ilU. B. B. SHAEPE ON THE BIRDS OF NEW GUINEA. 439 



quills and tail dusky, externally edged with yellowish olive, the 

 tail-feathers margined with light rufous on the inner web ; sides 

 of face and ear-coverts dusky blackish, with a slight shade of 

 silvery whitish on the ear-coverts, and a streak of dull white 

 from behind the lores under the eye ; cheeks dusky blackish, with 

 a slight indication of ashy tips to the feathers ; a narrow malar 

 streak of dull yellowish white ; throat yellowish white, mottled 

 with dusky bases to the feathers ; remainder of under surface of 

 body ashy, the feathers tijDped with a white bar and slightly 

 washed with olive ; the whole appearance of the under surface 

 mottled, excepting on the lower flanks, which are uniform olive ; 

 thighs dusky ; under tail-coverts light rufous with dusky bases, 

 the outer ones externally yellowish white, mottled with dusky 

 bases to the feathers ; axillaries pale olive-yellowish ; under 

 wing-coverts light rufous-buff ; quills dusky below, pale rufous 

 along the inner web. Total length 7 inches, culmen 1'05, wing 3'8, 

 tail 3-7, tarsus 1-05. 



This new species is very close to P. cinerea, but is recognized 

 by the whitish edging to the breast-feathers, which gives it a 

 mottled appearance. 



Plectoehtncha fxtlviyenteis, Ramsay, JBroc. Linn. Soc. JSF. S. 

 Wales, 1882, p. 718. No. 202. In Mr. Goldie's second col- 

 lection. 



Mr. Eamsay has had the courtesy to send me a proof o£ a 

 paper recently published by him in the ' Proceedings of the Lin- 

 nean Society of New South Wales,' which, he informs me, was 

 read on the 31st of August, 1881, and published on the 11th of 

 January, 1882 ; and I find tlie description of the present species, 

 which I was about to publish as new. Considering the mass of 

 synonymy which one has to wade through now-a-days in the pre- 

 paration of such a work as the ' Catalogue of Birds,' Mr. Eamsay's 

 action in letting us know as early as possible of the publication of 

 his new species cannot be too highly appreciated, as an unneces- 

 sary name has been saved thereby ; and it has hitherto been a great 

 drawback to describing many New-Gruinea species which have been 

 in my hands, to think that probably at the same moment Mr. 

 Eamsay has received a similar consignment, and is at the time 

 bestowing a second title upon them. The difilculty is greatly 

 increased by the fact that we have no positive information as to 

 the real date of publication of the ' Proceedings of tlie Linnean 



