1875. | MR. E. L, LAYARD ON THE BIRDS OF FIJI. 29 
identify it with R. nebulosa, described by Finsch and Hartlaub, and 
they do not give a Rhipidura as an inhabitant of this group) I take 
to be new, and therefore provisionally describe under the name 
RHIPIDURA ALBOGULARIS, Sp. Noy. 
Female. Upper parts above very dark black-brown, tinged with 
a warm reddish brown on the rump and back ; eyebrow, chin, and 
throat white; underparts greyish, more or less longitudinally striped 
with black and white, and tinged on the belly and vent with isabella 
yellow. Primaries dark brown; secondaries faintly edged with red- 
dish brown ; tertiaries and coverts edged and tipped with the same. 
Tail-feathers dark brown, all but the four central broadly tipped with 
white. Bill black ; base of lower mandible orange ; bristles of bill 
black, and exceeding it in length. Legs blackish; iris brown. 
Length 6"; wing 3"; tail 3! 6'"; tarsus 10!’ ; bill 6!” 
The specimen described was shot by my butler on the 11th of 
August of this year, very high up in the mountains; its stomach 
contained minute insects; another was seen but not secured, proba- 
bly the male. It was very restless and continually spreading its tail, 
jerking it over its back. 
September 11th.—Another just shot up the mountain. 
I may as well here indicate the existence of a new Zosterops in 
Kandavu. I saw several specimens in the ‘ Challenger’ collection, 
but failed to find it myself in my visit there, though I obtained the 
common Z. flaviceps, from which it was distinguished by being yel- 
low from the chin to the abdomen, and without the ash-colour collar. 
Unfortunately, when Professor Wyville Thomson suggested that I 
should describe the new species, the specimens had been packed 
away; a more detailed description must therefore await the advent in 
England of the ‘Challenger’s’ treasures; meanwhile I suggest the 
specific name of Z. explorator, as indicating the ‘ Expedition,’ and 
well illustrating the inquisitive poking-into-everything character of 
the birds of this genus. ; 
Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub do not include Tachypetes aquila in 
their inhabitants of these islands; but I found them very common 
here during the hurricane-months (January to the end of March) ; 
during the gales they came to land, and my son shot one from the con- 
sulate door. I also saw them while cruising about among the islands. 
This (September) seems about the middle of the breeding-season, 
though some species breed earlier, e.g. Astur cruentus, young of 
which I received with the down on them in May. I have eggs 
brought to me of Ptilotis procerior (hard-set), Artamus mentalis (also 
young birds able to fly), Astur cruentus (probably a second laying), 
Zosterops flaviceps, and Ardea javanica. The last-named eggs were 
obtained by Mr. A. Boyd, one of my kind helpers in my collecting, 
who also informed me that he knew of Terns and Plovers breeding in 
some isolated rocks ; but on going for their eggs, he found they had 
been harried by the natives, two days previously, for a Sunday feast ; 
the old birds were still frequenting the place, uttering doleful cries. 
