On Birds from the Solomon Islands and New Hebrides. 437 



revolutionary attempts of Messrs. Newton, Sharpe, and 

 Dresser to corrupt the ornithological morality of the pre- 

 sent age. 



XXX VIII. On a Collection of Birds from the Solomon Islands 

 and New Hebrides. By H. B. TRISTRAM, F.R.S. 



(Plates XI., XII.) 



I HAVE had placed in my hands for determination, by the 

 kindness of Vice-Admiral Sir Geo. H. Richards, K.C.B., a 

 small but very interesting collection of birds made by his 

 son, Lieut. Richards, R.N., at Makira Harbour, San Cris- 

 toval, Solomon Islands, between the 2.2nd August and 3rd 

 October in last year, consisting of thirty-three species. Of 

 these no less than twelve are, so far as I can ascertain, as 

 yet undescribed, while several of the others are of extreme 

 rarity in collections, some of them being not, as yet, known to 

 exist in any museum in this country. The fact of the whole 

 collection having been made in a limited area shows how much 

 yet remains to be done before the avifauna of this portion of 

 the Pacific can be looked upon as exhausted. The excep- 

 tional beauty of many of the new species, such as the Ceyx, 

 Charmosyna, and Ptilopus, renders their absence from pre- 

 vious collections from the Solomon Islands the more remark- 

 able. Either previous explorers have very cursorily skimmed 

 the island fauna, or the species must be extremely local. 



1. ASTUR (UROSPIZA), sp. ? 



An immature bird in first year's plumage. Very like the 

 young of A. approximans, but much smaller. It agrees 

 exactly in measurements with an adult specimen of A. tor- 

 quatus in my collection from the New Hebrides, and may 

 probably prove to be the young of that species. 



The specimen is a male. Iris bright yellow ; feet orange. 



s 



2. HALIASTUII GIRRENERA (Vieill.). 

 Two specimens, adult. 



SER. IV. VOL. III. 2 K 



