20 MR. A. R. WALLACE ON THE BIRDS OF BOURU. [Jan, 13, 



haying been described from specimens which have Uved a long time 

 in confinement, and have acquired abnormal colours in various parts 

 of their plumage. The production of such coloured variations is, in 

 fact, an art practised by the native tribes both in South America and 

 in the Eastern Islands. Another cause of error is from young birds 

 having been described ; and a third, from the deficiencies of badly 

 prepared native skins having been made up by the addition of parts 

 (often the wings and tail) of other birds. In the present case I 

 have little doubt that this bird is the P. puniceus of Gmelin, and the 

 Lorius amboinensis of Brisson, whose description, generally so erni- 

 nently accurate, appears to apply to a young bird which had lost its 

 primary quills. I cannot agree to the revolution in nomenclature 

 proposed by Mr. G. R. Gray, in using the names of Boddaert, 

 which have been considered of no authority by every other author 

 from the time of Gmehn to that of Prince Bonaparte. 



Tanygnathus affinis. 



Viridis, subtus Jlavescens ; capite saturate viridi ; dorsi plumis 

 cceruleo 7narginatis ; crisso cceruleo ; tectricibua alarum mino- 

 ribus et mediis obscure viridibus, fiavo marginatis, versus mar- 

 ginem et flexuram alarum viridi-ccBruleis ; majoribus cceruleo- 

 viridibus, Jlavo-viridi marginatis ; cauda subtus lutescente ; eul- 

 mine rostri versus basin biangulato. 

 Near T. macrorhynchus, Wagl. ; but the under surface, and espe- 

 cially the sides of the breast and belly, have much less yellow ; the 

 shoulders and wing-coverts are dull greenish and blue instead of deep 

 black, and only a few of the lesser wing-coverts are of a greenish 

 black ; the greater wing-coverts nearest the body are all green, and 

 the yellow margins are much less conspicuous than in the allied 

 species ; the outer webs of the primaries and of the greater and 

 middle wing-coverts are green, instead of blue as in T. macrorhynchus. 

 The bill also differs, the culmen being much flattened in its basal 

 half, with distinct angular edges, whereas in the allied species it is 

 regularly rounded. Bill deep red ; feet dusky olive ; iris ohve- 

 yellow, with an outer ring nearly white. 



Total length 1 7 inches ; wing 9^ inches ; bill, to base, c? 2^ inches, 

 $ 1| inch. 

 Hab. Bourn, Amboyna, and Ceram. 



Remarks. — The Amboyna and Ceram specimens have the wing- 

 coverts a little darker than those from Bouru, but they are still 

 sufiSciently distinct from T. macrorhynchus. 



Trichoglossus cyanogrammus. 



T. cyanogrammus, Wagl. Mon. Psitt. p. 554. 



T. nigrogularis, G. R, Gray, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 183. 



Hab. Bouru, Ceram, and all the Papuan Islands. 



Remarks. — On examining specimens from the above-mentioned 

 locaUties, I can find only slight individual variations among them, 

 not confined to any given locality. The specimens from the Aru 

 Islands {T. nigrogularis, G. R. Gray) exactly agree with the rest. 



