64: Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Giant on Birds 



Aru, as is shown by the specimens in the British Museum. 

 It is easily distinguished from P. gracilis Gould by its 

 stouter bill and by having the rump-feathers elongate, 

 forming a dense cushion of olive-green, uniform in colour 

 with the back, the longest feathers being fringed with whitish 

 and often forming a more or less distinct crescentic band 

 across the base of the tail. The underparts are not distinctly 

 spotted as in the P. notata group. 



Males SLxe perhaps a little larger than females : — 



12 males. 10 females. 



Wing. Tail. Wing. Tail 



' 77-86 mm. 63-7,i mm. 71-82-5 mm. 58-70 mm. 



"This Honey-eater is probably less plentiful than P.n. mi- 

 mikce,hvii\i Qannoi be distinguished from that bird in life 

 and has exactly the same habits." — C. H. B. G. 



Dr. Hartert is right in stating that my Ptilotis longirostris 

 [cf. Bull. B. O.C. xxix. p. 27 (1911), Island of Wamma], 

 should have been compared with P. analoga and not with 

 P. aruensis, but I cannot agree with him that it is merely 

 a long-billed individual of the former species. There is 

 no proof that this is the case, and no other specimens 

 from the island of Wamma are available for comparison. 

 The bill measures 26 mm. as compared w^ith 23 mm. in the 

 longest example of P. analoga in the British Mnseum. 

 Until it is proved that the shorter-billed P. analoga also 

 occurs on Wamma, this long-billed form must rank as a 

 distinct subspecies [cf. Hartert, N. Z. xx. p. 519 (1913)]. 



P. analoga vidua Roths. & Hartert [N. Z. xix. p. 203 

 (1912)], from Sudest Island, is a very closely allied race, 

 with the forehead greyish instead of olive and the under- 

 parts perhaps somewhat paler. 



Ptilotis albonotata. 



Ptilotis alhonotata Salvad. 0. P. ii. p. 333 (1881). 

 a. c?. Mimika River, 11th April, 1910. [No. 1126, 

 C.H.B. (?.] 



