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



13. MoNARCHA iNORNATUS (Gam.), Salvad. ii. p. 14. 



Two specimens (1. " d ," 2. "2"). For both, the label repeats :— 

 " Iris brown. L. 16 cm., D. 4 cm. Bill and feet of a beautiful 

 bluish grey. Lokki, Ceram, Nov. 2.5, 1881." 



This species is new to the ornithology of Ceram. I have before me 

 for comparison one sample from the Brunswick Museum, received 

 from Batchian, and three specimens sent at the same time by Dr. 

 Platen from Amboina (cf. Blasius and Nehrkorn, torn. cit. p. 422, 

 sp. 18). The specimens from Batchian and Ceram have a little 

 lighter grey colouring on the head and breast than the three birds (all 

 males) from Amboina ; and the individuals just named show distinctly 

 a small number of black feathers on the front and chin, which are 

 scarcely to be remarked on the others. The female from Ceram 

 has in the dried skin a nearly yellowish white bill, at least in the front 

 half; while the five other specimens (all labelled male) show di- 

 stinctly the bluish-grey or grey colouring nearly up to the end. 



No. 1 is in the Brunswick Museum. 



14. MusciCAPA GRisEosTiCTA (Swinh.), Salvad. ii. p. 80. 

 "Male. Iris dark brown. L. 12 cm., D. 2 cm. Bill and feet 



dark brown. Lokki, Ceram, Nov. 29, 1881." 



Salvadori has only mentioned Muscicapa griseosticta (Swinh.) and 

 Erythrosterna luteola (Pallas) among the true Flycatchers of the 

 fauna of the Moluccas, &c. As, on account of the greater size and 

 the entirely different colouring of the present specimen, the last 

 species seems totally out of the question, I have labelled this bird at 

 once as M. griseosticta, a determination since coufirmed by Mr. E. 

 F. von Homeyer and Count Tommaso Salvadori. 



It coincides in general very well with the descriptions of Swiuhoe, 

 Salvadori, and Sharpe (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. iv. p. 120, 187.'^), except 

 only that the colour of the tail and quills should not be represented 

 as blackish but rather as dark brown, and the brown-grey plumage 

 has in many places (principally on the nape, on the middle of the 

 back, the tail-feathers and upper wing-coverts, and the shoulder- 

 feathers) numerous fine white spots which are bordered with a 

 dark-brown edging. Such spots are described as characteristic of the 

 plumage of the young of various allied species of Muscicapa, espe- 

 cially 0^ Muscicapa sibirica, Gm., to which species' the example from 

 Ceram has a striking resemblance in the markings of the chin, throat, 

 breast, and belly. I consider therefore, according to analogy with 

 M. silirica, the specimen sent by Dr. Platen from Ceram to be a 

 young bird of Muscicapa griseosticta (Swinh.). I have nowhere 

 found in the literature at my disposal (especially neither among 

 Salvadori's publications nor iu Sharpe's Cat. Birds Brit. Mus.) the 

 description of the plumage of youth of this species. On that account 

 the above remarks about the delicate little white drop-like spots 

 as characteristic of youth may be of interest. That an identi- 



' I use for comparison an old male specimen of Muscicapa sibirica, Qm., de- 

 rived from the collection of my late father, and collected June 4, 1869, on the 

 southern part of Lake Baikal, which is in the Brunswick Museum. 



