PARUS ARFAK1, Meyer. 
New- Guinea Tit. 
Pants ? arfalci, Meyer, Sitzungsber. cler Isis, April 1875. — Mitth. a. d. k. zool. Mus. Dresden, i. p. 8, 1875. 
The great stronghold of the Paridce, or family of Tits, is the temperate and northern region of the old 
world ; from the boreal countries of Lapland and Siberia to the hot forests of India, its dependencies, and 
China, the numerous members are found ; as we proceed southward from these countries the form gradually 
disappears, so that in Australia and New Zealand it is totally absent. It was, then, with considerable surprise 
that I received from Dr. Meyer an undoubted member of this family, collected, I believe, by himself in 
the northern part of New Guinea; and this unique specimen this gentleman has intrusted to my care for the 
purpose of figuring in the present work, accompanied by the following notes and description. 
This new Tit reminds us in its general appearance of the crested Indian genus Machlolopkus ; but it 
differs from that form in the length of the first primary, in the rather lengthened pointed ear-feathers, and in 
the singular gold-brown coloration of the underparts. “ Zoogeographically,” says Dr. Meyer in a letter to 
me, “ a species of Purus from New Guinea is very remarkable. Parus cirtereus, Vieill., has been seen as far 
east as Flores (Wallace, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863, p. 485); but from Australia, New Guinea, or the Moluccas 
no species of this genus has been known until now.” 
Dr. Meyer states that he believes that neither Signor d’Albertis nor other New-Guinea explorers 
met with this bird ; neither does Salvadori mention it in his lists. 
Forehead, upper and hinder parts of head, chin, throat, and chest black ; rump olive green ; cheeks 
and ear-patch bright yellow, the feathers of latter rather elongated and pointed ; the whole of the underparts 
yellow, golden brown in the middle of the belly, merging into yellow on the flanks and under tail-coverts ; 
on the three upper tertiary feathers an oval spot of yellow ; bill black; feet light horn-colour, tarsi some- 
what darker. 
Total length 4h inches, bill i, tarsi t, wing 2i, tail 2±. 
Hab. Arfak Mountains, New Guinea. 
The figures in the accompanying Plate are of the natural size. 
