ee

SS

Wallace’s Goatsucker.

Aigotheles wallacit, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1859, p. 154.—Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1861, p. 433.—Finsch, Neu-Guinea
p- 162 (1865).—Schlegel, Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk. iii. p. 340 (1866).—Gray, Hand-list Birds, i. p. 55,
no. 603 (1869).—Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1873, p- 696.—Meyer, Sitz. k. Akad. Wien, lxix. D> 76
(1874).—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov. x. p- 310 (1877).—Id. Proce. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 94.—Id. Orn.
Papuasia e delle Molucche, ii. p. 526 (1880).—Id. Report Voy. H.M.S. ‘Challenger,’ p. 77 (1882),—
Meyer in Madarasz, Zeitschr. ges. Orn. i. p. 278, pl. xvii. fig. 4 (1884).—Guillemard, Proc. Zool. Soc.
1885, p. 630.

? Caprimulgus brachyurus, Schl. Neder). Tijdschr. Dierk. iii. p. 340 (1866, ex Rosenb. MSS.).-—Rosenb. Nat.
Tijdschr. Nederl. Ind. xxix. p. 143 (1867).—Id. Reis. naar Zuidoostereil. p: 37 (1867).

 

Tuts interesting Goatsucker was discovered by Mr. A. R. Wallace during his travels in the east, at Dorei in
New Guinea, and the type specimen is in the British Museum. It has since been met with in the same
locality by Mr. Bruijn’s hunters, as well as on the Arfak Mountains by Dr. A. B. Meyer, and in Atam by
Signor D’Albertis. It appears to represent in North-western New Guinea the Australian Aigotheles nove-
hollandi@, and it is replaced in South-eastern New Guinea by 4. dennetti. It differs from the latter, and
consequently also from £2. nove-hollandie, in its dark coloration, and in having the fore part of the crown
varied with rufous, and in exhibiting some whitish-red spots on the scapular feathers.

A Goatsucker from the Aru Islands has been described by Baron von Rosenberg as a distinct species
under the name of Caprimulgus brachyurus. Count Salvadori, who has examined the type in the Leyden
Museum, is of opinion that it is a young bird of the genus Agotheles, with an imperfectly developed tail,
probably referable to 4. wallacii; but he has also seen a second specimen from the Aru Islands collected
during the ‘ Challenger’ expedition, and he believes that the Aru bird is probably distinct, by reason of its
smaller dimensions and more minute vermiculations. We have examined the last-named specimen and find
that it fully bears out Count Salvadori’s opinion ; but it will be better to wait for a larger series of specimens
before venturing to separate the Aru bird specifically, as Goatsuckers vary so much in the intensity
of their coloration. tS

Dr. Meyer has recently received a specimen from the same group of islands, where the bird is called by
the natives ‘‘ Tatar faffu.’ The iris was greyish brown and the feet dark flesh-colour. The egg, which is
figured by Dr. Meyer, is cream-coloured, with scribbling of dusky greyish. 8 Fe or

We do not give a detailed description of this species, the characters having been well pointed ou
above.

The Plate represents two adult birds of the natur

lent to us by Dr. Guillemard.

al size, the figures having been drawn from a specimen

[R. B. S.J