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Show 30 LETTER FROM DR. A. B. MEYER. [Jan. 19, Another informant tells me Sterna bergii breeds on his rocks in November. While at Suva lately I saw Charadrius fulvus in pairs, the male in full nuptial dress. The testes of Chrysoena luteovirens, Columba vitiensis, and Carpophaga latrans were also much developed ; but I obtained eggs of the latter two months ago. I have eggs and young of Platycercus splendens and P. personatus, the latter nearly fully fledged. By the way, Professor von Suhm, of the 'Challenger,' and I, after going carefully into the subject, have come to the conclusion that the "Orange Dove " of Savinni and Lanthala (Chryscena victor, Gould) is a phase of plumage of the "Green Dove" (C. luteovirens) ; the change is hardly more remarkable than the adult change of Ptilinopus perousei, also from green to yellow, though a very light one. The Fiji Islands are very destitute of birds, very few being seen or heard in the forests ; and its shores are equally void of bird-life. An exception there is in the case of the little Swift, Collocalia spodiopygia, which seems universally distributed, both inland and in the maritime regions. Charadrius fulvus goes up the river a long way, and is sometimes seen in flocks of two or three hundreds, as I saw them on the Rewa. It is very strange, however, to look on the sea, as I do from m y house, and not to see the white wing of a Tern for weeks at a time; of Gulls there are none. I have seen a Puffinus (probably P. nugax) in m y cruising ; and Sterna fuliginosa and Anous stolidus (or A. leucocapillus) appear in large flocks ; Gygis alba I saw lately on the east coast of Viti Levu (this is not included in the table of distribution); and I have detected the tail-feathers of Phaeton rubricauda in the heads of some natives. Anas superciliosa is common on the rivers, and Dendrocygna vagans in the marshes on the west coast of Viti Levu; it is called by the planters the " Mountain Duck ;" and they say it comes from the interior. Levuka, Ovalau, Fiji. September 6, 1874. January 19, 1875. Robert Hudson, Esq., F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. The Secretary called attention to a letter recently received from Ternate, in which the writer (Mr. A. A. Bruijn) stated that he possessed living examples oi Dasyptilus pesqueti, and of four species of Paradise-birds, namely Paradisea papuana, Seleucides alba, Diphyllodes speciosa, and Ptilorhis magnifica. The Secretary read a letter received from Dr. Adolf Bernhard Meyer, communicating some remarks on the new Bird of Paradise lately discovered in Eastern Waigiou, and described by Mr. S. C. T. |