430 MR. H. O. FORBES ON BIRDS FROM [June 17, 



(the label bearing the name in his handwriting) as C. metallica, while 

 it remained unique. After comparison of this skin with Timor-Laut 

 specimens, the two are unquestionably identical. C. circumscripta 

 (Meyer) must, therefore, be considered henceforth a synonym of 

 C.gularis, G. R. Gr., which must now be removed from being a syno- 

 nym of C. metallica to specific rank, confirming the opinion expressed 

 in 1876 ('Ibis,' p. 46) by Mr. Bowdler Sharpe, who says : — " I must 

 pronounce this, contrary to Lord Walden's opinion, a very good 

 species, distinguished by its purple throat and small bill, the culmen 

 only measuring *65 inch, as against "85 in 0. viridescens." This mea- 

 surement is not the only one by which the species can be distin- 

 guished, for the plumage in every specimen is so constant that the 

 skins cannot easily be confounded with any other. C. gularis is 

 slightly less, and more brightly metallic — a more beautiful bird, in 

 my opinion, even than the true 0. metallica ; the purple of the throat, 

 which is more chastely and delicately feathered than in C. metallica, is 

 separated from the purple of the back and upper breast by a narrow 

 and very bright green band. The total length of the bird in 14 

 specimens ranged from 210-250 millim. Count Salvadori (P. Z. S. 

 1 878, p. 89) remarks : — " Some specimens (of C. metallica) have the 

 throat more purplish than others, one from Mysol (0. gularis, Gray) 

 cannot be separated from others from Halmaheira and Cape York." 

 I have not seen any Halmaheira specimens ; but the Cape-York bird 

 undoubtedly differs by the purple on the breast, which is green in 

 G. gularis ; the green neck-band is much broader, and the throat is 

 more markedly green and without purple. It has, I believe, been 

 separated as C. purpurascens, Salv. The Admiralty-Island Calornis 

 is somewhat similar to C.gularis, but is at once distinguishable by the 

 absence of purple on the back ; the head is purple ; and it is known 

 as C. purpureiceps. 



The designation Ptilopus flavovirescens has been proposed by 

 Dr. Meyer for the Timor-Laut Pigeon determined by Dr. Sclater 

 as P. xanthogaster (Wagl.). The difference lies, he notes, in the 

 " Gelbgriinlichgraue " of the head and neck. From a careful com- 

 parison of my own skins with those in the British Museum, I feel 

 confident that the differences observed by Dr. Meyer will be found 

 to be those due to age only. Very young birds have a grey band 

 over the forehead, and the rest of the head with the neck and back 

 nearly of the same shade of green; with advancing age we find 

 every shade of green and yellowish-green to Dr. Meyer's " Gelbgriin- 

 lichgraue." The head of the fully adult bird is purplish grey, each 

 feather having a pale yellow submarginal crescent across it. 



Some of the skins obtained by me differ as to head and neck in 

 no respect from specimens brought by Mr. Wallace from Banda ; 

 others have the head and neck of a grey colour tinctured with every 

 shade through green-blue to yellow, differing according to the age 

 of the birds. I cannot detect in the specimens I have any difference 

 in breadth of the " Gelb der Kehle " as compared with Mr. Wallace's 

 specimens ; nor is the breast shield constantly of one shade in all the 

 specimens I have examined. Iu the Banda example (of Wallace) it 



