42 



back and uropygium are white. A very dark patch is interposed between the anterior end 

 of the white mark and the bright-margined feathers of the interscapular region. The flanks 

 are dusky black on either side, and these dark lateral patches meet medially to bound behind 

 the more posterior of the two yellow (or red) transverse bands which cross the throat and 

 breast, while they bound, anteriorly, the yellow (or red) surface of the lower part of the 

 breast and the abdomen. The upper tail-coverts are dark bluish, but the under tail-coverts 

 are bluish purple. The tail is purplish blue above, though the central feathers are reddish 

 towards the base ; beneath orange-red, at the base of the inner web greenish, and olive 

 towards the tips. The wings are for the most part dark, and show barely enough red to 

 justify the bird being called one of the " Red-winged Lories." The scapulars are very 

 dark, nearly black. The primary wing-coverts and anterior great coverts are purplish. 

 The primaries have a tinge of olive on their outer edges, while their inner web is red towards 

 the base ; they have indeed a large ruddy-yellow spot on the inner web. The under wing- 

 coverts are more or less red, and the under surface of the wing is yellow or red, except its 

 dusky end and the border formed by the dark tips of the quills. The secondaries and great 

 coverts have a tinge of chestnut, the innermost ones being reddish. The bill is red. The 

 skin at the base of the under mandible and on the chin is naked for a noteworthy extent ; and 

 as it is of the same colour as the bill, the latter appears, at first sight, longer than it really is 

 — as Dr. Meyer has remarked. The feet are dusky, but the soles are greenish yellow. The 

 iris is yellowish red. Total length 10'5 inches, wing 63, tail 3 - 5, bill 0"S8, tarsus - 69. 



Dr. Salvadori considers that the yellow specimens are young ones. Profound as is my 

 respect for bis opinion, I cannot feel certain of this. 



Of the 17 specimens in the National Collection, Nos. 91.2.12.6 and 891.20.147 are 

 exceptionally red. No. 73.5.12.1484, from the Wallace collection (from Dorey), is also 

 red, while the black on the flanks extends so far mesiad that it reduces the red of the 

 breast and abdomen to a narrow antero-posterior band. 



In Nos. 59.4.8.3 and 59.4.8.3S (both also brought by Dr. Wallace from Dorey) the 

 chest and abdomen are exceptionally bright yellow. On the other hand, the specimens 

 Nos. 89.1.20.177 (from the Tweeddale collection) and 59.4.8.40 (brought by Dr. Wallace 

 from Dorey) are exceptionally dull-coloured and well merit the name of the " Dusky Lory," 

 while No. 89.1.20.177 is devoid of the whitish bands of the interscapular region. 



Dr. Wallace himself says (P. Z. S. 1864, p. 291) : — " The two sexes of both red and yellow 

 varieties were obtained from one flock, which visited Dorey * for a few days only during my 

 residence there." 



Dr. P. Powdler Sharpe, P.L.S., in his magnificent continuation of Gould's ' Birds of 

 New Guinea,' quotes the opinion of Dr. Meyer, as to the red and yellow varieties, to the 

 following effect : — " The Jobi specimens appear to be somewhat larger in all their dimensions 

 and to have more intense colours than those of New Guinea, but my series is not large 

 enough to judge with certainty. Among the ten specimens which I procured are two red- 

 banded ones, of which I could not determine the sex with certainty ; of the rest, three were 



* In New Guinea. 



