OCR Text |
Show 1887.] COLLECTION FROM CHRISTMAS ISLAND. 515 II. BIRDS. By R. BOWDLER SHARPE. The relations of the Avifauna of Christmas Island can hardly be judged by the few specimens in the collection, as there are doubtless some other indigenous species to be found in the island ; but the discovery of an isolated species of Carpophaga, and of a Thrush whose nearest ally is a West-African species, is of great interest. 1. TURDUS ERYTHROPLEURUS, sp. n. T. similis T. pelio, sed corporis lateribus cervinis et subalaribus cinerascenti-albis nee aurantiaca-fulvis distinguendus. Adult female (type of species). General colour above ashy olive-brown, a little clearer brown on the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts ; wing-coverts like the back, the greater series somewhat fulvous-brown externally, with a yellowish-buff spot at the ends (doubtless the remains of young plumage) ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills dusky brown, externally ashy on the primaries, the others externally like the back ; tail-feathers dusky brown, washed with olive-brown on both webs; crown of head ashy brown, the feathers at the base of the forehead and above the eye whitish ; lores dull ashy ; sides of face, ear-coverts, and cheeks light ashy brown; throat white, streaked with brown along the sides of the throat; fore neck, breast, and sides of body light tawny, deeper on the latter, with a shade of ashy on the fore neck and chest, the feathers on the flanks edged with ashy whitish ; centre of lower breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts white, the latter edged with pale tawny ; axillaries and under wing-coverts ashy whitish, with a slight tinge of tawny ; quills dusky below, ashy along the inner web. Total length 7'8 inches, culmen 0-9, wing 4, tail 3, tarsus 1*2. CARPOPHAGA WHARTONI, sp. n. (Plate XLIIL) This is apparently quite a new species of Fruit-Pigeon. It has uniform chestnut-brown under tail-coverts like C. anea, to which section it belongs ; but here resemblance ends, for in its uniform dusky coloration it is difficult to find an immediate ally unless it be C. ianthina of Japan. The latter is an equally dark-coloured bird, but the beautiful purple and green lustre on the upper parts of the Japanese species is quite different from the dull-coloured plumage of C. whartoni. I add a detailed description of the type of the latter species :- Adult male. General colour above dull greeu, with a very slight gloss of bronze, the latter shade being more evident on the wing-coverts and scapulars ; wing-coverts like the back, the greater coverts externally glossy green with a bronzy tinge; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills blackish, externally glossy green with more or less of a bronzy gloss, especially on the inner secondaries; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts like the back, the latter rather more |