472 Letters, Announcemetits^ b^c. 



this was lost, it was exchanged^ not for the ordinary winter 

 plumage, but for one decidedly melanistic. In the course of 

 last year the bird again fully resumed its complete breeding- 

 dress, without any trace of melanism or other abnormal colo- 

 ration ; but this having since been lost, the bird has again, 

 for the second time, become melanistic. 



With the exception of the abdomen and under tail-coverts, 

 which remain white (and possibly of the under wing-coverts, 

 which I have been unable to examine), the entire plumage is 

 now of a sooty brownish black, but with the centres of the 

 feathers on the back darker than the edges, and with some 

 slight brown tips to the feathers of the breast. 



This seasonal alternation between a melanistic and non- 

 melanistic plumage is a phenomenon new to me, and, I think, 

 of some interest. 



Yours &c., 



J. H. GURNEY. 



Notes on Birds from the Solomon Islands. — Mr. E. P. 

 Ramsay (writing from Sydney^ March 16th, 1882) sends us 

 the subjoined remarks on some of the species described by 

 Canon Tristram in his article given above, p. 133 et seqq. 



PlEZORHYNCHUS SQUAMULATUS, p. 136. 



Can this be an adult of P. brodiei, mihi (P. vidua) ? I find 

 little or no difference in the description of it from my P. 

 melanocephalus (Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. vol. iv. 1879, 

 p. 468) ; I have a large series, and am now inclined to think 

 that P. melanocephalus and P. squamulatus are based only on 

 different plumages of P. vidua. 



Rhipidura russata, p. 137. 



I do not see why my name Rhipidura rubrofrontata should 

 not stand ; it is, without doubt, the same as R. russata. 



Geoffroyus agrestis, p. 138. 



I think this must be the young of G. heteroclitus. I have 

 had several specimens. 



Nasiterna finschi, p. 138. 



As regards the yellow spot the remark is not quite correct. 



