MELANOPYRRHUS ANAIS.

Orange-chested Starling.

Sericulus anais, Less. Rev. Zool. 1844, p. 44.—Bp. Consp. i. p. 349 (1850).—Id. Compt. Rend. xxxvii. p. 831
(1853).—Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857, p. 6.—G. R. Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, p. 192, 1861, p. 434.—
Rosenb. Nat. Tijdschr. Nederl. Ind. xxv. p. 234 (1863).—Id. J. f. O. 1864, p. 121.

Oriolus ? anais, G. R. Gray, Gen. B. App. p. ii (1849).—Id. Cat. B. New Guinea, pp. 26, 57 (1859).

Pastor nigrocinctus, Cass. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. 1850, p. 68.—Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857, Dao

Melanopyrrhus anais, Bp. Compt. Rend. xxxvii. p. 831 (1853).—Id. Notes Coll. Delattre, p. 9 (1854).—-Sclater,
Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857, p. 6.—Id. Journ. Linn. Soc. ii. p. 159 (1858).—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov.
x. p. 150 (1877), xvi. p. 195 (1880).—Id. Orn. Papuasia e delle Molucche, ii. p. 462 (1881).—Guillemard,
Proc. Zool. Soc. 1885, p. 644.

Gracula pectoralis, Wallace, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1862, p. 166, pl. xx.—Sclater, Ibis, 1863, p- 225.—Finsch, Neu-
Guinea, p. 174 (1865).

Gracula (Melanopyrrhus) anais, G. R. Gray, Ann, & Mag, Nat. Hist. (3), x. p. 473 (1862).

Gracula anais, Wallace, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (3), xi. p. 15 (1863).—Schleg. Mus. P.-B. Coraces, p. 98
(1867).—Id. Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk. iv. p. 18 (1871).—Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1873, p. 697.—
Rosenb. Malay. Archip. p. 554 (1879).

Eulabes anais, G. R. Gray, Hand-list Birds, ii. p. 19, no. 6276 (1870).

 

Tuts beautiful form of Starling is peculiar to New Guinea, and appears to be intermediate between the
Mynahs (Lulabes) and the Crested Starlings (Basilornis). We have therefore followed Count Salvadori
in considering it to belong to a separate genus, Melanopyrrhus, which he has located in the vicinity of the
above-named genera.

The present species is very rare in collections, even at this date, and for many years it was known only
by imperfect skins prepared by native hunters, aud thus the early descriptions were very inaccurate. In
1862 Mr. Wallace gave a good description for the first time, accompanied by an excellent figure by
Mr. Wolf.

The habitat of JZ. anats appears to be North-western New Guinea and Salwati. Mr. Wallace and most
recent travellers have met with it near Sorong, and Mr. Bruijn and Dr. Beccari at Ramoi, Mariati, and
Dorei-hum.

We transcribe herewith the description given by Count Salvadori in his great work on the ‘Birds of
Papuasia,’ as the series examined by him has far exceeded that at our own disposition :—

Adult. Whole of the head, throat, back, wing-coverts, and abdomen black, the feathers with broad
margins of glossy green, some of them changing to violet-blue under certain lights; lower throat and
upper breast, rump, upper tail-coverts, and lower abdomen ochreous yellow, with an orange tinge; a
cervical collar of pale ochreous yellow, produced laterally on both sides of the head into an_ occipital
band; under tail-coverts yellow, the longer ones white with scarcely any yellow; a white band on the wing
in the middle of the quills; under wing-coverts black ; a bare space round the eye; feathers of the eyelids
black; iris yellow; bill and feet pale yellow.

Young. Similar to the adult, but with the feathers of the breast and abdomen regularly margined with
pale yellow ; the cervical collar, rump, and upper tail-coverts paler yellow.

The figures in the Plate represent an adult specimen in two positions, and are drawn from an example
lent to us by Dr. Guillemard.

[R. B. S.J