ESrHABITINC THE PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO. 211 



136. * OSMOTRERON AXILLARIS. 



" Treron axillaris, G. R. Gray," Bp. Cotnpt. Rend, xxxix. p. 875 (1854) pair, incert. ; Conspectus, 



ii. p. 13 (1857). 

 Treron aromatica, Gm., ap. G. R. Gray, Cat. Brit. Mus. Columbce (1856), p. 10, "Philippines," 



nee Gm. 

 Treron amboinensis (Miiller), ap. G. R. Gray, Hand-list, no. 9079, nee Miiller. 

 Treron aromatica (Gm.), ap. Schlegel, Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk. 1863, p. 64, " Philippines," nee Gm.; 



Mus. Pays-Bas, Columbte, p. 53 (March 1873) ; Bp. Icon. Pig. pi. 7. 



Hah. Luzon, Guimaras, Negros {Meyer). 



A large series of the Philippine maroon-backed Osmotreron was obtained by Dr. 

 Meyer from the localities cited ; and they in no way differ among one another. They 

 belong to the same subsection as Osmotreron aromatica (Gm.) of the Moluccas {cf. 

 Wallace, P. Z. S. 1863, p. 33, & Ibis, 1863, p. 319), in which the undercoverts of the tail 

 in both sexes are white, or yellowish white, without any markings. From the Moluccan 

 species 0. axillaris it differs in being somewhat larger, by having a large and very 

 powerful bill, by the maroon mantle covering a larger surface of the back and being 

 of a lighter shade, and by the ventral plumage and the thigh-coverts being almost 

 bright yellow mixed with very dark green. The middle toe measures one inch, and in 0. 

 aromatica an eighth less ; the corneous part of the maxilla seven-sixteenths against five- 

 sixteenths of an inch in the Moluccan bird. 



The title axillaris refers to the black edge of the shoulder in this species {fide Bp. 

 Icon. Pig.). This part and the lesser shoulder-coverts are nearly black, being very dark 

 slate-colour in fully adult males. 



Professor Schlegel (Mus. Pays-Bas, Columhw, p. 53) makes 0. axillaris, G. R. Gray, 

 apud Bp. Consp. ii. p. 13, equal to T. griseicauda, G. R. Gray; but Bonaparte's 

 diagnosis does not agree with either 0. axillaris or 0. aromatica. 



Wagler states (Syst. Av. Columha, no. 8) that he saw a specimen of his Columha 

 {Osmotreron) fuldcollis among a number of Philippine birds sent to Amsterdam. 

 Prince Bonaparte (Consp. ii. p. 14) also cites the Phihppines as being within the range 

 of that species. I can find no other evidence of its Philippine habitat ; and Wagler 

 does not include the Philippines when writing on the species at a subsequent date 

 (Isis, 1829, p. 738). 



Great confusion still prevails in the synonymy of the " maroon-backed " members of 

 the genus Osmotreron ; and I therefore add a list of the ten species known to me as 

 falling under this definition : — 



