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Show 1877.] COLLECTION MADE BY H.M.S. ' PETEREL.' 65 I. BIRDS. By R. BOWDLER SHARPE. The specimens were thirteen in number, and preserved in spirits of wine. They were obtained on Charles and Albemarle Islands, the two of the group of which we appear to know least; indeed, from the latter island one species only, Mimus parvulus, is recorded by Mr. Salvin in his important memoir recently published (Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. ix. pp. 447-510). Commander Cookson obtained also a Geospiza on that island. The species of Dendrceca is widely spread over the archipelago, and was previously known from Charles Island ; but the existence of a Pyrocephalus in this locality is confirmed for the first time. The exploration of Tower and Hood Islands is still a great desideratum : their birds are reported to be peculiar; but not a single example of them has as yet reached European collections. It is very remarkable that (as Commander Cookson reports) the birds continue to be as tame as in former times, especially in Charles and Chatham Islands, which have been so long inhabited; the small birds of all kinds are so tame that they are easily knocked down with a switch, some of the men being able to kill numbers of doves in this manner. 1. MIMUS PARVULUS. Mimus parvulus (Gould) ; Salvin, I. c. p. 472. A single specimen from Albemarle Island, measuring as follows- total length 8*4 inches, culmen 0*9, wing 3*95, tail 4 0 , tarsus 1*3. Considerable differences exist between the bird now sent and the typical and unique specimen in the British Museum. It is much greyer, and the head is varied with ashy-brown margins to the feathers; the hinder neck is conspicuously lighter, the white sides of the neck converging and forming a half-collar ; the rufous rump is very distinctly indicated, the upper tail-coverts being also shaded with rufous, all the feathers mottled and having brown centres; wing-feathers dark brown, all broadly tipped with white, these tips somewhat shaded with rufous on the inner secondaries and greater coverts; tail-feathers dark brown, edged with grey, the feathers all shading off into a white tip, broader on the inner web, the outer feather externally edged with whitish; lores and ear-coverts dark brown, slightly shaded with grey ; a very distinct white eyebrow; cheeks and under surface of body pure white, the fore neck and breast distinctly spotted with triangular marks of brown. Professor Sundevall is inclined to unite all the Galapagoan Mock-ing- Thrushes into one species; but Mr. Salvin points out that M. trifasciatus is a distinct species without doubt. In this I agree with him, the large size and very distinct endings to the wing-coverts and tail-feathers, and above all the broad edgings of brown to the breast-feathers, serving to separate it. But as regards the distinctness of M. melanotis and M. parvulus, Mr. Salvin is more in doubt; and I believe, with him, that " a larger series of specimens would show that the differences (in size alone) would gradually disappear." P R O C ZOOL. Soc-1877, No. V. 5 |