698 DR. W. BLASIUS ON BIRDS FROM CERAM. [NoV. 28, 



The determination and the scientific aiialj'sis of the birds which 

 we receive from the Moluccas is greatly facilitated for us by the 

 excellent and very comprehensive work of Tommaso Salvadori, 

 *' Ornitologia della Papuasia e delle Molucche," Parte I. Accipitves, 

 Psittaci, Picarise (in the ' Memorie della Reale Accademia delle 

 Scienze di Torino,' serie ii. tomo xxxiii. : Torino, Ermanno Loescher, 

 1881, 4to), and Parte II. Passeres (Torino, Stamperia Reale: G. 

 B. Paraviae Co., 1881, 4to). This work, as well as the numerous 

 publications of the same author in the 'Annali del Museo Civico di 

 Genova,' and especially also the ' Prodromus Oruithologise Papuasia: 

 et Moluccarum,' published in the different series of those Annals, have 

 been of the utmost use to me in the present treatise. 



The collection of Dr. Platen is not very large ; but among the 

 forty-nine birds, which comprise twenty-one different species, we find 

 nevertheless one species which is absolutely new to the fauna of 

 Ceram, and several others which give occasion for further observations 

 and the discussion of other systematic questions. The remarks of 

 the collector (given with inverted commas) on the colour of the iris 

 and the naked parts of the skins, the total length in fresh condition 

 (L.), and the distance between the ends of the wings and tail (D.), 

 &c., as well as the precise information as to the locality and the 

 time of collecting, will be foiuid most valuable, as they have likewise 

 been of great advantage to my former notes on Dr. Platen's collec- 

 tions from Borneo and other localities. 



I shall now give the list of the birds which Dr. Platen has lately 

 sent ; and (with the exception of the four last species, which 

 have not yet been treated by Salvadori) I shall follow the order of 

 the above-named work of Salvadori, adding the number of the page 

 for each separate species. 



1. CuNCTJMA LEucoGASTER (Gm.), Salvad. i. p. 7. 



"Male. Iris grey-brown. L. 72 cm., D. 3'5 cm. Bill horny grey- 

 blue ; cere and feet light grey-blue- Lokki, Ceram, 28 November 

 1881." 



The specimen is young, and has nearly the coloration of the 

 feathers which Salvadori describes as belonging to the young bird ; 

 only the tips of the brown feathers of the head, neck, and back 

 are in part of a clear white ; the larger upper tail-coverts are 

 whitish near the base, and near the tip light brown-mottled ; the 

 smaller upper tail-coverts are brown, tipped with whitish spots ; the 

 light tips of the feathers of the underparts, which are generally of 

 a uniform brown, are not pure white, but light ferruginous. The 

 primaries are at the ends nearly black for about two thirds of the 

 length, at least dark brown without any trace of grey. Salvadori 

 has mentioned a similarly different coloration in describing some 

 young specimens from Halmahera. It is particularly striking that 

 the tail of our individual is considerably longer than the measure given 

 by Salvadori, as also than those of two old birds of the Brunswick 

 Museum, one of which we have received with the general indication 

 ' Moluccas ' from Mr. G. A. Frank, in Amsterdam, while we owe the 



