PACHYCEPHALA CHRISTOPHORL, Triser.

San-Christoval Thickhead.

Pachycephalus christophori, Tristram, Ibis, 1879, p. 441.

Pachycephala christophori, Salvad. Ibis, 1880, p. 131.—Id. Orn. Papuasia e delle Molucche, ii. p. 216 (1881). —
Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. W. vi. p. 178 (1882), vii. p. 25 (1883).—Salvad. Ibis, 1884, Dao
Tristr. t. c. p. 398.

Pachycephala astrolabi, juv., Gadow, Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus. ix. p. 200 (1883).

 

Tuts species was discovered by Lieut. Richards in the island of San Christoval in the Solomon group, and
was described by Canon Tristram. It is undoubtedly a distinct species, without the yellow collar round
the hind neck or the black head of P. astrolabi, which jis its nearest ally; it is also a much smaller bird
than the Jast named, which is an inhabitant of Guadaleavar in the Solomon Archipelago. According to
Mr. Ramsay, P. christophori has also been found in the island of Ugi by Messrs. Morton and Stephens.

Dr. Gadow considered that the present species was merely the young of P. astrolabi; but in this he was
undoubtedly wrong, as has been shown by Canon Tristram and Count Salvadori.

The following is a description of the typical specimens in Canon Tristram’s collection :—

Adult male. General colour dull yellowish green, a little lighter on the lower rump and upper tail-coverts ;
lesser wing-coverts a little yellower than the back; median and greater coverts dusky blackish, washed
externally with olive-yellow ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills also dusky blackish, edged with olive-
yellow; the primaries margined with ashy grey; tail-feathers dusky blackish, the centre ones dull olive-
yellowish towards the base, the remainder washed externally and tipped with dull olive-yellow; crown of
head a little more dusky yellowish green than the back ; the lores black, as also a frontal band; fore part of
eyelid and feathers below the eye blackish ; ear-coverts dull olive-brown with whitish shaft-lines ; cheeks and
throat bright yellow, followed by a broad black band across the lower throat, fore neck, and chest; breast and
abdomen bright yellow, inclining to orange on the upper breast ; sides of body and flanks also yellow, very
slightly tinged with greenish ; thighs and under tail-coverts paler yellow ; under wing-coverts and axillaries
white, washed with yellow on the edges ; quills below dusky, white along the inner edge: ‘feet ash-colour,
iris grey” (G. £. Richards). Total length 6-4 inches, culmen 0:8, wing 3-4, tail 2°3, tarsus 1:05.

Adult female. Brighter yellowish green than the male, the head like the back, but with no black forehead ;
ear-coverts like the crown, tinged with reddish brown, of which colour there is also a shade on the quills ;
upper tail-coverts and tail, cheeks and entire under surface of body bright yellow, paler on the throat,
slightly washed with greenish on the fore neck, chest, sides of body, and flanks, and tinged with orange on
the breast; no black pectoral collar; under wing-coverts and axillaries yellow; quills dusky below, reddish
along the edge of the inner web. Total length 5:65 inches, culmen 0 8, wing 3°26, tail 2:2, tarsus 0-95.

The young male resembles the old female, but has a few black feathers on the breast, indicating the
appearance of the pectoral band.

The Plate illustrates the male and female of the natural size, the figures having been drawn from the
type specimens kindly lent to us by Canon Tristram.

[R. B. 8]

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