MERULA ALBIFRONS, Ramsay. 
ERROMANGA OUZEL. 
Merula albifrons, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, iii. р. 336 (1879); Е. Г. € Г. C. 
Layard, Ibis, 1881, р. 137; Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 258 (1881); Wiglesw. 
Abhandl. k. 2001. Mus. Dresden, 1890-91, p. 38 (1891). 
М. rostro et pedibus flavis : nigra: subcaudalibus albo striatis : pileo et collo undique albidis. 
Тнів doubtfully distinct species was described by Dr. E. P. Ramsay from Erromanga, one of the 
southernmost islands of the New Hebrides group. No specimen has been sent to Europe from this 
locality, and it is therefore difficult to judge whether the species is distinct. Seebohm (2. с.) says :— 
* [t is doubtful whether it is more than subspecifically distinct from M. pritzbueri, which varies 
considerably in the colour of the head, neck, and chest." 
Mr. E. L. Layard and his son Leopold write as follows concerning the species (/. c.):— 4 We ` 
have not had an opportunity of seeing a skin of this bird; but in spite of Mr. Ramsay's stating that 
he has compared it with an M. pritzbueri, we cannot help thinking the two are identical, and that 
what he has taken for a discoloration of the * white” on the head, neck, and chest from the alcohol 
in which the specimen was placed, is in reality the proper colour, and that the ‘ pure white feathers 
on the chest,’ and the * few white-tipped feathers on the abdomen,’ indicate that the typical example 
was suffering from albinism. 
“ In very old specimens of our M. pritzbueri the colour fades out to nearly white. Further, we 
know that this species ranges to Tanna, whence L. L. brought the palest-capped bird we have yet 
seen. Now, Tanna is in full sight of, and very near to, Erromanga: what more likely than that the 
species should extend thither, though proximity is not a sure cause, as witness the fact that this 
bird is not found either on New Caledonia or the still nearer island, Мате, being replaced on 
the former by M. xanthopus, Forst., on the latter by M. marwensis, Layard & Tristram. Another 
thing also strikes us. Mr. Ramsay identifies an Erythrura sent, from Erromanga as E. cyaneovirens, 
Peale. This latter is a Samoan species, and, for aught we yet know, confined to that group of 
islands. Has Mr. Ramsay not mistaken it for our Z. cyaneifrons, which also is found in Tamma, 
though, like the Merula, originally procured in, and described from, Lifu. We cannot recollect any 
land-bird common to Fiji and the New Hebrides, much less any Samoan species; but there are 
several examples of Loyalty-Islands and New-Caledonian species being found in both localities. Of 
course, not having actually seen specimens, these remarks are only suggestions.” (В. B. 8.] 
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