Birds of the Fiji Islands. 
145 
1875), composed entirely of rootlets, and thickly covered with 
the yellow egg-hags of a common large spider. Diam. out¬ 
side 2 n 8 r,r , inside l u 9 nl ; depth outside 3" 6" 1 , inside l /; 9 ,n . 
It contained two eggs, hard-set; ground-colour white, spec¬ 
kled, in the shape of a ring at the obtuse end, with small pink 
spots. Axis IQ'", diam. 7"'. 
Myiolestes macrorhynchus, sp. nov. 
This species, originally named by me from a specimen 
brought in a miserable condition by Mr. Liardet from Ta- 
viuni, replaces M. vitiensis, Hartl., in that island. It is not 
uncommon in the forest, roaming about in search of the in¬ 
sects on which it feeds. I never saw it on the ground; but 
I once shot it climbing up the trunk of a tree, and clinging 
to the bark, pecking like a Woodpecker at a decaying rotten 
limb. It is a thorough mocking-bird. The sexes do not 
differ. The edges of the basal portion of the upper, and on 
the major part of lower mandible, are yellow, as is the inside 
of the bill and throat. This species affords another instance 
of variation as in Platycercus. 
The Ovalau bird, Myiolestes vitiensis , Hartl., is much smaller 
and lighter-coloured, and has always the tip of the tail almost 
white; but I have a specimen from Bua, in Vanua Levu, 
which seems intermediate. It is smaller than my M. macro - 
rhynchus , paler, and with a well developed red-brown tip to 
its tail. But I have a still more interesting bird from For- 
tuna Island, outside this group, 350 miles to the N.E. It is 
smaller than the Bua bird, and more like M. vitiensis; but the 
throat, chin, and breast are grey ; the tails, though damaged, 
are evidently broadly tipped with white. I propose to sepa¬ 
rate the varieties, or species, as follows :— M. vitiensis, Hartl. 
(the type species); M. buensis, sp.nov.; M. macrorhynchus and 
M. fortunes, sp. nov. Unfortunately I have not a specimen 
of M. vitiensis at hand; but I add the measurements as given 
in the f Ornithologie der Viti-, Samoa- and Tonga-Inseln 9 of 
Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub, wherein it is badly figured, the 
white of the tail-tip and the red of the vent being too 
prononce. The measurements of the four species are as 
follows :— . 
