On Birds from the New Hebrides . 337 
Head only. Kassim river, Abyssinia, 19 January, 1899. 
(No. 232.) 
Iris brown ; bill brown; top of the head yellow-brown ; 
sides of the face and throat bright light blue ; legs black. 
Total length (measured in the flesh) 22*5 inches. 
XVII.— On a Collection of Birds made by Captain A. M. 
Farquhar , R.N ., in the New Hebrides. By R. Bowdler 
Sharpe, LL.D., &c. 
(Plate VII.) 
The collection here described has been presented to the 
British Museum by Captain A. M. Farquhar of H.M.S. 
‘ Wallaroo/ and as he visited many islands in which very 
little collecting had previously been done, he obtained some 
interesting and beautiful new birds. 
He writes to me on the 9th of October, 1899 :—“ I have 
been in these parts from May till now, and have got together 
specimens of some forty different species of birds. I lost few 
opportunities of trying to add to the collection, and 1 hope 
my efforts may have been of some use. Oddly enough, the 
birds in the New Hebrides are very shy, at least the smaller 
kinds, for the natives seem to be always after them with their 
bows. I could not get a cock Blackbird, and of the four or 
five hens, I shot only one myself, the natives having snared 
the others. They are very wild, and it is difficult in the bush 
to stalk to within 30 or 40 yards of them. I got several 
Megapodes’ eggs, but failed to obtain a skin, as we were 
never able to stay long enough in one place, and the 
natives brought them in after we had left, when there was 
no one to skin them. 
“ I did not trouble about the sea- or shore-birds, and did 
not succeed in obtaining a bird which the natives described 
as nesting in holes in the mountains—some sort of Shear¬ 
water, I presume. 
“ I saw several places where the Megapodes laid their eggs; 
these are concealed at the decayed root of a tree. Coming 
