30.2 Dr. P. H. Bahr : Notes on the 



3. c? jiiv. Feb. 12, 1910, Suva, Vitilevu. Wing 85 mm. ; 

 tail 61 ; bill 9. 



4. 2. July 27, 1910. Oneata Island, Fiji. Iris hazel ; 

 feet l)lne-black; bill brown, lower mandible hazel (dull 

 white in dried skin). Wing 96 ram. ; tail 68 ; bill 12. 



5. One egg from nest of No. 4. Pale greenish blue, zoned 

 and spotted with dark brown. 24x17 mm. 



1 is in worn plumage, under surface barred ; upper 

 surfaee dark brown ; 2 is like 1, but blacker on the back and 

 the tail in moult (? accidental). 



3 is a young bird of the previous year; it is undergoing a 

 bodv-raoult, and when this is completed it will resemble 1 . 

 The remains of the juvenile plumage are to be seen on the 

 mantle in some barred brown and white feathers and in tl»e 

 rufous edgings to the Aving-coverts. 



Dr. Bahr's field-notes suggest that in Oneata there is a 

 distinct species oi Lalage, and the female specimen obtained 

 from that island diftcrs considerably from a breeding female 

 obtained in Vitilevu in being larger, blacker on the back, 

 and having the under parts pure white and not barred with 

 black. However, I find in the British Museum and at 

 Tring specimens with white under parts from Samoa, 

 Tongatabu, and at least one from Vitilevu, witli which this 

 specimen corresponds fairly Avell, except that the measure- 

 ments are much too large for a female and correspond 

 closely with that of a male, but Dr. Bahr assures me that 

 it is sexed correctly. 



Layard ('Ibis,' 1876, p. 144) records that this species is 

 in the juvenile plumage all the year round, and breeds in it, 

 and his statement would be borne out by Dr. Bahr's notes. 

 Furthermore, Finsch (P. Z. S. 1877, p. 725) remarks that 

 "adult and fully coloured '' birds, which he goes on to state 

 have the whole under surface pure white, are very rare in 

 collections ; of these lie had three specimens, two were 

 males from Tongatabu, and one a female from Matuku, 

 Fiji. 



From the poor series of this species available for exami- 

 nation it is impossible now to elucidate this problem further. 



