BIRDS FROM FLORES, SAMAO AND TIMOR. 211 



4. Pratincola caprata (L.)- 



Adult male and female from Kupang (Timor), and an 

 adult male from Samao. 



5. Oreicola melanoleuca (Vieill.). 



Adult male and female from Samao and Kupang (Timor). 

 A third specimen, with the plumage of the female but 

 the tail as in the adult male (from Samao), seems to be 

 a young male in transitional stage of plumage. 



There is much difference in the distribution of white in 

 this species, though hardly sufiScient to base different species 

 upon. Amongst the 15 specimens now in the collections 

 of the Leyden Museum , there are three in which the white 

 superciliary stripe is absolutely wanting , while the fourth 

 shows some very slight traces of them. This form considered 

 to be a species, would have to bear the name of 0. luc- 

 tuosa (Bp. Consp. I , p. 304). The base of the four outer 

 pairs of tail-feathers is white in this form , the white occu- 

 pying one basal third in the outermost pair and increasing 

 in extent on the next pairs , the two basal thirds of the 

 fourth pair being white. 



The other form , with a distinct white superciliary stripe , 

 might again be divided into a form with the white base 

 of the tail-feathers like in the above mentioned form [the 

 typical specimens of 0. melanoleuca (Bp.)], and another with 

 only the extreme base of the tail-feathers white. 



There is no noticeable difference in size between the three 

 mentioned forms, and all three seem to be spread over 

 one and the same area. Of the three birds sent by Dr. 

 ten Kate, all three with a well-pronounced superciliary 

 stripe, the adult male would belong to the third group, 

 with only the extreme base of the four outermost pairs 

 of tail-feathers white, while the not fully adult male, with 

 the fourth pair of tail-feathers white at about half its length, 

 seems to be intermediate between the second and third 

 group. 



J^otes from the Leyden IMuseutn, Vol. X.11I. 



