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Show 1882.] DR. *W. BLASIUS ON BIRDS FROM CERAM. 709 18. CARPOPHAGA NEGLECTA, Schleg. Ned. Tijdschr. Dierk. iii. pp. 195, 344 (1865); Mus. Pays-Bas, Columba, p. 90 ; Salvad. Prodr. Orn. Papuas., Ann. Mus. Civ. Genova, ix. p. 201, sp. 46 ; Lenz, J. f.O. 1877, p. 377, sp. 58 ; Rosenberg, Malayisch. Arch. 1879, p. 323. "Female. Iris brown. L. 42 cm., D. 9 cm. Bill blue-grey ; feet and cere reddish violet. Lokki, Ceram, 26 Nov. 1881." This species has been as yet observed only in the islands of Ceram, Amboina, and Boano1; it is a representative of the nearly related C. perspicillata (Temm.). The specimen is in the Brunswick Museum. 19. MYRISTICIVORA MELANURA, G. R. Gray, Salvad. Prodr. Orn. Papuas., Ann. Mus. Civ. Genova, ix. p. 203, sp.' 56 ; ibid. viii. p. 381, sp. 36. M. bicolor (Scop.), Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Columba, p. 98 ; Lenz, J. f. O. 1877, p. 379, sp. 62 ; Rosenberg, Malayisch. Arch. 1879, p. 323. Five specimens (three males and two females). For all, the label repeats :-" Iris brown. Bill and feet blue-grey. Lokki, Ceram." 1. "8. L. 36 cm., D. 6 cm. 25 Nov. 1881. Cere blue-grey." 2. "8. L. 37 cm., D. 6 cm. 25 Nov. 1881." 3. " 8. L. 37 cm., D. 6 cm. 16 Dec. 1881. Cere blue-grey." 4. " 2 • L. 37 cm., D. 6 cm. 25 Nov. 1881." 5. " 2 . L. 37 cm., D. 6 cm. 3 Dec. 1881." I place this species under the name melanura, Gray, because in his ' Prodromus,' too, separates this species and the nearly allied M. spilorrhoa, Gray, from M. bicolor (Scop.). Schlegel unites the three forms in the 'Mus. Pays-Bas' (Columba, p. 98) under the original name M. bicolor, and justifies this by the statement that the extent of the black and the white on the feathers of the tail, and the formation of the black spots on the lower tail-coverts and on the feathers of the lower abdomen are very variable, so that no species could be founded thereon. As I have only before me some specimens from Ceram, and one specimen (male) sent by Dr. Platen from Amboina (cf. Blasius and Nehrkorn, torn. cit. p. 429, sp. 32), which have all been regarded as M. melanura by Gray and Salvadori, I have not the possibility of comparison with the other forms. But it is certain that some of the specimens before me, in particular No. 2, shows so great an extension of the white on the tail-feathers that they do not conform to Gray's original diagnosis of M. melanura. In No. 2 the white on the two external tail-feathers protrudes far beyond the shaft on the outer web, so that in some places only a dark stripe of about 1 mm. width is left ; and at the tip the darker colouring extends only about 1 cm. down, and on the left side can be called only a " whitish grey." No. 3, on the contrary, has a decidedly black tail ; the white of the inner web of 1 A small island near Ceram. |