Birds of the Philippine Islands. 509 



Mekula papuensis. Merttla thomassoni. 



" Upper surface briglit dark- Adult male. Upper surface deep 

 brown, paler and duller ou the black; head, ueck, and chest, in- 

 head ; chin and throat pale greyish eluding the chin and throat, brown, 

 brown, forming a gorget clearly darker on the crown, and forming 

 distinguishable in a side-light from a marked contrast with the breast 

 the dark brown of the breast and and belly, whicli are black like the 

 abdomen— these are paler and duller upper parts. Under tail-coverts 

 than the upper surface. Prteanal with white shaft-stripes dilated 

 feathers white-tipped ; under tail- towards the extremity. (In the 

 coverts with pale shafts, and ob- most adult males only the shafts of 

 scurely tipped with pale rufous the tail-coverts are white.) Thighs 

 brown. Thighs pale brown ; legs brownish black. Bill, legs, and 

 and feet pale yellow^ ; claws dusky feet briglit yellow. Total length 

 towards the tips ; bill yellow." 9'6 inches, wing -Jt'O, tail 3'0, tar- 

 Total length 14'0 inches, wing 5'4, sus 1'3, culmen 0'9. 

 tail 4"4, tarsus 1'4, culmen 0'8. 



In younger male examples of M. thomassoni tlie featliers of 

 the belly are margined with rufous, the prasanal feathers are 

 tipped with white, and the white middles of the under tail- 

 coverts are much more developed. 



The female adult has the upper parts washed with brown, 

 and the head and nape are less strongly contrasted with the 

 colour of the back ; the chest shades more gradually into the 

 brownish -black breast and belly, which have the feathers 

 fringed with rufous. The under tail-coverts have white 

 shaft- stripes as in the male, but in the oldest example only 

 the shafts are white. 



29. MoNTicoLA soLTTARius (P. L. S. MlUl.) ; Seebohm, 

 Cat. B. Brit. Mus. v. p. 319 (1881). 



30. loLE PHiLipPENsis (Gmcl.) j Grant, Ibis, 1894, p. 408. 



31. Chimarrhornis bicolor. (Plate XV. fig. 2.) 

 Chimarrhornis bicolor, Grant, Bull. B. O. C. iii. p. xlix 



(1894). 



Only a single example of this remarkable Redstart was 

 obtained, and unfortunately Mr. Whitehead was unable to 

 ascertain the sex with certainty, although he believes it to 

 have been a female. 



The whole of the plumage is dark slate-blue except the 



SER. VI. VOL. VI. 2 N 



