THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA, 
are in agreement very closely with Cape York specimens. The south-eastern 
New Guinea race, S. t. meeki, is, however, very close to the Cape York form, so 
that we are once more bewildered by Cockerell’s wicked tricks. I am inclined 
to the belief that these are Australian birds, and this indicates that the black 
culmen streak is lost with age. The two mountain forms retain the black 
bill for a much longer period than the lowland races, and never attain a unicolor 
light-coloured bill, the greater part of the upper mandible permanently 
remaining black. In addition, these are larger and the bill is lengthened and 
thus comparatively narrower. 
The specimen catalogued by Ogilvie-Grant as S. torotoro from Humboldt 
Bay, north coast of New Guinea, with a wing length of 85 mm., reaches the 
above in this respect, but has a decidedly short unicolor yeUow bill. The 
back is dark hrownish-olive without any trace of blue in it, and is certainly 
not distinctly greenish-blue. It is much larger than S. t. fiavirostris and i« 
much darker. All th'^, birds from Humboldt Bay, when they belong to 
variable species, indicate subspecific differentiation, and hence it seems proper 
to propose 
Syma torotoro connectens subsp. n. 
Type in the British Museum. 
It might be recorded that care must be taken in determining the back 
coloration, as the females and young males are more brownish than the adult 
males. 
I have just noted that Ramsay has placed it as coming also from Port 
Essington, Northern Territory, in his Tabular List, but so many errors of 
locahty occur in that List that I give no credence to this one, as I have traced 
no authentication of such an occurrence in any way. 
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