1877. J THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 409 



variety of his Alcedo collaris, from the Island of St. Christina. This 

 island is the " Tahiiata " of the new maps, a small island separated 

 by the Bordelaise Straits from Hiwaoa, the chief eastern island of the 

 Marquesas group. As this supposed variety of Forster's has re- 

 mained unnamed since his time, I take a pleasure in bestowing on it 

 the name of Mr. Johann Cesar Godeffroy, who has contributed 

 through his travels so much to a better knowledge of the Polynesian 

 Islands. 



//. godefroyi is a true miniature of H. albicilla, Less., from New 

 Guinea and the Eastern Moluccas, but may be distinguished, besides 

 its inferior size, by the white of the hind neck running down to the 

 middle part of the mantle. In this respect it differs also, even in its 

 young state, from //. tuta, the occurrence of which on the Mar- 

 quesas rests merely on the labels of the Leiden and Dresden Museums, 

 and has not been verified by any traveller. 



3. Tatare longirostris (Gm.) ; Finsch ik Hartl. Ornith. 

 Central-Polyn. p. 66. 



Three specimens, agreeing perfectly with examples from the 

 Society Islands (Eimeo and Huahine). 



4. Monarcha nigra (Sparrm.)j Finsch & Hartl. Ornith. Central- 

 Polyn. p. 90. 



An extensive series of 12 specimens, representing all the stages of 

 plumage which were formerly considered to belong to different species. 



Four specimens in a uniform black dress are, no doubt, in full 

 plumage. 



Four specimens are in the rusty plumage (Muscicapa lutea, Gm.), 

 and are apparently young birds : — 



Upper parts dark rusty brown, quills and tail darker ; the re- 

 miges margined externally rusty ; lores, sides of head and neck, and 

 the whole under surface light rufous, paling to rufous white on the 

 middle of breast and vent ; anal region nearly white. Bill yellow- 

 ish, the culmen greyish. The protracted yellow angle of the mouth 

 gives these birds the appearance of young ones. 



Five specimens show transitions in plumage from white to black, 

 and from rusty to black ; all these birds are moulting : — 



Head, chin, throat and quills black, the remaining parts white, 

 but varied with black feathers on the shoulders and mantle ; tail in 

 one nearly uniform white, in others irregularly tipped with black, in 

 one the outmost feather rusty ; primaries margined externally more 

 or less with white, in one specimen with rusty. 



k^pecimens changing from rusty to black : — 



Black ; wing-coverts margined with rusty, as are also some of the 

 primi>ries; shoulders dark rusty-brown, Uke the tail; two middle 

 tail-fei thers black ; lower breast and abdomen pale rufous, flanks 

 dark rufous ; under tail-coverts black. 



In anotber specimen, agreeing otherwise with the foregoing, the 

 under tail-coverts are dark rusty, and the black of the head is mixed 

 with dark brown feathers. 



