Species of the Genus Acroceplialus. 45 



much more compressed and shorter than that oiA. syrinx, and 

 by its dark, almost black tarsi and feet, it is easily distinguish- 

 able from that species. Mr, Arundel was fortunate enough 

 to secure its nest and eggs. The nest is placed in the fork of 

 a Pandanus tree, entwined round three of its stems, round 

 which the long grasses and rootlets of Avhich it is composed 

 are looped, so that the stems are concealed in the fabric. 

 Feathers and tufts of small herbage are worked in ; but the 

 interior lining of this very neat structure, which is 3 inches 

 deep and 2f inches in diameter, is formed exclusively of very 

 fine rootlets. The eggs, two in number, are pale green, with 

 dark blotches and spots of three shades of brown and green, 

 exactly like those of A. turdoides, 1 inch by 0*6 inch in dia- 

 meter. Fanning Island is one of the most isolated atolls of 

 the Pacific, lying in lat. 2° 40' N. and long. 159° 20' W. 



Mr. Arundel specially remarks that he did not find this 

 Warbler on any of the neighbouriug islands, while Dr. Streets 

 noticed two distinct species, one a Flycatcher-like bird on 

 Washington Island, and another, like it, but somewhat 

 browner, on Christmas Island. This latter may very possibly 

 be the Syhna cequinoctialis of Latham (Ind. Orn. ii. p. 553). 



5. AcRocEPHALUs MARJ ANN M= Tatut'e lusc'mia, Quoy & 

 Gaim., Voyage Astrolabe, Zool. vol. i. p. 202, pi. 5. f. 2. 



This species I have never se^n; but it is impossible to 

 doubt, looking at the description and the plate, that it is one 

 of this group, very like A. otatare in coloration, but at once 

 distinguishable by its slightly curved bill, and especially by 

 the locustelline markings of the tail, mentioned in the text 

 and represented in the figure. Its tail appears also to be 

 squarer and the wings shorter than in its congeners. I know 

 that Dr. Hartlaub is inclined to group this species with A. 

 otatare; but noting these particulars, and the vast distance 

 between Guam, in the Marianne group, where it was pro- 

 cured, and the Society Islands, and that several distinct 

 species occur in the intervening islands, I cannot hesitate to 

 acknowledge the distinctness of Quoy and Gaimard^s bird. 



I fear that luscinia is preoccupied as a specific sylviad name. 



