BIRDS. 63 



6. MiMus PARVULUS. G. R. Gray. 

 Plate XVIII. 

 Orpheus parvulus. GouIJ, in Proc. of Zool. Soc. Part v. 1837, p. 27. 



M. vertice, nucha cmulacpie intensi fuscis, hnjus rectricihus ad apicem alho notatis; alls 

 fuscis secundariis tectricibiisque iiold alba apicali Jascias duas tiansversas Jacienti- 

 bus ; loi'o plumisque auricularibus nigrescentibiis ; guld, colli lateribus, pectore, et 

 abdomiiie albescent ibns; plmnis latei'nin notis fuscis per medium longitudinaliter ex- 

 curreutibus. 



Long. tot. 8f unc. ; rost. 1 ; al(e, 3|; caudce, 3| ; tarsi, \\. 



The vertex, the nape of the neck, and the tail intensely black ; with the tips of the 

 tail feathers marked with white ; the wings brown with the secondaries and 

 coverts tipped with white marks, giving the appearance of two transverse 

 bands ; the lores and the feathers of the ears black ; the throat, the sides of 

 the neck, breast, and the abdomen white ; the flanks marked longitudinally 

 with brown. 



Habitat, Albemarle Island, Galapagos Archipelago. {October.) 



It will be seen, that the three last species of the genus Mimus, were procured from 

 the Galapagos Archipelago; and as there is a fact, connected with their geographi- 

 cal distribution, which appears to me of the highest interest, I have had these three 

 figured. There are five large islands in this Archipelago, and several smaller ones. 

 I fortunately happened to observe, that the specimens which I collected in the two 

 first islands we visited, differed from each other, and this made me pay particular 

 attention to their collection. I found that all in Charles Island belonged to M. tri- 

 fasciatus ; all in Albemarle Island to 31. parvulus, and all in Chatham and James's 

 Islands to 31. melanotus. I do not rest this fact solely on my own observation, 

 but several specimens were brought home in the Beagle, and they were found, ac- 

 cording to their species, to have come from the islands as above named. Charles 

 Island is distant fifty miles from Chatham Island, and thirty-two from Albemarle 

 Island. This latter is only ten miles from James Island, yet the many specimens 

 procured from both belonged respectively to different species. James and Chat- 

 ham, which possess the same species, are seventy miles apart, but Indefatigable 

 Island is situated between them, which perhaps, has afforded a means of commu- 

 nication. The fact, that islands in sight of each other, should thus possess pecu- 

 liar species, would be scarcely credible, if it were not supported by some others of 

 an analogous nature, which I have mentioned in my Journal of the Voyage of the 

 Beagle. I may observe, that as some naturalists may be inclined to attribute 

 these differences to local varieties ; that if birds so different as O. trifasciatus, and 



