118 MR. P. L, SCLATER ON BIRDS [Feb. 11, 
The following papers were read :— 
1. On a Collection of Birds from the Solomon Islands. By 
P. L. Scrater, M.A,, Ph.D.; E.R.S., Secretary to the 
Society. 
(Plates IX. & X.) 
Our Corresponding Member Mr. Gerard Krefft, the active Curator 
and Secretary of the Australian Museum, has most kindly presented 
to me a collection of birds in spirits, made by the captain of the 
(former) yacht ‘Chance,’ owned by Mr. J. A. Buttray of Bristol, 
during a voyage to the Solomon Islands*. 
The collection contains thirty specimens, belonging to twenty-one 
species, many of them of great interest. But before speaking of 
them I will say a few words upon what has hitherto been recorded 
concerning the ornithology of this group of islands. 
Our present authorities upon this subject are few in number, 
namely :— 
(1) The “ Zoologie” of the voyage of the French ships ‘ L’As- 
trolabe’ and ‘La Zélée,’ under the command of Dumont-d’ Urville, 
in 1837-1840, commonly known as the ‘ Voyage au Péle Sud.’ 
The “Atlas” to this voyage contains figures of ten species of 
birds from the Solomon Islands, concerning which ‘some further 
details are given in the letterpress of the same work, subsequently 
written by Dr. Pucheran and published in 1853. These ten species, 
which are all described as new to science, are :— 
Zool. vol. iii. Atlas. ex ins. 
Athene teniota .........60.045 p- 50, pl. 3. fig. 1. 8. George. 
Pachycephala orioloides ... p. 57, pil. 5. fig. 3. S. George. 
Lamprotornis fulvipennis... p. 81, pl. 14. fig. 2. Isabel. 
Dic@um Eneum ..... cc. ceceeee p- 97, pl. 22. fig. 4. 8. George. 
Myzomela lafarget ......... p. 98, pl. 22. fig. 5. 
WMS SOUGOIO Sones eke. Ronit oe p. 99, pl. 22. fig. 6. 
Lorius cardinalis ..........4. p- 103, pl. 24 dis. fig. 2. 
Pionus heteroclitus ......04. p- 103, pl. 25 dis. fig. 1. 8. George and Isabel. 
SEE CY OLCETIS wick ciaeistafia\s% sea ses p- 105, pl. 25 dis. fig. 2. 
Cacatua ducorpsié ........... p- 109, pl. 26. fig. 1. 
(2) Mr. Gould’s notices of new birds collected during the voyage 
of the ‘ Rattlesnake’ (P. Z. S. 1856, p. 136 et seqgqg.). The species 
here described from the Solomons are :— 
1. Centropus milo, from Guadalcanar. 
2. Turaceena crassirostris, from Guadalcanar. 
3. Lorius chlorocercus, from San Cristoval. 
4. Iotreron eugenie, from “the Solomons.” 
* The name of these islands is variously spelt “Salomon” and ‘‘Solomon” 
Islands. But we learn from Hakluyt (iii. p. 802) that the discoverer (Mendana) 
“named them the Isles of Salomon to the end that the Spaniards, supposing 
them to be those isles from whence Solomon fetched gold to adorn the Temple, 
might be the more desirous to go and inhabit the same.’’ It would appear, 
therefore, to be better to call them in English “Solomon” Islands, according to 
the ordinary English orthography of Solomon’s name. 
