PSEUDOGERYGONE CHRYSOGASTRA.
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher.
Gerygone chrysogaster, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, pp. 171, 191.— Id. Cat. Mamm. etc. New Guinea, pp. 25, 56
(1859).— Rosenb. J. f. 0 . 1864, p. 122.— Finsch, Neu-Guiuea, p. 166 (1865).— Meyer, Sitz. k. Akad.
Wien, lxx. p. 118 (1874).—Salvad. & D’Albert. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, vii. p. 820 (1875).—Salvad.
tom. cit. p . 956 (1875).—Id. op. cit. ix. p. 26 (1876), xiv. p. 503 (1879).—Id. & D’Albert, t. c. p. 63
(1879).r—Salvad. Orn. Papuasia e delle Molucche, i. p. 97 (1881).
Acanthiza chrysogaster, Gray, Hand-list Birds, i. p. 219, no. 3131 (1869).
Gerygone xanthogaster (lapsu), Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, vii. p. 958 (1875).
Gerygone chrysogastra, Sharpe, Journ. Linn. Soc., Zool. xiii. p. 495 (1878).
Pseudogerygone chrysogastra, Sharpe, Notes from the Leyden Mus. i. p. 29 (1878).— Id. Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus.
iv. p. 226 (1879).
T h e late Mr. George Robert Gray described the present species from the Aru Islands, where it was
discovered by Mr. Wallace; Mr. Gray also included specimens from Mysol and Waigiou, but the birds
from the two last-named islands are really distinct species, and have been separated as P . notata, Salvad.,
and P . neglecta, Wallace.
Besides the Aru Islands, where D r. Beccari has also met with the species, it has been found in Southeastern
New Guinea as well as in the Island o f Jobi, in the Bay of Geelvink. Count Salvadori, however,
notices some slight differences in the Jobi specimen, which he thinks may indicate a distinct species.
T he present bird is one o f many Aru species which are also found to inhabit South-eastern New Guinea,
and no differences can be detected between specimens from these two localities. D ’Albertis met with it
on the Fly River, and again a t Mount Epa and Naiabui. Mr. H. 0 . Forbes has also recently sent a
specimen from the Sogeri district, in the Astrolabe Mountains. Count Salvadori also believes th at Gerygone
incompicua of Ramsay (Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, iii. p. 116) is identical with the present species; and
this seems likely enough, the only point in which the description disagrees with that o f P . chrysogastra
being in the presence of “ an oblique blackish spot from in front to under the eyes across the gape.”
Adult male. General colour olive-brown, the upper tail-coverts more rusty brown ; wing-coverts like the
back, the greater series darker brown, narrowly edged with olive-brown like the b a c k ; quills dark brown,
externally edged with olive; tail dark brown, edged with rusty brown like the upper tail-coverts; lores and
eyelid dull w h ite ; ear-coverts and sides o f face light ashy brown ; cheeks, throat, and breast white, the
remainder o f the under surface sulphur-yellow, the thighs browner; under wing-coverts pale yellow,
with white bases ; “ bill and feet dusky ” ('Wallace) ; “ iris black ” {D'Albertis) : “ bill black ; legs and
feet faint purplish brown ; iris brown, with a ring o f pale orange outside ” {H. 0 . Forbes'). Total length
4 '7 inches, culmen 0 -45, wing 2 ‘2, tail 1'8, tarsus 0*65.
Adult female. Similar to the male in colour. “ Bill black ; feet reddish white ” {Wallace). Total length
4*2 inches, culmen 0 '4 5 , wing 2, tail 1 '7, tarsus 0'65.
The Plate represents an adult bird in two positions, and has been drawn from a specimen procured in the
Astrolabe Mountains by Mr. H. O. Forbes.
[R. B. S .J