On Fijian Species of Pachycephala. 93 



Wood (Neville), ' British Song Birds/ 1836. 



Wright^s ^Book of Poultry/ (Large edition.) 1885. 



Yarrell's ' History of British Birds.' (4th ed., 4 vols.) 

 1871-85. 



Zoological Society of London^ Proceedings of. Papers by 

 Sclater, Bartlett, &c. 



'Zoologist.' Several years. 



XI. — On the Fijian Species of the Genus Pachycephala. 

 By Henry Seebohm. 



The acquisition of the Layard Collection of Polynesian Birds, 

 Avhich I have been studying for the last few months, enables 

 me to correct some of the inaccui'acies and to supply some of 

 the deficiencies which appear in the Catalogue of the Shrikes 

 in the National Collection (Gadow, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. 

 viii. pp. 185-226). 



I propose to confine myself in the present paper to the species 

 of the genus Pachycephala which inhabit the Fiji Islands. 

 My friend Dr. Gadow reduces them to three species ; but it 

 seems to me that he ought to have recognized six species, with 

 a possible seventh, which neither of us has seen. This 

 mysterious species has been named Pachycephala intermedia 

 (Layard, Ibis, 1876, p. 154). It is said to come from 

 the north-east coast of Viti Levu, to have light vellow 

 underparts, with a perfect though narrow black ring round the 

 neck. It may be rash to express an opinion without having 

 seen an example of this bird, but I am inclined to agree with 

 Dr. Gadow that the description may refer to an abraded and 

 faded example of P. torquata, a species only known from 

 Taviimi. The narrow pectoral band is characteristic of P. 

 ka?iclavensis ; but this species has a white throat, and is only 

 known from Kandavu, so that the hypothesis that the types 

 (which cannot be found) might have been stained examples 

 of that species, is scarcely so tenable as that suggested by 

 Dr. Gadow. A priori it must be admitted that it would 

 be very remarkable for two such closely allied species as 

 P. graeffii and P. intermedia to he both found on the same 



