166 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



Yoy. Astrolabe and Zelee, Ois. Plate XI, fig. 2. 



Form. — Bill straight ; upper mandible curved at the tip and distinctly 

 notched ; several pairs of short weak bristles at the base. 



Dimensions (of skin). — Female. Total length, about five inches; 

 wing, two and a half inches; tail, two and a half inches. 



CoLOKS. — Ring encircling the eye and space before it (or lores) white, 

 which is also the color of the entire under parts of the body and tips 

 of the tail-feathers, tinged with cinereous on the breast, most clear on 

 the abdomen, under coverts of the tail, and tips of tail-feathers. 



Entire upper parts cinereous, except the superior coverts of the tail, 

 which are black, tipped with white ; quills ashy-brown ; tail black, 

 with all its feathers except the central two tipped with white. Under 

 coverts of the wing white. Bill and feet pale bluish. 



Hab. — Feejee Islands. Specimen in Nat. Mus. Washington City. 



The only specimen of this little-known bird in the collection, and 

 which is described above, is marked as a female, but is almost pre- 

 cisely in form and color as is represented in the Zoological Atlas to 

 the Voyage of the Astrolabe and Zelee, above cited. 



In color, this species shows an affinity to the American fly-catchers 

 of the genus Gallcivora, bat it wants the long tail which is one of the 

 characters of all the species of the latter. It appears to have been 

 observed only at the Feejee Islands. 



According to Mr. Peale, this specimen was killed, on the thirtieth 

 of May, near Bahr, in the Island of Viti-levu, one of the Feejees. 



middle of the abdomen white ; tail rounded, consisting of twelve black feathers, all but 

 the two in the middle tipped with white, the white tips increasing in size from the middle 

 outwards ; irides blue-black ; bill and legs pale blue. 



"Total length, four and seven-eighths inches ; extent of wings, seven and three-eighths 

 inches; wings, from the carpal joint, two and seven-tenths inches; bill, four-tenths of 

 an inch ; to the angle of the mouth, six-tenths of an inch ; tarsi, seven-tenths of an inch ; 

 middle toe, including the claw, half an inch ; claw, three-twentieths of an inch ; hind 

 toe, nine-twentieths of an inch; nail, two-tenths of an inch. Female." 



