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Show 328 MR. W. R. OGILVIE-GRANT ON BIRDS [Mar. 15, species of Rodents and Marsupials, many of them of such a distinctly non-arboreal nature as to preclude the possibility of their having been originally introduced on drifting logs or trees, a means of distribution to which no doubt the Solomons owe the presence of their two non-flying mammals and Rat, the Cuscus. 2. A List of the Birds collected by Mr. Charles Morris Woodford in the Solomon Archipelago. By W . R. OGILVIE-GRANT. [Received February 14, 1887.] (Plate XXVII.) The Natural History Museum has recently received a collection of Birds made by Mr. C. M . Woodford at Fauro, Alu, Shortland Island, and other localities ; and, although comparatively few specimens were obtained, some of the species are very interesting, and one at least is new to science. This is a Crow belonging to the genus Macrocorax. The following is an extract from a letter received from Mr. C. M. Woodford.-"I find that Hornbills and Cockatoos do not extend beyond Malayta, being entirely unknown on the island of San Christoval and the smaller islands adjacent; and as they are not found in the groups to the south-east, this will be the limit to which these two genera extend." The following is a list of the species, with remarks on some of the rarer ones, and notes on their soft parts made by the collector. 1. ASTUR PTJLCHELLUS. Urospizias pulchellus, Ramsay; Salvad. Orn. Papuasia, iii. A D D p. 508. v* a. (S ad. Alu. Iris brown ; bill black at tip ; nostrils and base of mandibles yellow ; legs yellow. b. d juv. Fauro. Iris brown ; legs and base of bill yellow ; the tip black. This species, at first described by Ramsay as A. soloensis, Lath., as already observed by Finsch, is a very distinct bird. It is nearly allied to A. dampieri, Gurney, but may be easily distinguished by the colour of the breast and abdomen, which is a uniform deep vinous red (chestnut-hazel, Ridgway) instead of vinous with faint, narrow, pale cross bars on the flanks, belly, and under tail-coverts. Char. Male adult. Head, back, upper coverts, quills and tail-feathers slaty grey (Ridgway), the latter without any trace of cross bars. Throat and fore neck light slaty grey. Breast, abdomen, flanks, and under tail-coverts deep vinous red (chestnut-hazel, Bidgw.). Axillaries and under wing-coverts pale vinous red the latter with greyish cross bars. Quills below slaty grey, the inner web lighter, with whitish wavy bars towards the distal extremity. Total length 13*5 inches, culmen-6, wing 7'7, tail 6-25, tarsus 2'1. |