MEZ'OBJHTNCHUS MEBHIg» Sharpe.
W.Bart dd.it Mu
PIEZORHYNCHUS MEDIUS, Sharpe.
Copping'er’s Flycatcher.
Piezorhynchus medius, Sharpe, Rep. Zool. Coll. Yoy. H.M.S. ‘ Alert,' p. 14 (1884).
T h e specimen from which the present species was characterized was obtained during the voyage of the
surveying-ship ‘ Alert,’ by Dr. Coppinger, the naturalist attached to the expedition. He procured a
male a t P o rt Molle, in Queensland, in the month o f May 1 8 8 8 ; and an examination of the individual
in question induced us to reconsider the relations o f the species o f Piezorhynchus, to which it is
allied. Writing in the year 1879, we had recognized four species o f this particular group o f
Flycatchers,, viz. P . bernsteini from the Island o f Salwati, P . nigrimentum from Amboyna and Goram,
P . tnmrgatus from Timor, and P . gouldi from North-eastern Australia. T h e latter species had previously
been united with P . trivirgatus, but was separated in 1860 by the late Mr. G. R. G ray ; and in writing
our account o f the ‘ Alert ’ collections we acknowledged our erro r in uniting with it P . albiventris of
Gould.
Dr. E. P. Ramsay, in his latest list (1 8 8 8 ) o f the Birds o f Australia, gives the habitat of P . gouldi
as from Gape York to the Wide-Bay district o f Eastern Australia, as far as the Richmond and Clarence
Rivers, to New South Wales. P . albiventris is said to occur only in the Gulf o f Carpentaria and the
Cape York district, probably extending to Rockingham Bay. He has apparently overlooked our
description o f P . medius, which is closely allied to P . albiventris, and, like that species, has the upper
tail-coverts black ; but differs from it in haying the sides o f the body orange-rufous instead of white.
P . gouldi has the sides o f the body orange-rufous as in P . medius, but has the upper tail-coverts grey.
No notes on the habits o f P . medius have yet been recorded ; but they are doubtless exactly the
same as those o f the allied Australian Flycatchers, described by Mr. Gould.
Dr. Coppinger describes the soft parts as follows:— Iris black ; bill light g re y ; legs and feet dark.”
The figures in the Plate are taken from the typical specimen in the British Museum, and represent
two male birds o f the size of life.
■ n Bm