MYIAGRA FERROCYANEA, Ramsay.

Purple-backed Flycatcher.

Myiagra ferrocyanea, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. a VE sive spe (3 (8/0) ee alee ian Mus. Civ. Genov. xiy
p- 508 (1879).—Id. Ibis, 1880, p. 129.—Id. Orn. Papuasia, ete. ii. Pp. 79 (1881), iii. p. 533 (1882). |

Myvagra pallida, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S, W. lv. p. 78 (1879).—Salvad. Ann. Mus, Civ. Genov. xiv. p. 508
(1879).—Id. Ibis, 1880, p- 129.—Id. Orn. Papuasia, ete. ii. p. 79 (1881). . }

 

On comparing the male of the present species with its allies, it w
reason of its parple back. The female was described by Mr. Ramsay as a distinct species (IZ. pallida),
although he appears to have entertained doubts at the time whether it might not be the hen bird of a black-
throated male. We have no hesitation in adopting the latter view, although
would be quite possible to have two species, as dissimilar as the

ill be found at once to be very distinct by

, according to some observers, it
sexes of the present bird, living side by side
in the same island. Where a black-throated male occurs, howeve

r, along with a red-throated bird, we
believe that the latter will be found to be the female

, and that it is only in certain islands that both sexes
are red- or white-throated. The nearest approach to the coloration of the females of

M. ferrocyanea
occurs in MM. cervinicauda of Tristram ;

but here the rufous on the chin and under surface of body at once
distinguishes them.

The following descriptions are taken from the original specimens lent to us by Mr. Ramsay :—

Adult male (type of Myiagra ferrocyanea, Ramsay). General colour above deep purplish, the head, which is
much crested, being more of a deep steel-blue colour; wing-coverts purple like the back; bastard wing,
primary-coverts, and quills blackish brown, narrowly edged with blue-black ; upper tail-coverts blue-black,
not so purple as the back ; tail-feathers blue-black ;_ lores velvety black; sides of face, ear-coverts, cheeks,
sides of neck, throat, and fore neck deep purple, inclining to steel-blue on the throat; remainder of under
surface from the chest downwards and including the thighs, under tail-coverts, axillaries, and under wing-
coverts pure white ; quills dusky below, white along the edge of the inner web. Total length 5:3 inches,
culmen 0°55, wing 2°75, tail 2°5, tarsus 0°65.

Adult female (type of Myiagra pallida, Ramsay). General colour above pale reddish brown, with an ashy
shade on the scapulars and lower back, as well as the lesser wing-coverts; median and greater coverts,
bastard wing, primary-coverts, and quills dusky brown, externally edged with light rufous, the margins nearly
obsolete on the bastard-wing and primary-coverts ; upper tail-coverts light rufous; tail-feathers pale brown,
externally edged with pale rufous, the outer feathers almost entirely pale rufous, dusky brown towards the
tips and along the outer webs; crown of head, hind neck, and mantle French grey ; lores and eyelid
whitish ; feathers below the eye and ear-coverts French grey; cheeks and entire under surface of Body
white, faintly shaded with fulvous on the fore neck; lower flanks, thighs, and under tail-coverts washed with
pale rufous; axillaries and under wing-coverts white ; quills dusky brown oe pale mubeseein along the
edge of the inner web. Total length 5:3 inches, culmen 0°55, wing 2'59, tail 2°45, tarsus 0°55.

The figures in the Plate represent the two sexes of the size of life, and are drawn from the types of

M. ferrocyanea and M. pallida respectively. [R. B. $.]

CEB LOS 2