1887.] COLLECTION FROM CHRISTMAS ISLAND. 515 



II. BIRDS. 

 By R. BowDLER Sharpe. 



The relations of the Avifauna of Christmas Island can hardly be 

 judged by the few specimens in the collection, as there are doubtless 

 some other indigenous species to be found in the island ; but the 

 discovery of an isolated species of Carpophaga, and of a Thrush whose 

 nearest ally is a West-African species, is of great interest. 



1. TURDUS ERYTHROPLEURUS, Sp. U. 



T. similis T. pelio, sed corporis lateribus cervinis et subalaribus 

 cinerascenti-albis nee aurantiaco-fulvis distinguendus. 



Adult female (type of species). General colour above ashy 

 olive-brown, a little clearer brown on the lower back, rump, and upper 

 tail-coverts ; wing-coverts like the back, the greater series somewhat 

 fulvous-brown externally, with a yellowish-buff spot at the ends 

 (doubtless the remains of young plumage) ; bastard-wing, primary- 

 coverts, and quills dusky brown, externally ashy on the primaries, 

 the others externally like the back ; tail-feathers dusky brown, 

 washed with olive-brown on both webs ; crown of head ashy brown, 

 the feathers at the base of the forehead and above the eye whitish ; 

 lores dull ashy ; sides of face, ear-coverts, and cheeks light ashy 

 brown ; throat white, streaked with brown along the sides of the 

 throat ; fore neck, breast, and sides of body light tawny, deeper on 

 the latter, with a shade of ashy on the fore neck and chest, the 

 feathers on the flanks edged with ashy whitish ; centre of lower breast, 

 abdomen, and under tail-coverts white, the latter edged with pale 

 tawny ; axillaries and under wing-coverts ashy whitish, with a slight 

 tinge of tawny; quills dusky below, ashy along the inner web. 

 Total length 7"8 inches, culmen 0'9, wing 4, tail 3, tarsus 1"2. 



Carpophaga whartoni, sp. n. (Plate XLIII.) 



This is apparently quite a new species of Fruit-Pigeon. It has 

 uniform chestnut-brown under tail-coverts like C. cenea, to which 

 section it belongs ; but here resemblance ends, for in its uniform 

 dusky coloration it is difficult to find an immediate ally unless it be 

 C. lanthina of Japan. The latter is an equally dark-coloured bird, 

 but the beautiful purple and green lustre on the upper parts of the 

 Japanese species is quite different from the dull-coloured plumage of 

 C. whartoni. 



I add a detailed description of the type of the latter species : — 

 Adult male. General colour above dull green, with a very slight 

 gloss of bronze, the latter shade being more evident on the wing- 

 coverts and scapulars ; wing-coverts like the back, the greater coverts 

 externally glossy green with a bronzy tinge ; bastard-wing, primary- 

 coverts, and quills blackish, externally glossy green with more or less 

 of a bronzy gloss, especially on the inner secondaries ; lower back, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts like the back, the latter rather more 



