DONACICOLA SPECTABILIS, Sclater.

Orange-rumped Finch.

Donacicola spectabilis, Sclater, P. Z.S. 1879, p. 449, pl. xxxvii. fig. 2—Salvad. Orn. della Papuasia &c. ii. p. 441
(1881).

 

Tue genus Donacicola (as it is now written, instead of my original name Donacola, which, I admit, was
not classically compounded) contains a very few species of little Finches, all of which are peculiar to the
Australian region. The best-known of them is the Chestnut-breasted Finch (D. castaneothorax) of
Australia ; and a very closely allied species is fotind in South-easterm New Guinea, the D. negriceps of
Ramsay. The discovery of a new species in New Britain is of some interest; as showing the Papuan
element in Australian ornithology, or, if one prefers it, the Australian element in the Papuan avifauna. It
is to be regretted that the Finches are at present in such a neglected state as regards their classification,
that the value of the different genera has never been worked owt by a competent ornithologist; and
therefore it is only fair to state that Dr. Sclater, in his original description of this species, has compared it
with my Donacicola flavoprymna as its nearest ally, and Mr. G. R. Gray classes the latter species as a
Muma. 1 must confess that the present bird is very like a Munia in appearance and less like a
Donacicola than the more typical species of the latter genus.

The single specimen at present known was procured in New Britain by the Rev. G. Brown, to whom we
are indebted for the discovery recently of so many fine novelties ; and I translate the description given by Dr.
Sclater (/. c.).

General colour brown ; the head, nape, and sides of breast black ; upper tail-coverts and margins of the
central tail-feathers pale chestnut ; under surface of body white ; throat, lower part of the belly, and vent,
with the thighs, black ; under wing-coverts ochraceous white; bill and feet black. Total length 3-4 inches,
wing 1-8, tail 1-2.

I am indebted to Dr. Sclater for the loan of the unique specimen of the present bird, which has since

passed into the collection of the British Museum.