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Show 1884.] COUNT SALVADORI ON BIRDS FROM TIMOll-LAUT. 579 PHILEMON TIMORLAOENSIS, Meyer. Philemon plumigenis, Sclat. (nee Gray), P. Z. S. 1883, pp. 51, 195 ; Sharpe, in Gould's B. New Guinea, pt. xvi. pi. 13. Philemon timorlaoensis, Meyer, op. cit. p. 41. Philemon timorlautensis, Forbes, P. Z. S. 1884, pp. 429, 432, n. 34. Three typical specimens. I have at hand only one specimen of true P. plumigenis from Ke Islands to compare with them. They differ very slightly, having the whole head a little lighter and the sides of the head also paler, the edges of the feathers being nearly silvery whitish; the bill in the Timor-Laut specimens is thinner. PITTA VIGOBSI, Gould. Pitta brachyura, Meyer (nee Gm.), Sitzb. Isis, 1884, p. 43 (Dammar). Pitta vigorsii, Meyer, Zeitschr. f. d. ges. Orn. 1884, p. 210 (Timor- Laut). Two specimens from Dammar and Timor-Laut, which seem referable to this species ; but I have not been able to compare them with specimens from Banda. CALORNIS CIRCUMSCRIPTA, Meyer. Calornis metallica, Sclat. (nee Temm.), P. Z. S. 1883, pp. 51, 195. Calornis circumscripta, Meyer, op. cit. p. 49. Calornis gularis, Forbes (nee Gray), P. Z. S. 1884, pp. 430,433, n. 41. Five typical specimens. I am inclined to recognize C. circumscripta as a good species, more allied to C. metallica than to my C. inornata from Mysore. It is to be distinguished from the first, especially on account of the two violet lines which run along the branches of the under mandible on the sides of the throat and meet at the chin, so that they describe a V ; besides, it has the green collar on the back of the neck narrower and the upper back is violet, with the green triangular spot in the middle, generally so conspicuous in C. metallica, wanting, or scarcely perceptible. Mr. Forbes has recently stated that Calornis circumscripta is the same as C. gularis, Gray, from Mysol, hitherto only known from one specimen. I cannot agree to this identification. The type of C. gularis, which I have carefully examined, is only an individual variation of C. metallica with more purple on the throat, like other specimens from Halmahera and Cape York, examined by me. C. circumscripta is evidently an insular form of the widely extended C. metallica, like C. inornata from Mysore and C. purpureiceps from the Admiralty Islands; and I do not think it possible that the same species can be found in Mysol and in Timor-Laut, so wide apart one from the other, while true C. metallica lives in so many islands lying between them. |