AILURGDUS MELANOTIS.
Black-cheeked Cat-bird.

Ptilonorhynchus melanotis, Gray, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 181.—Id. Cat. Mamm. & Birds N
J. f. O. 1864, p. 122.—Schl. Mus. P. B. Coraces
ly. p. 51.

Guin. p. 37.—Von Rosenb.
» p- 118.—Gray, Handl. B. i. p. 294.—Schl. N. T. D,

Atluredus melanotis, Elliot, Monogr. Paradiseide, ol, 8%,

 

Tue discovery of this genuine and unmistakable Cat-bird in the Papuan Islands,
that the latter are Australian, and not Indian, in their geographical affinity.
The Aluredus melanotis of the Aru Islands is the largest of the five specie

forms part of the evidence

s of this genus now known to us:
the nearest ally is the 4. arfakianus of the mainland of New Guinea, and by some may be considered the same
species ; Mr. Meyer, however, has separated them ; and I have followed him and given figures of both. What-
ever they may ultimately prove to be, it will be seen that the mainland bird differs materially both in the colour
and form of its markings. The newly discovered species at Rockingham Bay, in Queensland, is also nearly allied,
but is at once separated by its much smaller size, and less developed markings on the tips of the secondaries,
a feature so prominent in the Aru bird as to remind us very forcibly of the round marks so abundantly
dispersed over the whole upper surface in Chlamydodera maculata. These marks, both in form and colour,
are not the usual tippings of such feathers, but are rounder and more sharply defined ; in colour they will
be found deeply tinted with yellowish grey, affording a strong contrast to the pure white ends of the tail-
feathers. These facts in my mind tend to confirm the alliance between the members of the genus Aiduredus
and Chlamydodera, while the length and greater development of the mantle in most of the species shows
an alliance to many of the Birds of Paradise. Mr. Wallace did not fail to obtain specimens of the present
bird during his visit to the Aru Islands ; neither was Mr. Cockerell less active in this respect : from these
two sources our cabinets are now well supplied. The Dutch travellers, Baron von Rosenberg and
Mr. Hoedt, have also forwarded a large series to the Leiden Museum, from the islands of Wokan, Trangan,
and Maykor, all belonging to the Aru group. Nothing whatever has been written about its habits.

Male.—Bill fleshy white ; crown of the head, nape, and mantle black, with longitudinal spots of buffy
brown occupying the centre of each feather ; lores grey; ears black, separated from the back of ie head
by a narrow line of buffy white ; throat greyish white, mottled with dark brown ; all the undersurface dull
greenish yellow, each feather having darker tips and a hair-like stripe of relate oun the centre ; the breast
generally darker than the belly and flanks, the latter being strongly suffused vel green ; all the ape
surface lively grass-green ; the tips of all the secondaries greyish white, all the tail-feathers tipped with pure
white, the outermost ones largely, while in the two centre ones the white marks are almost obsolete ; legs
and toes bluish black.

Total length 123 inches, bill 13, wing 62, tail 43, tarsus 2.

1 ike 1 » female is deci he smallest.
The sexes are much alike in colour; but the female is decidedly t

   
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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