MONACHELLA MUELLERIANAo
MONACHELLA MUELLERIANA.
Chat-like Flycatcher.
Muscicapa mulleriana, Schlegel (nee Mmcicapa mulleri, Temm.), Ned. Tijdschr. Dierk. iv. p. 40 (1871).
Monachella smicolina, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. vi. p. 63 (1874).—Beccari, ibid. vii. p. 709 (1875)__
D ’Albertis, Sydney Mail, 1877, p. 248.—Id. Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen.x. p. 11 (1877).—Salvad. op. eit. x. p . 11
(note), p. 133 (1877).—D’Alb. & Salvad. op. cit. xiv. p. 59 (1879).—Salvad. op. cit. p. 501 (18 7 9 ).—
Jd. Om. Fapuasia &c. p. 83 (1881.)
Monachella mulleriana, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. vi. p. 308 (1874, note).—Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. iv.
p. 240 (1879).
Microeca albofrontata, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. New S. Wales, iii. p. 304 (1879), iv. pp. 90, 98 (1879) Salvad.
Ibis, 1859, p. 323.
I am sorry th at I cannot follow m y friend Count Salvador! in calling this bird Monachella saxicolina (although
his reasons are worthy o f some consideration), as he has only preferred to use that name to avoid the
confusion th at might take place between Muscicapa muelleriana o f Schlegel and Muscicapa muelleri of
Temminck. I do not think, however, th at there is really much chance o f this confusion, as the latter bird
is a Flycatcher belonging to the genus Erythromyias, and is an inhabitant o f Sumatra and Borneo. Professor
Schlegel’s name having been published three years before th at of Count Salvadori, it has an undoubted
claim to priority. In other respects the name o f saxicolina is extremely well chosen, as indicating the
habits o f the b ird ; and Signor D’Albertis states th at when he first saw the species on the torrents o f the
Arfak Mountains he really thought th at it was a true Saxicola.
Dr. Beccari also says that in the above-named locality he found the species abundant, but only in the streams
near the sea. During his expedition up the Fly river, D ’Albertis met with the species along the banks, and
relates how, when the water was low, it perched on small rocks a t the side o f the river, and was continually
in motion flying after insects. Mr. Goldie also states that during his recent expedition to the Astrolabe
Mountains he found the species, in company with Grallina bruijnii, flying about creeks and hopping amongst
the stones.
As far as we know, the present bird is exclusively confined to New Guinea. A specimen was procured by
Solomon Muller in Lobo Bay as long ago as 1828, though it does not seem to have been described till 1871.
I t also inhabits the Arfak Mountains, and has been met with a t Karons by M. Laglaize. In the southern
p art o f the island D ’Albertis met with it on the Fly r iv e r ; and Mr. Goldie procured it on the Goldie river
inland from Port Moresby. He has more recently met with it in the Morocco district, a t the back of the
Astrolabe range o f mountains in South-eastern New Guinea: here it is called Iada.
T h e following description is taken from Mr. Sharpe’s * Catalogue o f B ird s : ’—
“Adult male. General colour above light French grey, paler on the lower back, the rump and upper tail-
coverts wh ite; wings and tail dark brown; crown o f head and nape dark brown, as also the feathers above
the eye and the upper edge o f the eyelid, the brown narrowing on the forehead to the base o f the b ill; lores
and feathers over the front o f the eye pure w h ite ; between the eye and the base o f the bill a triangular
patch o f blackish fea th e rs; sides o f face and ear-coverts, as well as entire under surface o f body, creamy
w h ite; under wing-coverts dark brown; ‘ bill and feet black ’ (D ' Albertis). Total length 5 '5 inches,
culmen 0*6, wing 3'8 , tail 2 ’4, tarsus 0 65.
“Adult female. Similar to the male. Total length 5 '3 inches, culmen 0*6, wing 3*55, tail 2*25, tarsus O'65.”
Count Salvadori says that the young bird has the head and the wing-coverts blackish brown spotted with
white, the back dull whitish varied with dusky, and the tips o f the tail-feathers white.
The figures in the Plate represent a pair o f birds o f the size of life, and are drawn from a specimen
collected by Mr Goldie, and now in the British Museum.
[R. B. S.]