On Birds from the New Hebrides. 337 



Head only. Kassim river, Abyssinia, 19 January, 1899. 

 (No. 232.) ' 



Iris brown ; bill brown ; top of the head yellow-brown ; 

 sides of the face and throat bright light blue ; legs black. 

 Total length (measured in the flesh) 22'5 inches. 



XVII. — On a Collection of Birds made hy Captain A. M. 

 Farquhar, R.N., in the New Hebrides. By R. Bowdler 

 Sharpe, LL.D., &c. 



(Plate VII.) 



The collection here described has been presented to the 

 British Museum by Captain A. M. Farquhar of H.M.S. 

 ' Wallaroo,' and as he visited many islands in which very 

 little collecting had previously been done, he obtained some 

 interesting and beautiful new birds. 



He writes to me on the 9th of October, 1899 : — " I have 

 been in these parts from May till now, and have got together 

 specimens of some forty different species of birds. I lost few 

 opportunities of trying to add to the collection, and I hope 

 my efforts may have been of some use. Oddly enough, the 

 birds in the New Hebrides are very shy, at least the smaller 

 kinds, for the natives seem to be always after them with their 

 bows. I could not get a cock Blackbird, and of the four or 

 five hens, I shot only one myself, the natives having snared 

 the others. They are very wild, and it is difficult in the bush 

 to stalk to within 30 or 40 yards of them, I got several 

 Megapodes' eggs, but failed to obtain a skin, as we were 

 never able to stay long enough in one place, and the 

 natives brought theu) in after we had left, when there was 

 no one to skin them. 



" I did not trouble about the sea- or shore-birds, and did 

 not succeed in ol)taining a bird which the natives described 

 as nesting in holes in the mountains — some sort of Shear- 

 water, I presume. 



" I saw several places wliere the Megapodes laid their eggs ; 

 these are concealed at the decayed root of a tree. Coming 



