102 ALBATROSS EXPLORATIONS, BIRDS — RIDGWAY. 



added not to the archipelago, but to science, while other islands 



have been more carefully explored, thereby adding very materially to 

 our knowledge of the remarkable endemic bird-fauna of these remote 

 and highly interesting islands.* 



The general character, relationships, and significance of the Gala- 

 pagoan bird -fauna have been so thoroughly and ably discussed by Mr. 

 Osbert Salvin, in his admirable monograph entitled "On the Avifauna 

 of the Galapagos Archipelago" t that it would not be desirable to here 

 enter into an elaborate discussion of the subject. 



A complete list of the species collected on the Galapagos by the 

 naturalists of the Albatross is given on the following pages, with such 

 comments as seem necessary or desirable, and following this list is a 

 tabular statement giving all the species which have been taken, to 

 date, on or among these islands, and indicating those upon which 

 each species has been found ; also, a list of the species which have been 

 taken on each island, together with other matter intended to further 

 elucidate the subject, to properly understand which Mr. Salvia's very 

 important mouograph, before mentioned, should be at the same time 

 consulted. 



Family MIMID^E. 



1. Nesomimus I melanotis (Gould). 



James Island, eleven specimens; Chatham Island, five specimens; 

 Indefatigable Island, three specimens. 



Owing to the circumstance that none of the specimens are in perfect 

 plumage, I am unable to ascertain whether there are any constant dif- 

 ferences of coloration according to locality. Examples from James 

 Island, however, appear to have longer, slenderer, and more curved 

 bills than those from Indefatigable Island, which have the bill more as 

 in N.parvnlus. All the specimens from Chatham Island are, unfortu- 

 nately, young birds. 



2. Nesomimus parvulus (Gould). 



Albemarle Island, three specimens. 



Closely allied to A 7 ", melanotis, but readily distinguished by the dis- 

 tinctly ashy breast, even in the much worn plumage, when other as- 

 cribed characters fail. It is somewhat singular that this character has 



*The ground is classic ground, and the natural products of the Galapagos Islands 

 will ever be appealed toby those occupied in investigating the complicated problems 

 involved in the doctrine of the derivative origin of species. Osbert Salvin. 



t On the Avifauna of the Galapagos Archipelago. By Osbert Salvin, M. A., V. R. 

 S., etc. <Transactions of the Zoological Society of Loudon, vol. ix, pt. ix. May, 1876, 

 pp. 447-510, pis. 84-89, with a map of the archipelago. 



t Nesomimus, gen. nov. 



Char. — Similar to Mimus Boie, but bill longer and much more compressed basally, 

 and tarsus much longer (nearly twice as long as middle toe instead of only about one- 

 third longer). 



Type, OrpheiiH melanotis Gould. 



