80 ME. B. B, SHABPE ON BIEDS FEOM 



Museum by the Kev. J. S. M'Farlane. The foUowiDg is an extract 



from a letter addressed to me by that gentleman esplaioing the 



circumstances under which the specimens were procured : — 



" Somerset, Cape York, 

 " Jan. 31st, 1876. 



" The remnant of the Macleay Expedition have just returned 

 from Port Moresby in our little steamer. They have given me a 

 Bower-bird's nest and some specimens, which I' also send to you 

 by this mail in a case ; they are from the neighbourhood of Port 

 Moresby, about twenty miles inland." 



Mr. M'Parlane also writes : — " I send you a Bird of Paradise 

 which I got up the Baxter river ; I skinned it myself, and when 

 I got back I got one of the ' Chevert ' staff to do it up for me. 

 It is not a very good specimen, but yet the best, I think, out of 

 New Gruinea. . . . D'Albertis has not got any of this kind ; and 

 the party from the ' Chevert ' are not likely to get them at Port 

 Moresby, except mutilated ones from the natives. They seem to 

 come from the head of the gulf." 



My disappointment may be imagined on finding that the Bird of 

 Paradise here referred to had been abstracted in transitu, appa- 

 rently by rats, and that only a few red plumes remained of this 

 highly interesting bird, which was apparently an adult male of 

 P. raggiana. 



1. Geoffroyius pucherani. 



Pionias pucherani {Bp.) ; Finsch, Papag. ii. p. 385. 

 The only skin sent is not adult ; but on comparing it with our 

 series in the Museum, I believe it to be referable to G. pucherani. 



2. DOMICELLA SCINTILLATA. 



Domicella scintillata (Temm.) ; Finsch, Papag. ii. p. 752. 



I have compared the specimen now sent with others from New 

 Guinea and the Aru Islands, and can find no specific difference, 

 though the Port-Moresby skin is not fully adult. The species is 

 not mentioned in the last of D'Albertis's collection. 



3. Trichoglossus massena. 



Trichoglossus massena, £p. ; Salvad. 8f D' Albert. Ann. Mus. Genov. vi. 

 p. 812. 



Count Salvadori compared D'Albertis's single specimen with Mr. 

 Grray's Plate of the species in the late Mr. Brenchley's ' Cruise 

 of the Ciiragoa,' and came to the conclusion that the New-Gruinea 

 bird was the same. I have compared a fine skin sent by Mr. 

 M'Parlane with the others in the Museum from the Solomon 

 Islands, and can confirm Count Salvadori's determination. 



