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Show 772 DR. O. FINSCH ON A COLLECTION OF [Nov. 20, erroneously given the Fijis as a locality. It is true that all the specimens I have seen from the islands of Viti-Levu, Vanua-Levu, Loma-Loma, and Kandavu belong to the much more brightly coloured P. splendens; but through Mr. Layard we now learn that the island of Taviuni possesses another bird which shows the same dark purplish-red colour (atro-purpureus) as P. tabuensis. A specimen from Taviuni before me differs, not only in the smaller size, but also in the total absence of the blue neck-collar, of which not even the slightest trace is visible. But I hesitate to declare this difference of specific value, as Cassin mentions in P. atrogularis a broad, in P. annce a narrow blue collar ; and as both these birds were collected on the Fijis, although without exact locality, they evidently belong to one and the same species. The dimensions of 20 specimens of P. tabuensis from Eua are as follows, Wings. Tail. in. lin. in. lin. in. lin. in. lin. 8 3 98 78 93 whereas in the Taviuni bird the wings measure only 7" 8'", the tail 6" 8'". If the smaller size of the Fiji bird should turn out to be constant, it ought to be regarded as a different species, to which belong the three dark races pointed out by Mr. Layard1 as differing in the extent of the blue collar. The synonymy of this Fiji form of P. tabuensis will be as follows :- PLATYCERCUS ANNJB. Conurus anna, Bourj. Perr. t. 38. 1 Platycercus tabuensis, Jard. & Selb. 111. of Ornith. ii. pl. lxxiv. (fig. pess., without blue collar). Pl. atrogularis, Peale, Unit.-St. Expl. Exped. (1848) p. 129, pl. xxxv.; Hartl. Wiegm. Arch. 1852, p. 106. Aprosmictus tabuensis et A. anna, Cass. Un.-St. Expl. Exp. 2nd edit. (1858) pp. 234, 236. Pl. anna, Gray, List Psitt. p. 11. Pl. atrigulari's, Scl. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 158. ^ Pl. tabuensis, Gough, P. Z. S. 1849, p. 14 ; Finsch, Mon. Papag. ii. p. 231 (upper part). Pl. taviunensis, Layard, Ibis, 1876, p. 141, et Pl. splendens, second race (from Mathuata), third race (from Koro), and fourth race (taviunensis, from Taviuni), ib. p. 143. 3. DOMICELLA FRINGILLACEA. Domicella fringillacea (Gm.) ; Finsch, Papag. ii. 747; Layard, P.Z.S. 1876, p. 501. Native name Hega (Hiibner, Graffe). Three specimens from Eua. Sexes alike. No difference is observable in specimens from the Navigators' and Wallis Islands. One specimen shows the green front stained with bluish. 1 Ibis, 1876, p. 141. |