428 MR. H. O. FOUBES ON BIRDS FROM [JuQC 17, 



the paler bluish-grey attire." I feel satisfied, after examining the 

 specimens in the British jNIuseum and in my own collection, that 

 the difference in coloration is one due to age, for in young birds 

 the plumage is lighter than in the adult state. Dr. Meyer's obser- 

 vation that the dark mantle reaches, in Tinior-Laut skins only, just 

 to the root of the tail, while in A. leucoyaster it overlaps by about 

 1 centimetre, is, in as far as the series referred to enables an opinion 

 to be formed, one not sufficiently constant to support specific sepa- 

 ration. In several Timor-Laut specimens examined the dark plu- 

 mage overlaps the tail more than 1 centimetre, and even more than 

 in others from different parts of the Archipelago which have been 

 hitherto recognized as A. leucogaster. In skins of ^. leucoyaster from 

 Mysol and Macassar, the mantle is just conterminous with the root 

 of the tail. Really, however, the absolute constancy of these mea- 

 surements can be determined only with accuracy in the flesh, for 

 the way iu which the skin is manipulated will increase or diminish 

 them by several centimetres. The same holds with regard to another 

 character given as differential — the greater amount, in Timor-Laut 

 specimens, of white on the rump and upper tail-coverts. In my 

 own specimens the white on the rump varies from 22-31 millim. 

 in length, while in eight other skins from different regions of the 

 Archipelago the range is from 26-32 millim., giving in the latter, 

 indeed, a wider zone than in those from Timor-Laut. In the long 

 series of Biitish-Museum skins, the white tijis of all but the two 

 middle tail-feathers, another of Dr. Meyer's differential characters, 

 is also quite inconstant. In several Timor-Laut skhis not only 

 these two tail-feathers, but several others of the remiges, are without 

 a white band, while in some examples it is even less than in 

 undisputed A. leucogaster. In young birds the white tips are very 

 pronounced, not on the remiges only, but on the primaries and 

 secondaries of the wing also. The Philippine (Zebu) birds, already 

 referred to, have the tips of the remiges quite as broad as in those 

 from Timor-Laut. In a Lombock specimen (" ex Stevens ") the 

 tips of all the feathers are white ; a Batanta and a New-Holland 

 specimen have no white tips at all ; one from Halmaheira and one 

 from Buru (both from Mr. Wallace's collection), except in one 

 feather, have no white on the remiges ; yet all of them have been 

 determined to be, and are undoubtedly A. leucogaster (Val.). 



As to the species of Fachycephala {arctitorquis, Sclater) from 

 Timor-Laut, we have the curious fact that, notwithstanding my 

 more thorough examination of a wider field, the whole series ob- 

 tained by me contained, if Dr. Meyer is correct in his determi- 

 nations, no females of P. arctitorquis and no males of P. riedelii 

 (were Dr. Meyer's specimens sexed ?) ; while those who made the 

 collection examined by Dr. Meyer obtained in Babbar (an island 

 at no great distance to the W. of Yamdena) females of P. arcti- 

 torquis, and evidently no males (so recognized by Dr. Meyer), 

 and females of P. kilirensis (Meyer), without one of its males. I 

 daily saw the collections made in Timor-Laut by the Ambninese 

 hunters above mentioned, and I feel confident that no species of 



