116 BULLETIN OF THE LIVERPOOL MUSEUMS. 
Dr. Mivart’s figure (Mon. Loriide, pl. xxxv. p. 109, 1898) has, in. my 
opinion, been drawn from the above-described form. 
Dacelo gigas (odd. ).—From the same locality as the above have been 
received three specimens of a Dacelo, marked as males by the collector, so 
differing from typical D. gigas in their smaller dimensions as to constitute 
in all probability a distinct race, as shown below :— 
Long. tot. Al. Cand, Rostr. a rict. 
Dacelo, sp. . . « 378-385 195-201 140-143 74-78 mm. 
Dacelo gigas. . 425-450 212-230 157-164 77-94 mm. 
(8 specimens). 
In addition, there is no blue whatever on the rump, or on the primaries and 
secondaries. At first sight, these specimens might be taken for the immature 
stage of D. gigas, but this I do not think is the case, as in one specimen, 
which has commenced its moult, the new primaries show no trace whatever 
of blue. Should the receipt of further specimens prove this to be the case, 
the subspecies might be known as D. gigas, subsp. minor. 
Both this form and PD. leachit breed at Cooktown. 
On the range of Prionodura newtoniana, De Vis—When first de- 
scribed, this Bower bird was supposed to be confined to the higher altitudes 
of the Bellenden-Ker ranges and the thick scrubs to the north of 
_Cardwell and round Herberton. Recently it has been observed on Mt. 
Peter Botte, some 50 miles south of Cooktown (cf. Le Souef, Victorian 
Naturalist, March-April, 1897 ; Ibis, 1897, p. 619). 
The Derby Museum has, a short’ time since, received a male, shot on 
28th May, 1899, within the limits of the municipality of Cooktown. The 
collector, who has lived many years in the district, states that it is the 
first he has ever seen in this neighbourhood. Whether the species is really 
a native of the district, or whether the individual in question had been 
driven from its usual habitat by the great cyclone which raged a short 
time previously to its capture, remains to be proved. 

-On a New Species of Aplonis, in the Derby Museum, 
from Santa Cruz Island, in the Western Pacific. 
By Henry O. Forpes, LL.D. 
My friend, Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, recently requested me to submit to him the 
type of Aplonis rufipennis of Layard (¢f. Ibis, 1881, p. 542), which is in the 
Tristram Collection in this Museum. This specimen was originally preserved 
in alcohol, and it was probably on that account that Canon Tristram believed 
the colour to be faded, and determined two specimens from Santa Cruz Island 
as identical with 4. rufipennis from Efate Island in the New Hebrides. Dr. 
Sharpe, however, tells me that the typical specimen is not very much faded, 
and that it agrees with two others recently sent by Captain A. M. Farquhar 
from Ambrym and Espiritu Santo, and, further, that the Santa Cruz birds 
(Tristr. Coll. 18117 jr., 18118 @ Type) are different. I, therefore, propose 
to describe them as 
Aplonis maxwellii, n. sp. 
Aplonis similis A. rufipennis, sed grisescenti-brunneus, pileo saturate 
brumeo-striato ; genis et corpore subtus schistaceis, minnime ochrascenti- 
fulvis, hypochondriis rufescentibus, subcaudalibus castaneis distinguenda. 
Long. tot., 75; culm., 0°95; ale, 4:2; caude, 2°45; tarsi, 1°2. 
I have much pleasure in dedicating this species to Mr. Maxwell Hyslop- 
1 5 =) ~ Ou 1 . a ie 1" 
Maxwell, Jr., the Chairman of the Museum Extension Committee of the City 
Council. 
