Abstract
AT a late (January, 1879) meeting of the Linnean Society of New South Wales Mr. E. P. Ramsay, F.L.S., &c., read a paper on the Zoology of the Solomon Islands, the subject of this paper being a large collection of mammals and birds collected at Gaudalcana, Savo, and Cape Pitt by Mr. James Cockerell, a well known Australian collector. The collection was obtained from Capt. Brodie, of the schooner Ariel, who had made arrangements with Mr. Cockerell to collect in the islands. Among the novelties described we find two species of Monarcha: (I) M. barbata, with elongated black plumes from the throat, belonging to the M. loricata and M. leucotis section; (2) M. rufocastanea, black above, deep chestnut rufous below; (3) a Sauloprocta, S. cockerellii, black above and as far as the breast, which is striped with white and with the abdomen and under tail-coverts white; two species of Myiagra, (4) M. ferocyanea, of a beautiful clear steel-blue black above and on the throat, the remainder of the under surface white; (5) M.pallida, ashy blue above, white below, tail chiefly pale rufous; (6) a fly-catcher, allied to Rhissidura rufifrons, but distinct in being smaller and having much more rufous on the head and less on the tail, has been named R. rufofronta; (7) a curious little sun-bird, Cinnyris melanocephalus, having a black head and the remainder of the body dull olive yellow above, brighter yellow below; (8) a Pseudorectes, of a rich cinnamon colour, with whitish throat, and yellow crissum and ochre-yellow under tail-coverts, is called P. cinnamomeum; and (9) a Calornis of a uniform bright steel-green colour, with a sharply ridged keel-shaped culmen, but otherwise resembling C. cantor, is named Calornis solomonensis.
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Notes on the Fauna of the Solomon Islands . Nature 20, 125–126 (1879). https://doi.org/10.1038/020125a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/020125a0