&& Mr, W. R. Ooilvie-Grant o?2 Birds 



Iris brown; bill black; gape yellow ; feet asb-colour. 



This slender-billed species of Honey-eater has the feathers 

 of the rump coloured as in P. analoga, but though somewhat 

 lengthened they are not nearly so dense. The general colour 

 of the upperparts, moreover, is greyish-olive-green, becoming 

 somewhat greyer on the rump and upper tail-coverts. In 

 P. analoga these parts are olive-green, like the back. 



As already pointed out by myself (op. cit.), this small and 

 paler species, which was originally described from Cape 

 York district (type in the British Museum), also occurs in 

 the Aru Islands and in Southern New Guinea side by side 

 with the larger and more brightly coloured form P. analoga. 

 Dr. Hartert has suggested that the birds from New Guinea 

 and Aru may be small female examples of P. analoga, but 

 this cannot be the case, as is shown by the distinguishing 

 characters mentioned above, especially the feathering of the 

 rump and greyish-olive colour of the upperparts. 



The male is generally rather larger than the female, and 

 has the tail distinctly longer. 



4 males. 4 females. 



Wing. Tail. Wing. Tail. 



68-76 mm. 56-63 mm. 67-73 mm. 51-54 mm. 



The British Museum possesses three examples of this 

 species from Silbattabatta, in the Aru Islands, collected by 

 Mr. W. Goodfellow ; also two examples of P. analoga, the 

 latter being readily recognised by their olive-green upper 

 parts and densely feathered rumps. 



" Two were shot in the mangrove-swamps on the coast 

 where P. analoga was not seen." — C.U. B. G. 



Ptilotis aruensis. 



Ptilotis amends Sharpe, Rep. Zool. Coll. ' Alert,' p. 19 

 (1884) [Aru Islands]; Roths. & Hartert, N. Z. x. p. 442 

 (1903), XX. p. 516(1913). 



Ptilotis fiavir ictus van Oort (nee Salvad,), p.- 96 (1909). 



a. S' Rarimau, Mimika River, 19th Dec. 1910. [No. 

 767, C.H.B. G.] 



