ALUREDUS MELANOTIS @q)  *
Black-cheeked Cat-bird.

Ptilonorhynchus melanotis, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, ‘i
ee a - , > : €w Guin. DS Oe AC
(1859).—Id. P. Z. 8, 1861, p. 486; Rosenb. Nat. Tijdschr. Nederl. Ind. XXYV. p. 236 cn ee
J. f. O. 1864, p. 122 (pt.).—Finsch. Neu-Guinea, Bae las (iSGa) Roe a ee
0. 186: eo ; eee) 9. Reis naar Zuidoosterei]
p. 47 (1867).—Gray, Hand-l. B. i. Pp. 294, no. 4338 (1869).—p

elz. Verh. k.-k,
1872, p. 428.—Musschenbr. Dagboek, pp. 212, 241 (1883),—
p. 54.

Des S04 ia Cat. B. N

sen

ZOOI.-bot, Gesellsch,

Rosenb. Mitth, orn. Ver. Wien, 1885,

Ptilorhynchus melanotis, Schl. Mus. Pays-Bas, Coraces, Re
(raz, pt.).

Ailuredus melanotis, Meyer, Sitzb. k. Akad. d. Wissensch. ]
% pl. 39 (1875).

Ailuredus melanotis, Elliot, Monogr. Parad. pl. 35 (1873).—Id. Introd. Monogr. a
Ibis, 1874, p. 416.—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Gen. ix, Dato Se sion ead
D’Alb. & Salvad. Ann. Mus. Gen. xiv. p. 114 (1879).—D’Alb, Nuova Guin. p. 588 (1880).—Salvad. Orn.
Papuasia, ii. p. 671 (1 881).—Id. Voy. ‘ Challenger,’ Birds, p. 82 (1881).—Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. vi
p. 383 (1881).—Meyer, Zeitschr. ges. Orn. i. p. 293 (1884) —Salvad. Age. Orn, Papuasia, ii Deteo
(1890).

118 (1867) —Iq. Neder, Tijdschr. Dierk. Iv. p. 51

eiKe pp. 82, 83 Gis7ay) = Gould

» B. New Guinea,

ad. p. xxii (1873, pt.).—Scel.
- Proc. Zool. Soc. 13785 ps 99

Se

Tus is the largest of the Cat-birds with white tips to the tail.
Dr. Wallace during his expedition to the Malay Archipelago, and
Rosenberg, Mr. Hoedt, and Dr. Beccari in most of the islands of the

It was discovered in the Aru Islands by
bas since been discovered by Baron von
Aru group—such as Wokan, Trangan,
and Maikor ; D’Albertis also collected several specimens on the Fly River, in May and June. It is therefore
one of the many species in Southern New Guinea which prove the relationship between the avifauna of the

| southern portion of the great Papuan Island and that of the Aru Archipelago.

Of the habits of this Cat-bird we know nothing. D’Albertis states that it feeds on fruit, and he found in
the stomach the same seeds as those devoured by Paradisea nove-ouinee, Ptilorhis itercedens, and Cicinnurus
regius.

Count Salvadori states that the females are a little smaller than the males and have the ochreous colour
of the lower parts less decided, while the margins of the feathers of the upper part of the breast are duller
and show less of a green shade. The reddish colour on the feathers of the head and neck, which is
sometimes met with, appears to Salvadori to bea sign of youth. D/’Albertis describes the colour of the
soft parts as follows :—* Bill ashy whitish; feet ashy ; iris chestnut or coppery red.”

Adult male (type of species). General colour above bright grass-green, slightly shaded with oe on OE
wing-coverts and primaries; the median and greater wing-coverts and the secondanies tipped with py
gates quills dull brown on the inner webs; tail dull grass-green, blackish on the inner webs of ie
Outer feathers, all the feathers rather broadly tipped with white; head and neck fulvous, unottled with
black, the feathers being mostly of the latter colour, with a large oval spot of fulvons nee the tip, Heny much
larger on the hinder neck ; lores and a line of feathers above and below the eye buffy me behind a
eye a bare patch; ear-coverts black ; rest of the sides of the face buffy white, barred with narrow ee
cross lines of flack = the fore-neck and chest yellowish white, all the feathers dark - base 4 Se
edged with black, giving a very strongly mottled appearance ; rest of mngee a ie ee a
slightly inclining to fawn-buff, the feathers with narrow whitish shavi-tines, the breast nae ae -
terminal cross lines of blackish ; sides of body washed with green, _ rather TS ae
white on the flank-feathers ; under wing-coverts yellowish buff, tinged with green ae oe ee ae
wing, many of the abdominal plumes, when lifted, exhibiting a bluish shade i
Seen on the lower surface of the tail. Total length 12°5 inches, culmen 1-6, wing 6 - ee en

Adult female. Similar to the male, but more distinctly greenish underneath ; og a a oe a
Spot of brighter green, the lower flanks washed with bluish green ; ee . ee feathers. “Total
distinct; mantle varied with arrow-shaped central markings of yellowish buff to a )
length 13-3 inches, culmen 1:45, wing 6-1,

The figures in the Plate are taken from specimens in the Gould colle

71.6 a tee 8
tail 5:2, tarsus 1°8. | - :
| | ction, now in the British Museum.

 

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