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Show 1876.] , OF T H E N A V I G A T O R S ' ISLANDS. 493 13. RHIPIDURA NEBULOSA, Peale. Not rare in the forest, and about the cotton-bushes on the plantation before named. It did not spread its tail, or make such noisy demonstrations as the Fijian R. albicollis, perhaps because my visit to its haunts was not made during; the breeding-season. I was informed that the nest was of the true Rhipidura type, with a long pendent base. A fine Rhipidura has been added to the avifauna of Fiji, procured at Kandavu, by m y old servant Charles Pearce. Mr. Ramsay, of the Sydney Museum, alludes to it as R. personata. 14. MYIAGRA ALBIVENTRIS, Peale. This pretty little flycatcher takes the place, in Samoa, of the Fijian M. castaneiventris, but is not so plentiful; nor does it so much affect native villages and gardens, being more restricted to the forest. The sexes, unlike ours, are hardly distinguishable. A young bird (still tended by its parent) shot by me on the 18th December, almost exactly resembles the young of M. castaneiventris shot in October, being dark slate-coloured above, with a dirty buff throat, and whitish abdomen and vent. This species feeds exclusively on insects, which it seeks ou the leaves or on the wing, the snap of its bill being audible to a considerable distance. 15. PACHYCEPHALA FLAVIFRONS, Peale. If the description given by Finsch and Hartlaub is correct, neither Mr. Whitmee nor myself have succeeded in identifying this species. The only Pachycephala known to us has certainly not got " guttur album." A fine male is yellow on the throat, slightly dirtied with a dark grey, which condenses to a near approach to black on the chin. The nostrils are covered by a yellow patch ; but this is not noted in the description. A young male, shot on the 22nd December, has all the chin, throat, and chest grey, and shows traces of rufous on the flanks, vent, under tail-coverts underneath, and on the wing, secondaries, and cheeks above. It wants also the yellow nostril-patch. The female (unlike those of all the species known to me in Fiji, which are rufous) is also yellow below, the grey of the throat and chin being tinged with the same, no nostril-patch. This bird is not uncommon in Samoa, and, in addition to the sexual difference noted before, is dissimilar to any Pachycephala I have yet seen, in its choice of locality, and want of voice. Our Fijian birds, (as also P. jacquinoti of Vavaw), never approach cultivation, but keep to the genuine forest; the Samoan species, on the contrary, comes down to the cocoa-nut groves and native gardens, and is a quiet bird, the others being constantly on the move, uttering their loud calls. 16. PACHYCEPHALA ALBIFRONS, Peale. This bird did not occur to m e ; nor has Mr. Whitmee recognized it; indeed, in epistold, he entirely doubts the habitat. I should here correct an error I have fallen into in m y " Notes on PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1876, No. XXXIII. 33 |