7^" TIMOR-LAUT. ZqI 



He admits that the feparation is based on very minute differences, 

 which, however, he believes will be found constant. " GeoffroMs \timor- 

 laoensis}, (?. keyensi, Salva., simillimus, sed minor ot primarife extim£R 

 pogonio externo virescenti diversus." On comparing the Timor-laut 

 birds with K6 specimens in the British Museum determined by Count 

 Salvadori, the case stands as follows: — Timor-laut skins vary from 

 2i0-290 millim., while O. keyensis (Salv.) ranges from 235-255 milliro. 

 Length of wing in the former 165-170 millim., and in O. fteyensis 

 (Salv.) 175-185 millim. The tail is shorter in O. timorlaoensis than in 

 G. keyensis ; while the tarsus agrees in both. In Timor-laut speci- 

 mens the external web of the outermost primary, where in the upper 

 portion the colour is Uue, and in the lower green, exactly agrees 

 with a specimen from Ke, of the Cliallenger collection, determined as 

 O. keyensis by Salvadori. Both these lire males. A female from K6 has 

 the same rfgion of this feather blue throughout its length ; while a 

 female from Timor-laut has a very narrow yellowish edge to the green- 

 blue margin of the primary. A female obtained by the Challenger natu- 

 ralists, also determined by Salvadori as (?. keyensis, is identical in colo- 

 ration, while, lastly, the colour of the under surfaces of the wings can 

 scarcely be detected to differ. It would appear, therefore, so far as the 

 skins from Timor-laut and K6, in the British Museum and in my own 

 collection, afford material for forming an opinion, that these differential 

 characters will not be found to have the constancy that Dr. Meyer has 

 expected. The wing measurements certainly are less in Timor-laut 

 specimens. It is probable that the differences in coloration are due 

 to age only, and are not sufficient to separate the Ke from the Tenimber 

 birds. [H. 0. F.] 



11. EcLECTUs EiEDELi, Meycr, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 917. Sclater, loo. cit. 

 PI. XXYl. 



Dr. A. B. Meyer has accurately described the female of this fine 

 species. 



All the green skins are marked " $ ," and all the red " $ ." The male 

 not yet having been described, I give short diagnoses of both sexes. 



$ . Lade viridis, capite clariore, subcaudalihus flavicante tindus ; sub- 

 alaribus et hypochondriis coccineis ; campterio alari et remigum, prima- 

 riorum marginihus externis et secundariorum (extus dorso concolorum) 

 apicibus cstruleis ; alarum pagina inferiore nigra ; cauda supra viridi 

 dorso concolori, subtus nigra, apice plus quam, semipolUcari abrupte 

 flavo ; rectrice una utrinque extima in pogonio exterioie cssruleo riotato ; ' 

 rostra superiors rubro, apice flavicante ; inferiore nigra : long, tota 

 11 • 8, aim 8 ■ 7, caudm 4 " 6. 

 $ . Rubra punicea, capite et corpore subtus coccineis ; crisso flavo ; camp- 

 ' terio alari et remigum primnriorum marginibus externis cseruleis; cauda 

 supra ad basin viridi in rubrum transeunte, ad apicem late flava, subtus 

 flava ad basin nigricante ; rostra nigra ; crassitie paulo minore. 

 Bab. insulus Tenimberenses. 



Of the four skins in the present collection, two males (green) arc from 

 Larat, and one male and one female from Lutur. 



As I have remarked (P. Z. S. 1883, p. 49), there can be no longer any doubt 

 that Eclectus riedeli is quite a distinct species of the genus, characterised 

 by the broad well-defined yellow tail-end of the male, and by the absence 

 of the blue on the back of the neck and on the belly, in the female. 

 Neglecting E. westermanni and Eclectus cornelia, of which we do not know 



