Mr. J. Gould on two new Birds from Eastern Australia. 269 



XXXIV. — On two new Birds from Eastern Australia. 

 By John Gould, F.R.S. 



To the Editors of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 



26 Charlotte Street, Bedford Square, W.C. 

 Sept. 13, 1867. 

 Gentlemen, 



Will you do me the favour to insert in your next Number 

 the following descriptions of two birds from Eastern Australia, 

 which I believe to be new to science, and oblige 



Yours very faithfully, 



John Gould. 



Cuculus {Cacomantis) castaneiventris. 



Chin, ear-coverts, crown, and upper surface deep purplish 

 grey ; all the under surface, including the under tail-coverts, 

 bright chestnut-red ; wings brown, glossed with olive ; upper 

 tail-coverts and tail deep greyish purple ; all the feathers tipped 

 and the lateral ones toothed on their inner web with white, which 

 assumes on the two outer ones the appearance of interrupted 

 bars; bill purplish black; legs and feet orange; nails black. 



Total length 9^ inches ; bill |, wing 4^, tail 5, tarsi |. 



Hab. The Cape- York district of Queensland, Eastern Aus- 

 tralia. 



Remark. This bird is much smaller than Cacomantis flabelli- 

 formis, and, moreover, has much shorter wings, but assimilates 

 very closely to that species in form and contour; it differs, 

 however, not only from that and every other Australian cuckoo, 

 but from all others I have yet seen from the islands to the 

 northward; it is closely allied to a species inhabiting the 

 Philippine Islands which I take to be the Cacomantis sepulchralis 

 of Bonaparte, and more distantly to the Cacomantis bronzina of 

 G. R. Gray. 



Ptilotis no tat a. 



Crown and all the upper surface greenish olive ; lores, a line 

 beneath the eye, and the anterior portion of the ear-coverts 

 brownish black ; from the angle of the mouth a pale-yellow 

 stripe ; posterior part of the ear-coverts pale yellow, assuming 

 the form of a nearly round spot; under surface pale greyish 

 olive, obscurely streaked with pale grey down the throat and 

 breast; bill black, with a thick fleshy yellow gape; legs 

 bluish. 



Total length 6^ inches ; bill ly g, wing 3|, tail 2|, tarsi |. 



Habitat. The Cape- York district of Queensland, Eastern 

 Australia. 



