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MALURUS ALBOSCAPULATUS, Meger.

Pied Malurus.

Malurus alboscapulatus, Meyer, Sitzungsberichte der k.-k. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Wien, Bd. Ixix.
p. 496 (1874).—T. Salvadori, Ann. del Mus. Civ. di Genova, vol. vii. 1875, p. 778.

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Tue discovery of this little bird in New Guinea is a welcome addition to the Australian genus MWalurus.
I say Australian genus ; for it is in that country where all the other known species are found, and over
which they are generally dispersed. They are divisible into several little sections to which generic terms
might be given

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the blue-crowned bird of Tasmania forming part of a group which differs from the
variegated and more gorgeous species of the mainland, the delicate white-winged birds inhabiting the
interior, the red-backed frequenting the great grass-beds of the plains, being as many natural divisions.
The nests of all the species are dome-shaped ; and many of the kinds are foster-parents of the little Bronzy
Cuckoo Chalcites lucidus &c. The two principal figures in the accompanying Plate are copied from a bird
in Dr. Meyer’s Arfak collection, while the other is from a specimen collected on the south coast. I have
taken considerable trouble to satisfy myself that the birds received from these distant localities are really
identical ; and I may state that size, and size alone, is the only difference that exists between them, the
southern bird being by about one sixth the smallest in all admeasurements. Until I have an opportunity of
seeing more specimens than I have done, I shall regard the two birds, although so widely distributed,
as one and the same. Of M. Salvadori’s naimi I have not seen a specimen, and am therefore unable to
state if it is a female or young male or a different bird from the one under consideration.

A few words will sufficiently describe the Malurus alboscapulatus. Body and tail shining velvety black ;
wings brownish, on each shoulder a large glowing white spot ; bill, feet, and tarsi black.

Hab. Arfak Mountains, New Guinea.

The figures in the accompanying Plate are of the natural size.