388 
TROPICAL NATURE 
v 
The Andaman islands are equally remarkable, at least six 
of the peculiar birds differing from their continental allies in 
being much lighter, and sometimes with a large quantity of 
pure white in the plumage, 1 exactly corresponding to what 
occurs apiong the butterflies. 
In the Philippines this is not so marked a feature ; yet we 
have here the only known white-breasted kingcrow (Dicrurus 
mirabilis) ; the newly discovered Eurylsemus steerii, wholly 
white beneath ; three species of Diceum, all white beneath ; 
several species of Parus, largely white-spotted ; while many of 
the pigeons have light ashy tints. The birds generally, how- 
ever, have rich dark colours, similar to those which prevail 
among the butterflies. 
In Celebes we have a swallow-shrike and a peculiar small 
crow allied to the jackdaw, 2 whiter than any of their allies in 
the surrounding islands, but otherwise the colours of the birds 
call for no special remark. 
In Timor and Flores we have white-headed pigeons, 3 and 
a long-tailed flycatcher almost entirely white. 4 
In Duke-of-York island, east of New Guinea, we find that 
the four new species figured in the Proceedings of the Zoological 
Society for 1877 are all remarkable for the unusual quantity 
of white in their plumage. They consist of a flycatcher, a 
diceum, a wood-swallow, and a ground-pigeon, 5 all equalling 
if not surpassing their nearest allies in whiteness, although 
some of these, from the Philippines, Moluccas, and Celebes, 
are sufficiently remarkable in this respect. 
In the small Lord Howe’s island we have the recently 
extinct white rail (Notornis alba), remarkably contrasting with 
its allies in the larger islands of New Zealand. 
We cannot, however, lay any stress on isolated examples 
of white colour, since these occur in most of the great con- 
tinents; but where we find a series of species of distinct 
genera all differing from their continental allies in a whiter 
coloration, as in the Andaman islands, Duke-of-York island, 
1 Kittaeincla albiventris, Geocichla albigularis, Stumia andamanensis, 
Hyloterpe grisola var., Ianthsenas palumboides, Osmotreron chloroptera. 
2 Artamus monacbus, Corvus advena. 
3 Ptilopus cinctus, P. albocinctus. 4 Tcliitrea affinis, var. 
5 Monarch a verticalis, Diceum eximium, Artamus insignis, Phlogaenas 
johannse. 
