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Show 492 MR. E. L. LAYARD ON THE BIRDS [June 6, thrush ! " It clings in any position to the flowers that conceal favourite food (small insects), and is very pugnacious, driving away from the feast any bird that attempts to share it. 9. LEPTORNIS SAMOENSIS, Hombr. Found in small flocks in the forests of Samoa, seldom approaching the coast, where, however, I was fortunate enough to meet with it and secure nice specimens. It has a loud flute-like call, and clambers about the topmost branches of the tallest forest trees. When held head downwards, a plentiful discharge of honey escapes from the bill, and the stomachs of those dissected contained insects, bits of leaves, &c. 10. TATARE LONGIROSTRIS (Gm.). I sought for this bird in vain, both in Samoa and Tonga; and all my inquiries proved equally fruitless ; no one knew of such a bird. The Rev. Mr. Whitmee also, who has devoted considerable attention to the zoology of the Navigators' Islands, doubts its being an inhabitant of them. It may have become extinct, like a species I shall have to allude to from Tonga ; but the natives have no name for it. 11. PETROICA PUSILLA, Peale. This pretty little " Robin " is not very uncommon in the woods in Samoa, and is generally found in pairs, J and 5, or with the addition of their young family. It is bold aud fearless, and admits of a close approach, bting usually perched on the undergrowth of young trees. Feeds on small insects, ants, &c. 12. TURDUS VANICORENSIS, Quoy. This " Blackbird " might be easily mistaken for our English friend, both when hopping about the ground, probing for worms, or when speeding through the coppice, uttering its shrill metallic cry of alarm. Several times, when darting from some thick bush, it flew down the roads cut through the cocoa-nut plantation. When I saw it most abundantly, I could not help fancying myself again for the moment in some Staffordshire lane, where, as a boy, I chased them with loaded ash sticks ! I saw eggs in Mr. Whitmee's possession closely resembling those of the English bird, and gathered from him that the nest was also similar. The acquisition of this bird revealed to me the fact that our Fiji bird is quite distinct, and of a new species, which I have therefore described under the title of Turdus vitiensis, Ann. N. II. 4 ser. vol. xvii. p. 305 ; and since I returned, the same kind friend to whom I am indebted for it has found another species in Taviuni, which I have had much pleasure in naming after him, T. tempesti (anted, p. 420). This, with the Kandavu bird (T. bicolor, Ibis, 1876, p. 153), makes three species of this genus peculiar to Fiji ; and I doubt not others yet remain to be found in the centre of the large island Viti Levu. |