516 MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON THE GENUS PTILOPUS. [May 7, 



Friendly Islands lie the Samoan or Navigators' Islands. These 

 contain also five species, two of which are not met with in the Tonga 

 Group. Opalu has four — Pt. perousii, Pt. luteovirens. PL picti- 

 ventris, and Pt.fasciatus, this last being also found on Wallis Island, 

 while Pt. purpuratus is a native of Fulima, lying to the south 

 of Wallis. We now come to the Fijis, which possess among the 

 different islands nine species of Ptilopus. Only one island, however, 

 contains more than two species, viz. Viti-Levu, which has three — Pt. 

 perousii, Pt. luteovirens, and Pt. pictiventris. Schlegel suggests 

 Viti as the probable locality also of the bird he has called Pt. 

 neglectus ; but this is very uncertain, and there is no evidence to 

 support the supposition. Balaou has two species — Pt. luteo- 

 virens and Pt. bonapartei. Two species are found upon five islands 

 which possess no others of this genus. These are Pt. perousii and 

 Pt. purpuratus, met with at Waikia, Vanua Levu, Mango, Mokani, 

 and Loma Loma. Bua, Lanthala and Ngamia only have Pt. victor. 

 Taviuni has Pt. victor and Pt. purpuratus ; while Kandavu con- 

 tains Pt. perousii and Pt. layardi. The New Hebrides possess 

 but two species — Pt. greyi on Erromango Island, and Pt. corriei 

 on Malacolo. On Lifu, of the Loyalty group, Pt. greyi is 

 found, as well as on the Isle of Pines and New Caledonia to the 

 west, this last being also recorded by Schlegel as the habitat of Pt. 

 insolitus — which, however, is probably an error. Passing now to 

 the northward, Pt. greyi is again met with on Vanikoro of the 

 Santa-Cruz archipelago ; and in the Caroline archipelago, on the 

 island of Ponape in the Seniavin group, Pt. fasciatus has been 

 procured. To the north-west, the furthest north perhaps that any 

 species of this genus is found, lie the Marianne or Ladrone Islands. 

 Here is met with the very distinct Pt. roseicapillus, the only repre- 

 sentative of these birds in this group. To the west are the Pelew 

 Islands, whence comes Pt. pelewensis ; but from which particular 

 island is not stated by its describers. 



We now reach the Austro-Malayan Subregion ; and the islands 

 which come first in this review (proceeding from the east towards 

 the west) are those contained in the Papuan group, of which New 

 Guinea is the centre and most important. Beginning with the most 

 eastern division of this group, we have first the Solomon Islands, 

 upon one of which, not as yet known, the Pt. eugenics was obtained. 

 To the westward of this, in the Louisiade archipelago, on the Island 

 of Duchateau, the type of Pt. strophium was procured. From 

 New Ireland, to the north-west, come Pt. insolitus and Pt. puella ; 

 while between this last-named island and New Britain lies Duke-of- 

 York Island, the home of the rare and little-known Pt. rivolii and 

 also of the Pt. insolitus mentioned above. From New Hanover Pt. 

 superbus has been received. To the north-west of this section, on 

 Wild and D'Entrecasteaux Islands of the Admiralty group, the 

 beautiful Pt. johannis was obtained by the naturalists of the ' Chal- 

 lenger ' Expedition. Coming now to New Guinea, the islands in the 

 great Bay of Geelvinck claim our attention. Krudu, the most eastern 

 of these, possesses one species, Pt. geminus. Next, on the large 



