STIGMATOPS SQUAMATA, Sawaa.

Scaly-chested Honey-eater.

Stigmatops squamata, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov. xii. p. 337 (1878).—Id. op. cit. xvi. p. 76 (1880).—Id.
Orn. Papuasia e delle Molucche, ii. p- 326 (1881).—Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1883, p. 198.

Nectarinia, sp. ine. (2), Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. ISIE, JO. Hil.

Glycyphila squamata, Gadow, Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus. ix. p. 217 (1884).

Stigmatops salvadorir, Meyer, in Madarasz, Zeitschr. Gace O)inemies een (1884),

 

Dr. Meyer has very kindly sent us from Dresden all the specimens of Stigmatops which have recently
x Se Nv Wa oe View AOP ‘ , or « ,
been the subject of his studies. We regret that we are unable to follow our learned colleague

conclusions, for we cannot find any cause for separating Stigmatops salv

in all his
adorti from Stigmatops squamata ; and
after comparing a series of Timor-Laut specimens with others from Choor collected by Von Rosenberg, we
consider them all identical and belonging to one and the same species. Two specimens from the typical
series of S. sguamata were kindly presented to the British Museum by Dr. Jentink, and have been compared
by us with several specimens collected by Mr. Forbes in Timor Laut, as well as with those obtained from the
same place by Dr. Meyer, and they appear to us to be specifically inseparable, though we must confess to
having entertained a different expectation.

The following descriptions are taken from a pair of specimens collected by Von Rosenberg in the island
of Choor, and presented to the British Museum by Dr. Jentink, the director of the Leiden Museum. They
are from the typical series described by Count Salvadori.

Adult male. General colour above dull olive-greenish, somewhat clearer olive towards the lower back,
rump, and upper tail-coverts ; wing-coyverts like the body, the greater series smoky brown, edged with the
same colour as the back, the median coverts margined with pale yellow at the tips; quills dusky brown,
externally edged with olive-greenish ; tail-feathers pale ashy, washed externally with yellowish olive ; crown
of head rather more dingy olive than the back ; lores and feathers round the eye dull ashy; from the base
of the bill below the eye a patch of silvery white dots, with a slight tinge of yellow on the fore part of the
patch, followed by a spot of silvery white on the ear-coverts ; cheeks dull ashy, as well as the malar line and
base of chin; entire under surface of body pale sulphur-yellow, mottled slightly on the throat, but very
distinctly on the fore neck and breast, with dusky brown centres to the feathers ; under tail-coverts very pale
sulphur-yellow with dusky centres ; under wing-coverts and axillaries pale yellow with dusky bases ; quills
dull brown below, ashy yellowish along the inner web. Total length 5-4 inches, culmen 0°75, wing 3:0,
tail 2:3, tarsus 0:9.

The female sent by Dr. Jentink seems to be immature, being dull olive-yellowish underneath, with only
here and there traces of the squamated feathers on the breast which distinguish the adult male. Total
length 5:2 inches, culmen 0:8, wing 2°70, tail 2:1, tarsus 0°85.

The figures in the Plate represent a full-sized adult and a younger bird, the former being drawn from
one of Dr. Meyer’s specimens of 8. sa/vadorii, the immature bird being one of those given by Dr. Jentink.

[R. B. S.J