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EDOLIISOMA MONTANUM.
Mount Arfak Cuckoo-Shrike.

Campephaga montana, Meyer, Sitzb. k. Ak. Wiss. zu Wien, lxix. p. 386 (1874).
Edoliisoma montanum, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. vii. p. 927 (1875).—Sharpe, Mitth. zool. Mus. Dresd. i.
pp- 367, 369 (1878).—Id. Cat. B. iv. p. 46 (1879).—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. xv. p. 35, n, 19

(1879).—Id. Orn. Papuasia &e. ii. p. 147 (1881).

 

Tus species was discovered in the Arfak Mountains by Dr. Meyer, and has since been met with in the same
locality by Dr. Beccari and Mr. Bruijn’s hunters. It is one of the finest members of the genus Edolisoma,
the female being more brightly coloured than is usual in this genus, and not being barred below as so many
of the hen birds are.

The male bird has the upper surface grey, and the lower parts entirely black ; and the female is recognized
by its perfectly black tail from all the other species of Edolisoma with which it might be confounded.

The following description of the species is taken from Mr. Bowdler Sharpe’s Catalogue :—

“* Adult male. General colour above blue-grey, including the wing-coverts ; greater coverts black, edged
with grey; bastard wing, primary-coverts, and quills black, with a steel-green gloss on the margin, the
inner secondaries broadly edged with grey; tail-feathers black, glossed with steel-green on the margins; a
narrow frontal line, lores, feathers round the eye, sides of face, sides of neck, and entire under surface of body
glossy black, the thighs ashy grey; under wing-coverts black; greater series of under wing-coverts and
quills, below ashy grey. Total length 9°5 inches, culmen 0°8, wing 5:4, tail 4-3, tarsus 1.

“« Adult female. Differs from the male in being of a lighter blue-grey both above and below ; only the
lores, feathers at base of forehead and in front of the eye, front half of eyelid, a spot at base of lower
mandible, and chin black. ‘Total length 9:5 inches, culmen 0°75, wing 5°05, tail 4-1, tarsus 1.

«The typical specimens lent to me by Dr. A. B. Meyer measure, in inches, as follows :-—

Total
length. Culmen. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.
Cats Avira ke oun See) 0°75 a3 4:3 1
8°8 0:8 00 4] ]

b. g > 9
“The female is not fully adult, and has the inner secondaries and the outer tail-feathers tipped with white ;
the under tail-coverts are rufous, barred with dark slaty-grey, from which it may be inferred that the young

bird is entirely marked in this manner on the under surface.”

The figures in the Plate represent a pair of birds of about the size of life. They are drawn from the

typical specimens kindly lent to me by Dr. Meyer.
[R. B. S.]

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