PACHYCEPHALA ARCTITORQUIS , Sclater , 
N arrow-collared Thickhead. 
Pachycephala arctitorquis, Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1883, p. 55, pi. xiii. 
The present species of Pachycephala was discovered in the Tenimber Islands by Mr. H. O. Forbes, and 
belongs to the fourth section of the genus as arranged hy Dr. Gadow in the eighth volume of the 
‘ British Museum Catalogue of Birds,’ with this reservation, that the character of the back being “ dusky 
black ” belongs oidy to P. monacha and not to P. leucog aster, which has a grey back. 
P. arctitorquis closely resembles P. leucogaster in its grey back and black cap, but differs in having a much 
narrower black collar across the throat and consequently a greater amount of white on the throat, while 
round the hind neck in P. arctitorquis is an indistinct collar of paler ashy, which separates the cap from the 
mantle. 
Mr. Forbes tells us that this species is very common everywhere in the Tenimber Islands, frequenting 
trees, but by no means unfrequently descending to the ground. 
Adult male. General colour above slaty grey, with indistinct dusky shaft-lines on the mantle-feathers ; 
least wing-coverts like the back, median and greater wing-coverts also slaty grey, with blackish shaft-lines 
and concealed blackish bases ; bastard wing, primary-coverts, and quills blackish, externally edged with 
slaty grey, more broadly on the secondaries ; upper tail-coverts rather more dingy than the back, and 
having narrow blackish shaft-streaks ; tail-feathers blackish, broadly edged with slaty grey, and all distinctly 
waved with transverse cross lines of black ; the tips also very narrowly fringed with lighter ashy ; crown of 
head and nape black, forming a cap ; lores, feathers round the eye, and ear-coverts also black ; cheeks and 
entire throat white, surrounded by a black pectoral collar, which ascends on the sides of the throat and joins 
the black ear-coverts ; sides of the neck and sides of the fore neck light pearly grey ; remainder of under 
surface ashy white ; thigh-feathers dusky, with whitish tips ; under tail-coverts, under wing-coverts, and 
axillaries white, the latter with ashy bases ; quills dusky blackish below, ashy white along the edge of the 
inner web ; “ bill, legs, and feet black ; iris dark brown ” ( H . 0. Forbes). Total length 6 inches, culmen 
06, wing 3*15, tail 2‘5, tarsus 09. 
Adult female. Different from the male. General colour above ashy olive-brown, with somewhat of a 
rufous tinge ; lesser wing-coverts dull rufous brown ; median and greater coverts dusky, externally edged 
with rufous brown, lighter on the latter; bastard wing and primary-coverts blackish, narrowly edged with 
rufous; quills blackish, edged with rufous, more broadly on the secondaries, the innermost of which are 
entirely dull rufous; upper tail-coverts pale dull rufous; tail-feathers ashy olive-brown, washed on their 
edges with rufous ; head dull rufous, contrasting slightly with the back ; lores ashy whitish, as also the 
feathers round the eye ; ear-coverts and sides of neck dull rufous ; cheeks and throat white, narrowly 
streaked with tiny lines of black ; remainder of under surface buffy whitish, longitudinally streaked with 
black, except the flanks, which are pure white ; the sides of the breast slightly tinged with rufous ; thighs 
ashy ; under tail-coverts white ; under wing-coverts and axillaries dull white ; quills dusky below, ashy along 
the inner web; “ upper mandible soot-brown, lower the same at tip, but at base pale flesh-colour; legs and 
feet lavender-pink ; irides dark brown ” (JEt. 0 Forbes). Total length 6 inches, culmen 0’6, wing 3, 
tail 24, tarsus 095. 
The Plate represents a pair of birds, of the size of life, drawn from the typical specimens lent to us by 
Dr. Sclater: they are now in the British Museum. [R. B. S.] 
