DICTUM RETROCINCTUM, Gould. 



Red-collared Dicaeum. 



Dlcceum retrocinctum, Gould, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1872, 4th series, vol. x. p. 114. 



I very much regret that I can offer to my ornithological readers no precise information respecting the habits 

 and economy of this little bird. The specimens, apparently male and female, have been in my collection 

 for a great number of years, and all I know about them is that I purchased them from a collection of birds 

 said to have been obtained in the Philippine Islands. I have not been able to find any published description 

 of the species ; but if I was wrong in characterizing it as new, I shall doubtless soon be set right bv some 

 of my contemporaries, as it is a bird of such very marked coloration. I may state, however, that before 

 describing it I showed the species to Lord Walden, our best authority on Philippine ornithology, and 

 compared it with the series in the British Museum. 



I reproduce my original description ; but a glance at the Plate will give the best idea of the species. 

 Further than this I can say nothing respecting it. 



"Male (from Manilla). — Head, neck, back, wing-coverts, tail, sides and centre of the throat, and a broad 

 stripe down the centre of the breast steel or bluish black ; a semicollar at the base of the neck behind, a 

 small stripe down the chin, and a broader and longer stripe down the centre of the abdomen scarlet ; under 

 tail-coverts white ; wings slaty black ; sides of the chest and the abdomen white, passing into silvery grey 

 on the flanks ; bill black, lighter at the base; feet apparently dark brown. 



" Total length 34 inches, bill I, wing 2, tail 1, tarsi I. 



" Female? (from Mindanao). — Like the male on the upper surface, but wanting the red at the base of the 

 neck ; chin and throat white ; remainder of the under surface grey, fading into white on the abdomen, down 

 the centre of which is a stripe of scarlet, as in the opposite sex ; under tail-coverts white. 



" Size the same as that of the male." 



The figures on the Plate are those of two males and a female (?), of the size of life. 



It is just possible that the figures on the accompanying Plate may represent two species ; if so, the name 

 retrocinctum will apply to the collared specimens only. 







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