On a rare Passerine Bird from New Guinea. 373 



XX VII. — On a rare Passerine Bird from New Guinea. 

 By P. L. Sclater, D.Sc, F.R.S. 



(Plate IX.) 



Mr. "Walter Rothschild has kindly lent me, from the 

 treasures of the Tring Museum, a pair of the very curious 

 little Passerine form which was described by Mr. De Vis in 

 1894 under the name Eulacestoma nigropectus, and I hope 

 that the figures of both sexes of this rare bird, drawn by 

 Keulemans, and the few remarks that I am able to offer 

 upon them, will result in making the species better known to 

 ornithologists. 



The original specimens of this bird, now in the Queensland 

 Museum at Brisbane, were obtained by Capt. Armit and 

 Mr. Guise during their expedition up Mount Maneao, in 

 British New Guinea, in February 1895. An account of the 

 route of this expedition and of the adventures met with, 

 drawn up by Mr. Guise, will be found in the ' Queensland 

 Annual Report on British New Guinea' for 1893-94 *, of 

 which there is a copy in the Zoological Society's Library. 

 A most valuable and. interesting series of birds was procured 

 on this occasion, and was described by Mr. De Vis in an 

 Appendix to the Report. Amongst the novelties was a new 

 Passerine form, which is referred by Mr. De Vis to the family 

 Laniida3,and named Eulacestoma f, from the much compressed 

 and plough-shaped form of the bill. As Mr. De Vis's 

 " report " is not of easy access, I will reprint his description : — 



" Eulacestoma, n. g. — Bdl much shorter than head, much 

 compressed : the depth twice the breadth and equal to the 

 length of the culmen. Culmen moderately arched; gonys 

 arched more strongly. Nostrils oval? exposed. Nasal and 

 rictal bristles short and feeble; a large wattle depending 

 from the rictus. Wing rather pointed, tip formed by 

 primaries 3-6 ; first primary more than half the length of 



* Report by R. E. Guise, Esquire, on the Expedition despatched from 

 Collingwood Bay to the Main Range. Queensl. Ann. Report on British 

 New Guinea, 1893-94. Brisbane, 1894. 



f 'EvXn«n = a ploughshare — an obsolete Greek word. 



