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Show 706 DR. W. BLASIUS ON BIRDS FROM CERAM. [Nov. 28, 13. MONARCHA INORNATUS (Gam.), Salvad. ii. p. 14. Two specimens (l."d," 2. " 2 " ) - For both, the label repeats :- " Iris brown. L. 16 cm., D. 4 cm. Bill and feet of a beautiful bluish grey. Lokki, Ceram, Nov. 25, 1881." This species is new to the ornithology of Ceram. I have before me for comparison one sample from the Brunswick Museum, received from Batchian, and three specimens sent at the same time by Dr. Platen from Amboina (cf. Blasius and Nehrkorn, torn. cit. p. 422, sp. 18). The specimens from Batchian and Ceram have a little lighter grey colouring on the head and breast than the three birds (all males) from Amboina ; and the individuals just named show distinctly a small number of black feathers on the front and chin, which are scarcely to be remarked on the others. The female from Ceram has in the dried skin a nearly yellowish white bill, at least in the front half; while the five other specimens (all labelled male) show distinctly the bluish-grey or grey colouring nearly up to the end. No. 1 is in the Brunswick Museum. 14. MUSCICAPA GRISEOSTICTA (Swinh.), Salvad. ii. p. 80. " Male. Iris dark brown. L. 12 cm., D. 2 cm. Bill and feet dark brown. Lokki, Ceram, Nov. 29, 1881." Salvadori has only mentioned Muscicapa griseosticta (Swinh.) and Erythrosterna luteola (Pallas) among the true Flycatchers of the fauna of the Moluccas, &c. As, on account of the greater size and the entirely different colouring of the present specimen, the last species seems totally out of the question, I have labelled this bird at once as M. griseosticta, a determination since confirmed by Mr. E. F. von Homeyer and Count Tommaso Salvadori. It coincides in general very well with the descriptions of Swinhoe, Salvadori, and Sharpe (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. iv. p. 120, 1879), except only that the colour of the tail and quills should not be represented as blackish but rather as dark brown, and the brown-grey plumage has in many places (principally on the nape, on the middle of the back, the tail-feathers and upper wing-coverts, and the shoulder-feathers) numerous fine white spots which are bordered with a dark-brown edging. Such spots are described as characteristic of the plumage of the young of various allied species of Muscicapa, especially of Muscicapa sibirica, Gm., to which species1 the example from Ceram has a striking resemblance in the markings of the chin, throat, breast, and belly. I consider therefore, according to analogy with M. sibirica, the specimen sent by Dr. Platen from Ceram to be a young bird of Muscicapa griseosticta (Swinh.). I have nowhere found in the literature at my disposal (especially neither among Salvadori's publications nor in Sharpe's Cat, Birds Brit. Mus.) the description of the plumage of youth of this species. On that account the above remarks about the delicate little white drop-like spots as characteristic of youth may be of interest. That au identi- 1 I use for comparison an old male specimen of Muscicapa sibirica, Gm., derived from the collection of m y late father, and collected June 4, 1869, on the southern part of Lake Baikal, which is in the Brunswick Museum. |
