280. 
Mr. W. A. Forbes on the 
determination of the sexes of his specimens—that Hoedt had 
no pretensions to any scientific knowledge—and that Rosen¬ 
berg has in other instances made blunders of a similar kind— 
so that their evidence counts for little. Dr. Meyer adds 
some mathematical calculations showing that the chances 
are 32,700 to 1 against his having killed six all males of the 
green Eclectus, and nine all females of the red one in the 
same island, if they really were distinct species. 
So far Dr. Meyer. Important evidence in corroboration 
of part of his theory is given by the Italian naturalists who 
have lately visited New Guinea. Beccari, in his Ornitholo¬ 
gical Letters to Count Salvadori*, says, “ Though it seems 
strange, it is nevertheless true that the green Eclecti are 
males of the red ones. I learnt this at Aru from my hunters; 
and the young have the same differences.” Salvadori says 
again (l. c. pp. 756, 757), speaking of the sexual differences in 
E. grandis , that there is “ no longer any doubt on this sub¬ 
ject. D'Albertis has assured me that it is a well-known fact 
amongst the natives of the Moluccas and New Guinea.” In 
his various papers on Papuan ornithology in the same journal, 
the green specimens of Eclectus are always determined as 
males, the red as females. 
Prof. Garrod also tells me that during his prosectorship 
the only two Eclecti that have died in the Zoological Society's 
Gardens were one E. polychlorus and one E. grandis, respec¬ 
tively male and female. On the other hand, the Rev. George' 
Brown, C.M.Z.S., who has lately sent over to this country such 
interesting collections from New Britain and the adjacent 
islands, says, in a letter to Mr. Sclater, dated Sydney, Oc¬ 
tober 22, 1876, “ This ” (i. e. the green and red Eclecti being 
specifically identical) ff is a gross error. Our attention was 
directed to this subject; and I am quite sure they are two dif¬ 
ferent birds. We shot the green ones, both male and female.” 
Two skins in the collection are referable to E. polychlorus 
and linn'cei; the latter is marked female. It is to be hoped 
Mr. Brown will renew his investigations into this subject, as 
* Ann. Mus. Civ. Storia Natur. Genova, vol. vii. p. 704, 1875, and Ibis, 
1876, p. 25*3. 
