THE BIRDS OF THE FIJI ISLANDS. 33 



The remarkable difference of plumage between the sexes in the genus 

 Chrysxna places it in Class I. of Darwin's Rules or Classes of Cases (Descent 

 of Man, vol. ii. p. 187, chap. xvi.). "In this Class, the young of both sexes 

 resemble, more or less closely, the adult female ; while the adult male differs, 

 often in the most conspicuous manner, from the adult female;" and he 

 instances the common Pheasant, Duck, and House-Sparrow. 



The Plate is taken from one of two adult males in my collection, marked 

 " 23 July, 1875. Ngila, Taviuni, Fiji. Food, berries. Beak and cere green ; 

 legs green; iris yellow-buff. Collected by Mr. E. L. Layard." 



The green bird is a young male from the above locality, dated August 1, 

 1875, w^hich I have from the same source. It would be interesting to watch 

 the gradual change from the green to the orange. 



LAMPROLIA VICTORIA, Finsch. 



Dr. Otto Finsch, Curator of the Bremen Museum, first introduced this 

 bird to science — "a most remarkable new^ Passerine form, from the Feejee 

 Islands." He says, in the P. Z.S. 1873, p. 733, that he was indebted to 

 Mr. T. Klinesmith, of Levuka, Ovalau, through Mr. Michelsen, of Hamburg, 

 for a pair ; and proceeds thus : — " At first sight the bird immediately proves 

 to be new — not only as a species, but also as the type of a new genus, w^hich 

 I propose to call 



" Lamprolia*, nov. gen. 



" Diagn. gen. Bill and feet as in Saxicola, but the nostrils covered partly 

 by the frontal feathers ; wings long and rounded, with very short projecting 

 point of primaries, as in Thamnobia ; tail short, rounded ; mode of coloration 

 Paradiseine. 



■^ From \afi7rpo<;, splendiduSj and Xeto?^ Icevis, 



