in Blanche Bay, New Britain. 



Turnix saturata differs from the Australian T. melanonota, 

 to which it is closely allied, in its generally darker colour 

 above, as well as in the greater intensity of the rufous 

 colouring of the underparts, this being not only of a much 

 deeper hue, but extending quite onto the throat and chin, 

 the latter being almost white in Australian examples of 

 T. melanonota. The rufous eyebrows are also much more 

 conspicuous, and, as so often happens in insular forms as 

 compared with their continental representatives, the beak is 

 much larger and thicker, besides being more curved and of 

 a dirty yellow colour, as opposed to the generally horny 

 colour of the beak of T. melanonota. 



T. saturata as yet appears to have been only found in New 

 Britain and the Duke-of- York group*, in which latter locality 

 it was met with by Mr. Layard, Jun. {' Ibis,' 1880, p. 302). 

 It is, I believe, the only species of the Turnicidie yet known 

 as inhabiting the Papuan Islands, eleven altogether of that 

 group being found in the Australian region. Of these the 

 following is a complete list. Of all of them, except T. scin- 

 tillans, I have seen skins in the collections of the British 

 Museum. 



1. Turnix melanogaster. 



Turnix melanogaster, Gould, B. A. v. pi. Ixxxi. ; Handb. ii. 

 p. 178. 



Eastern Australia {Gould). 



2. Turnix varia (Lath.). 



Turnix varia (Lath.), Gould, B. A. v. pi. Ixxxii. ; Handb. 

 ii. p. 179. 



New South Wales, Victoria, S. Australia, and (?) W. Aus- 

 tralia {Gould); Rockingham Bay &c. {Ramsay). 



* It remains to be seen what species it is which, according to Mr, Ramsay 

 (apt(d Salvadori, " Pwdromus," Ann. Mas. Civ. Gen. xviii. p. 9), occurs 

 near Port Moresby. 



SER. IV. VOL. VI. 2g 



