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Show 1885.] DURING THE VOYAGE OF THE YACHT ' MARCHESA.' 649 bird, as in the first acquirement of the adult dress the change is effected by means of the gradual assumption of the metallic colours in pre-existing feathers, not by moult. The hunters found this bird not uncommon in the Arfak, and informed me that it perched on the summit of the trees, and revealed its presence by its loud, harsh cry. 154. DREPANORNIS ALBERTISI, Sclat. Drepanornis albertisii, Salvad. op. cit. vol. ii. p. 549. a-c. 3 • Arfak (Bruijn). d. 8 . Arfak. e,f. 2 • Arfak (Bruijn). Iris, according to the hunters, brown ; bill black. Length of wing 15*0-15*4 ; female 14*7-14*8 centims. The female, though much resembling the male on the upper surface, is of a darker brown in the interscapular region. The small wattle-like expansion of the rictus is less marked. 155. DREPANORNIS BRUIJNI, Oustal. Drepanornis bruijnii, Salvad. op. cit. vol. ii. p. 553. a. Jr. 8 . 1 N. N e w Guinea, long. 139° E. (Bruijn). b. 2 • Long. 139° E. (Bruijn). While in Ternate Mr. Bruijn showed me the above skins of two birds of the genus Drepanornis obtained by his hunters on the north coast of New Guinea a little to the eastward of the mouths of the Amberbaki River. One was marked $ , the other 3 ; but both were destitute of any brilliant colouring whatsoever. The species, though not unlike D. albertisi, was recognizable as distinct at a glance, and was evidently not a local variation or representative form of that bird. The greater thickness of the bill, and its colour (huffish horn, not black), the bareness of the base of the maxilla and the nostrils, the large postocular bare patch, the dark-brown head, the brown (not rufous) upper tail-coverts, the dark moustache, the complete and regular barring of the whole of the under surface, including the under tail-coverts-all these easily distinguish it. Each feather on the under surface is barred with from three to five dark brown bars, the last of which is always subterminal. The dimensions seem to be nearly the same as those of D. albertisi. Length about 38*0 centims., wing 14*5-15*0, bill from gape (chord) 6'7-7't. Mr. Bruijn informed me that his hunters had obtained seven or eight examples of this species, but that, though of different sexes, they were all of the same sober colouring. Judging from the habits of others of the Paradiseidce, notably in the case of P. rubra, where the immature males and females appear to live in districts quite apart from the adult male at certain seasons of the year, and from the fact that in this group of birds the males are all of brilliant colouring, we can safely predict that the adult male of this species has yet to be discovered, and that it will probably show a development of subalar plumes closely resembling that of D. albertisi. |