1876.] OF the navigators' islands. 493 



13. Rhipidura nebulosa, Peale. 



Not rare in the forest, and about the cotton-bushes on the planta- 

 tion before named. It did not spread its tail, or make such noisy 

 demonstrations as the Fijian R. albicollis, perhaps because my 

 visit to its haunts was not made during the breeding-season. I 

 was informed that the nest was of the true Rhipidura type, with a 

 long pendent base. 



A fine Rhipidura has been added to the avifauna of Fiji, procured 

 at Kandavu, by my old servant Charles Pearce. Mr. Ramsay, of the 

 Sydney Museum, alludes to it as R. persoaata. 



14. Myiagra albiventris, Peale. 



This pretty little flycatcber takes the place, in Samoa, of the Fijian 

 M. castaneiventris, but is not so plentiful ; nor does it so much affect 

 native villages and gardens, being more restricted to the forest. The 

 sexes, unlike ours, are hardly distinguishable. A young bird (still 

 tended by its parent) shot by me on the 18th December, almost 

 exactly resembles the young of 31. castaneiventris shot in October, 

 being dark slate-coloured above, with a dirty buff throat, aud whitish 

 abdomen and vent. 



This species feeds exclusively on insects, which it seeks ou the 

 leaves or on the wing, the snap of its bill being audible to a con- 

 siderable distance. 



15. Pachycephala flavifrons, Peale. 



If the description given by Finsch and Ilartlaub is correct, neither 

 Mr. Whitmee nor myself have succeeded in identifying this species. 

 The only Pachycephala known to us has certainly not got " guttur 

 album." A fine male is yellow on the throat, slightly dirtied with 

 a dark grey, which condenses to a near approach to black on the 

 chin. The nostrils are covered by a yellow patch ; but this is 

 not noted in the description. A young male, shot on the 22nd 

 December, has all the chin, throat, and chest grey, and shows traces 

 of rufous on the flanks, vent, under tail-coverts underneath, and on 

 the wing, secondaries, and cheeks above. It wants also the yellow 

 nostril-patch. The female (unlike those of all the species known to 

 me in Fiji, which are rufous) is also yellow below, the grey of the 

 throat and chin being tinged with the same, no nostril-patch. 



This bird is not uncommon in Samoa, and, in addition to the sexual 

 difference noted before, is dissimilar to any Pachycephala I have yet 

 seen, in its choice of locality, and want of voice. Our Fijian birds, 

 (as also P.jacquinoti of Vavaw), never approach cultivation, but keep 

 to the genuine forest; the Samoan species, ou the contrary, comes down 

 to the cocoa-nut groves and native gardens, and is a quiet bird, the 

 others being constantly on the move, uttering their loud calls. 



16. Pachycephala albifrons, Peale. 



This bird did not occur to me ; nor has Mr. Whitmee recoguized 

 it ; indeed, in epistold, he entirely doubts the habitat. 



I should here correct an error I have fallen into in my " Notes on 

 Proc. Zool. Soc— 1876, No. XXXIII. 33 



