7 [Vol. xv. 



fisher is named, sent two specimens from Asuncion (Assump- 

 tion) Island, one of the northern Mariannes. One is marked 

 <$ , the other has no sex indicated. Both appear to be 

 adult, though not very old birds. 



In colour this species agrees almost entirely with the 

 much smaller Todirhamphus tutus from the Society Islands, 

 but the bill is not so flattened and resembles that of Halcyon 

 chloris, though somewhat wider. From the various sub- 

 species of the H. chluris-gvou^, of which it may be a very 

 specialized form, it differs principally in the great amount of 

 white on the crown. 



The Hon. Walter Hothschild also exhibited a specimen 

 of a rare Bird of Paradise (Paryphephorus duivenbodei) , 

 obtained by Mr. A. E. Pratt at a place called Foula, situated 

 at an elevation of 4000 feet, in the mountains of British 

 New Guinea. 



He likewise exhibited all three known specimens of the 

 extraordinary Lory Charmosyna atrata, and remarked that 

 the type was a male and the two others females, if the colo- 

 ration of the rump was indicative of sexual difference, as in 

 Ch. stella. 



Mr. Rothschild further exhibited a new form of Pitta, 

 together with its egg, from the Solomon Islands, and de- 

 scribed it as follows : — 



Pitta anerythra pallida, n. subsp. 



Differs from Pitta anerythra anerythra, of Isabel and 

 Choiseul Islands, in being paler on the underside and in 

 having the crown of the head much blacker, the chestnut- 

 brown colour being more restricted or sometimes absent. 



Type No. A. 1664, <$, Bougainville Island, 26.iv.1904. 

 Collected by Mr. A. S. Meek. 



The specimens sent from Bougainville by Mr. Meek vary 

 somewhat in the amount of chestnut on the nape, but it is, 

 however, always more restricted than in P. a. anerythra. 



An egg found on Bougainville in May is creamy white, 

 marked all over with short lines and scribblings of -brownish- 



