DIG /E l M PECTORAL E, Mull. $ Scia. 
Muller’s Flower-pecker. 
Dicmm pectorale, Mull. & Schl. Verh. Natuurl. Geschied. Land- en Volkenk. p. 162, note (1839-44). — Hartl. Rev. 
Zool. 1846, p. 47. — Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 100 (1847). — Bp. Consp. Av. i. p. 403 (1850). — Sclater, Proc 
Linn. Soc. ii. p. 157 (1858). — Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, p. 190. — Id. Cat. Marnrn. etc. New Guinea, 
pp. 22, 55 (1859). — Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1861, p. 434. — Rosenb. Nat. Tijdschr. Nederl. Ind. xxv. p. 237 
(1863). — Id. J. f. O. 1864, p. 123. — Finscli, Neu-Guinea, p. 163 (1865). — Meyer, Sitz. k. Akad. Wien, 
Ixx. p. 120 (1874). — Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, xvi. p. 67 (1880). — Id. Orn. Papuasia e dclle 
Molucehe, ii. p. 273(1881). — Sharpe, Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus. x. p. 29 (1885). — Guillemard, Proc. Zool. 
Soc. 1885, p. 639. 
Diccewn erythrothorax, pt., Gray, Hand-list Birds, i. p. 115, no. 1427 (1869). — Rosenb. Malay Arch. p. 553 
(1879). 
As most of the Flower-peckers in the Malayan Archipelago are confined to a single island, the present species 
must be considered to have rather a wide range, as it is not only found in North-western New Guinea, hut 
also in the adjoining islands of Salwati, Mysol, Waigiou, and Batanta. 
It belongs to the olive-backed Section of the genus Diceeum, without any red on the rump or on the crown, 
and with the head of the same colour as the back. Its nearest ally is D. ceneum of the Solomon Islands, 
also figured in this work; but D. pectorale differs from that species in having no grey on the breast below the 
red spot, and it also has the breast dull olive like the flanks. 
The species was first met with in New Guinea at Loho Bay by Solomon Muller, and the localities recorded 
by Count Salvador! in North-western New Guinea are numerous, as Dr. Meyer, Dr. Beceari, and Mr. Bruijn 
have all procured it during their travels in the Arfak Mountains and their vicinity. Mr. Wallace procured 
specimens in Salwati, Waigiou, and Mysol, and Mr. Bruijn in Batanta. Nothing has been recorded concerning 
its habits. 
The following description is copied from the British Museum ‘Catalogue of Birds,’ and is taken from a 
specimen in the Leiden Museum, procured by the late Dr. Bernstein in the island of Waigiou : — 
“ Aclult male. General colour above olive-green, a little more olive-yellow on the head, which is olive like 
the back ; rump and upper tail-coverts also a little more olive-yellow, particularly the latter ; wing-coverts 
and quills dusky, with a steel-green gloss and narrowly edged with olive ; tail-feathers blue-black ; lores, 
sides of face, ear-coverts, and cheeks olive like the crown, the hinder cheeks washed with ashy grey like the 
sides of the neck ; throat whitish, with a tinge of olive on the chin ; fore neck and chest with a large patch 
of orange-scarlet ; sides of breast ashy, more olive on the flanks ; centre of abdomen, thighs, and under tail- 
coverts pale yellow, the latter with dusky bases ; axillaries and under wing-coverts white, the edge of the 
wing dusky washed with olive ; quills dusky below, white along the edge of the inner web : ‘ bill brownish 
black ; feet dark greyish brown ; iris brown ’ ( Guillemard ). Total length 2‘8 inches, eulmen 015, wing 
2‘05, tail P05, tarsus 05.” 
The Plate gives an illustration of an adult male in two positions, the figures being drawn from an Arfak 
skin lent to us by Dr. H. Guillemard. 
[R. B. S.] 
