( M8 ) 



wings, but are not qnite so distim'tly mottled underneath; this latter maj' be due 

 to their immaturity. Botli these birds have, however, the aurimilar patch and 

 subocular line white, instead of yellow. These specimeus are probably aberrations of 

 P. mimilme. They do not have the heavy bills, brown outer webs to the primaries 

 and tail, and brownisb upperside of Pe/lotis montana, which appears to have always 

 white or whitish yellow auricular patches. We know, however, thatamona; Ptilotis 

 analoya sometimes aberrations with white, instead of yellow, auricular patches occur, 

 the so-called albonotata of Salvador!. We are, therefore, of opinion that the skins 

 Nos. 4273 and 4345 are aberrational Ptilotis mimi/tae, and nothing else. 



198. Ptilotis orientalis A. B. Meyer. 



Ptilotis urientalii A. B. Meyer, Jouni. f. Oni. 1894. p. 92 (S.E. New Guinea, exact locality not 



known). 

 Plilntix artaloga orientalis Rothschild & Hartert, A^or. Zool. 1903. p. 441. 



1 (J, 2 ? ; Snow Mountains, 2000 and 3U0O feet, August and October 1910. 

 <Nos. 4(539, 4893, 4910, A. S. Meek Coll.) 



" Iris light bluish grey, steel grey, light brown ; bill black ; feet pale blue or 

 slaty blue '" 



We had also a dozen skins from Avera and Bihagi ou the Upper Aroa and 

 Mambare Rivers, which, by some oversight, were not mentioned in our lists in 

 Nor. Zool. 1907 and 1912. 



The wings of the males measure 7.5 — 7G'.5, those of the females 69'.5 — 

 72 mm. 



Formerly we thought that Ptilotis orientalis was a subspecies of Ptilotis 

 analoga, bat this idea was no doubt erroneous, as both species occur together in 

 several places, and the mottled underside, thin, comparatively elongated bill, and 

 small size, distinguish P. orientalis rather conspicuously. 



[In Bull. B.O. Club xxix. p. 28, Mr. Ogilvie-Grant gave a short review of the 

 species of Ptilotis of the group similar to Ptilotis analoga. According to this 

 review it would appear that the status of these birds is exceedingly simple : which, 

 however, is by no means the case. It is, nevertheless, true that in many parts of 

 New Guinea, as in Queensland, a smaller species occurs side by side with a larger 

 one with stouter bill. 



Thus we have in Queensland P. notata and P. gracilis, in the Snow 

 Mountains and parts of the mountains of British New Guinea P. mimikae and 

 P. orientalis. Among all our analoga from N.W. New Guinea, however, we have 

 not found specimeus of the smaller form ; and also from the Aru Islands we have, 

 apart from P. aruemis, received only typical P. analoga, and the small specimens 

 from those isles which we have received we consider to be females of P. analoga, 

 which are, indeed, hardly distinguishable from the males of P. gracilis, though 

 generally a little darker. Dr. van Oort, however, gives Aru also as the habitat of 

 gracilis. Formerly we have treated P. notata as a subspecies of P. analoga, and 

 P. gracilis as a distinct sjjecies. We think now that this view, which is also so 

 far shared by Mr. Mathews, should be modified ; that /'. gracilis should be treated 

 as a subspecies of analoga, and notata as another species. The reason for this is 

 that the stout bills, mottled (almost striped) underside and paler upper surface of 

 P. notata sei)arate it well from P. analoga, while, on the other hand, /'. gracilis is 

 hardly separ.ible from analoga except by size, unless it be by its })aler upperside. 



