154 Mr. E. L. Layard on the Ornithology of Fiji, 
Mr. Pearce tells me they scrape about the ground under 
bushes in the forest, for worms &c., and are quite like Black¬ 
birds in their habits and note. 
Pachycephala vitiensis, Gray. 
Abundant at Kandavu, and apparently the only species 
there. Mr. Pearce obtained nests and eggs, shooting the male 
off one. The egg (a single one), hard-set, was large, irre¬ 
gularly marked at the obtuse end, somewhat in the shape of 
a ring, with large ill-formed purplish blotches. Breeds in 
September. 
The nest is a coarse transparent structure of thickish root¬ 
lets, with here and there a patch of cobweb. No lining of 
any kind. External diam. 4 ,; , intern. 2" 6"'; ext. depth 2" 6 f ", 
intern. V 6 m ; placed in a low shrub between two lateral 
branches. 
The genus Pachycephala is widely distributed over these 
islands; and the species composing it differ, as do those of 
Myiolestes; I am only just getting to have some clear idea 
of them. On Ovalau, and up the Rewa, the true P. icteroides 
(Peale) seems to prevail; but in the former place specimens 
are sometimes found with the yellow patch on the nostril that 
characterizes P. graeffii, Hartl., but the yellow of the under¬ 
parts is not nearly so dark. About Tai Levu, on the N.E. 
coast of Yiti Levu, a species is found with the light-yellow 
underparts of P. icteroides , but with a perfect though narrow 
black ring round the neck. I propose to call this P. inter¬ 
media ;, Layard, as it is intermediate between P. icteroides and 
my P. torquata on the one hand, and between the former and 
P. vitiensis on the other, the last-named having a white 
throat. 
At Bua, on Yanua Levu, P. graeffii, Hartl., prevails, and 
on Tavinui only my P. torquata. 
I suspect that a close investigation of some of the re¬ 
maining islands of the group will reveal other varieties of 
this genus. 
Mr. Klinesmith has just discovered a new Lamprolia near 
Savu-Savu Bay, on Yanua Levu, which resembles L. victorias, 
