AMBLYORNIS FLAVIFRONS, Rother. ”

Yellow: fronted Gardener Bower-bird.

Amblyornis flavifrons, Rothschild, Novit. Zool. ii. p. 480 (1895).—Id. op. cit. iii. pl. i. figs. 3, 4 (1896)

 

Tus distinct species of yellow-crested Bower-birds was described by the Hon. Walter Rothschild in 1895

from a specimen in his collection from Dutch New Guinea. He has now two additional specimens in the
Tring Museum, and there can be no doubt that it is distinct from the two other species of Amblyornis. The
whole crest is more yellow than in 4. inornata and A. subalaris, and this colour is continued down to
the base of the bill, whereas in the other two species the forehead is brown like the back and the colour
of the crest is orange. Mr. Rothschild further calls attention to the fact that the plumes of the crest in
A. flavifrons, although very long and slender, have united webs like an ordinary feather, whereas in the
other two species the webs are decomposed and each feather consists of a bundle of thin hair-like filaments.
Again, as Mr. Rothschild observes, the colours of the underparts are distinctly separated at the chest iu
A. flavifrons, while in A. inornata the colour of the chest fades gradually towards the vent, and in A. sudalaris
the underparts are of a uniform brown, slightly spotted with buff.

The following is a description of the type-specimen in Mr. Rothschild’s collection :—

General colour above dark brown, a little more rufescent on the lower back and rump; wing-coverts
like the back; quills and tail dusky brown, externally washed with olive; crown of head from the base of
the forehead bright orange-yellow, including the enormous crest; the shafts of the crest-feathers lemon:
yellow towards the base; lores and sides of crown dark sooty brown, as well as the sides of the face and
throat, shading off into lighter brown on the fore-neck and chest; remainder of under surface of the body
light cinnamon-brown ; axillaries cinnamon; under wing-coverts pale cinnamon; quills dusky below,
yellowish along the inner web. Total length 8 inches, culmen 0:9, wing 5:2, tail 3-3, tarsus 1:3.

The lower figure represents the typical example of 4. flavifrons of the natural size.

AMBLYORNIS INORNATA, | Seti.

 

a figure of the male of this species, in full plumage, which has

I nave taken the present opportunity to give ;
For more than twenty years no yellow-crested bird ha

been discovered since the original Plate was drawn.
been received from the Arfak Mountains, the home of 4. énornata; and I felt so convinced that the sexes
were alike in colour, that I separated the southern form, A. subalaris, as a distinct genus, hich I re
Xanthochlamys (Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, iv. p. xv). It seems, however, that the male birds in ee
received before 1894 must all have been young or not in full plumage, for when Te male was
discovered it turned out to have a magnificent orange crest, as was eres by Dr. Meyer from a specimen
received by the Dresden Museum (Bull. Brit, Orn. Club, iv. p. xviti). do, Wie ene
Since then fully adult males, in nuptial plumage, have been received by the af ¢ fie: a o
only from Arfak, but from the Owen Stanley Mountains in South-eastern New ae : ae
discovered on Mt. Victoria and in the Eafa district between Mts. Alexander and Bellamy. é
therefore be no doubt that the following synonyms also belong to 4. mornata :—
Amblyornis musgravii, Goodwin, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1889, p. 451. : é _ Ta. Colonial Papers, no. 103,
Amblyornis macgregoria, De Vis, Ann. Rep. Coll. Brit. New Guinea, p. 61 oe i ee a
p- 113 (1890).—Id. Ibis, 1891, p. 37,—Salvad. Aun. Mus. Civic. Genov. (“) *
Id. Aggiunte Orn. Pap. ili. p. 243 (1891).
Amblyornis musgravianus, Goodwin, Ibis, 1890, p- 1518

C ; , iv xiv (1894).
Xanthochlamys musgravianus, Sharpe, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, iv. p. xiv ( )

1 i . ¢ 1 fs iv from
S aay, > ahi VI - Goodwin IS totally differen
It should be noted that the form of the playing-ground as given by f

that sketched by Dr. Beccari.

 

  
    
  
  
    
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
   
    
     
   
     
   
    

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