1877.] BIRDS OF TONGATABU, FIJI, ETC. 731 



The Fiji specimens look a little lighter from below thau those 

 from Tonga and the Navigators'. 



8. Halcyon sacra (Gm.). 



Todirhamphus vitiensis, Cass. 



Halcyon cassini, F. & H. Orn. Central-Polyn. p. 40. 



//. sacra and H. cassini, Layard, P. Z. S. 1875, p. 427. 



No. 61. Kandavu. Male. " Eyes and bill black." 



95. „ Male. " Eyes black, feet greyish ; upper 



mandible black and margin of the under, rest of lower mandible pale 

 red. Stomach contained a wasp and parts of other insects. Shot 

 August 6."—/. M. 

 — No, 109. Kandavu. Male. 

 110. „ Male. 



The Fiji specimens are generally darker and of a more brilliant 

 blue, the neck-collar is washed with rufous, as are the sides of the 

 vent and flanks, which in the Tonga birds are, like the neck-collar, 

 almost pure white. But these differences are in certain speci- 

 mens so indistinct that thereupon no specific characters can be based. 

 H. cassini, Finsch & Hartl., with an ill-defined superciliary stripe, 

 rests on individual differences which are of no specific value. But I 

 may remark that among a very large number of specimens examined 

 by me from the Friendly and Fiji Islands, I never met with one having 

 a white head showing only a blue vertical spot, as is represented in 

 the right-hand figure of Sharpe's plate of H. sacra, which I think 

 must still be kept separate as H. peali, F. & H., from the Navi- 

 gators'. In size the Fiji specimens are exactly the same as those 

 from Tonga, and have not a longer bill, as has been stated by Mr. 

 Layard (P. Z. S. 1876, p. 501). 



9. Myzomela jugularis, Peale. 



Myzomela jugularis, F. & H. Orn. Central-Polyn. p. 54, t. vii. f. 1, 

 2; Lajard, P. Z. S. 1875, p. 431. 

 No. 43. Matuka. Male. 



44. ,, Female. 



" Eyes black. These little birds were flying in considerable 

 numbers about a large tree covered with red blossom ; only a few, 

 liowever, were brought on board." — J. M. 



No. 59. Kandavu. Male. "Eyes and legs black." 

 60. ,, Female. 



85. „ Male. 



86. „ Female. 



" Eyes and bill black ; legs a bluish tinge with soles yellow. 

 Stomach contained portions of insects. Shot August 5." 



No. 70. Kandavu. Male. 



In the female (No. 60) the red on the vertex or chin is more re- 

 stricted ; on the rump it is wanting in all ; in No. 60 also on the 

 vertex. No. 86 shows some red feathers on the rump but none on 

 the vertex. 



