yELURCEDUS JOBIENSIS, Rothsch. 
Jobi-Island Cat-bird. 
JElurcedus jobiensis, Rothschild, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, iv. p. xxvi (1895). 
This species has been described by the Hon. Walter Rothschild from a specimen collected in the 
Island of Jobi by the late Mr. Bruijn’s hunters. I have examined the type-specimen in Mr. Rothschild’s 
museum, and at first sight it looks very distinct from ZE. arfakianus, and has the hinder neck much 
mottled with buff, with the blackish shade overspreading the throat; but there are other specimens in 
the Rothschild museum which appear to me to be intermediate. 
The following is Mr. Rothschild’s description : — “ This species is nearest to ZE. melanocephalus of 
Ramsay, from British New Guinea, but shows sufficient differences to justify its separation. The head 
is black, uniformly spotted with huffish yellow, and does not show the black band on the sides of the 
occiput so conspicuous in ZE. melanocephalus. Upper neck and back brownish buff, with black margins. 
Ear-coverts consisting of the large patch of bristly feathers found in its three nearest allies ; but this 
patch passes straight into the black of the throat, without any marked area of pale feathers surrounding 
it, as in ZE. melanotis, ZE. melanocephalus , and ZE. arfakianus. The pale spots on the tips of the wing- 
coverts not very distinct and of a dusky buff colour. Throat, breast, and uppermost part of abdomen 
black, with a small central buff spot in each feather, while in ZE. melanotis (from the Aru Islands) 
and ZE. melanoc phalus these feathers are buff or whitish, with narrow black borders. The breast is 
much greener in ZE. arfakianus from Mt. Arfak. Lower abdomen and under tail-coverts buff with 
dusky margins, shaded here and there with green. In all other respects most similar to JE. melanocephalus , 
but the feathers on the sides of the neck just behind the ear-coverts are almost uniform buff, having 
nearly lost their dark margins. Culmen T5 inch, wing 6‘5, tail 5‘4, tarsus T65.” 
I have not considered it necessary to give a figure of this species. 
