PCECILODRYAS BIMACULATA.
Black-and-White Flycatcher.
Myiolestes? bimaculata, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, vi. p. 84.
Pachycephala? bimaculata, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, vii. p. 935 (1 8 7 5 ), x. p. 142 (1877).
Pcecilodryas bimaculata, Sharpe, Notes Leyden Mus. i. p. 25 (1878).—Id. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. iv. p. 244 (1879).
Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, xiv. p. 502 (18,79).— Id. Orn. Papuasia, etc. ii. p. 85 (1882).
Pcecilodryas sylvia, Ramsay, Trans. Linn. Soc. N . S. Wales, viii. p. 5 (1883).
T h e genus Pcecilodryas consists o f two groups, o r sections, characterized by the colour o f the abdomen ; in
one section the abdomen is white, in the other yellow. The white-bellied group may be further subdivided
into those which have the throat white and those which have a black throat. The present species belongs to
the latter section, which now contains three species—P . bimaculata, P . cethiops, and P . albinotata, the latter
being distinguished by its bluish-grey upper surface.
P . bimaculata and P . cetkiops have the upper surface black, with the rump and upper and under tail-
coverts wh ite; but they may easily be distinguished from each other, P . bimaculata having the abdomen
white, a long white patch on the sides o f the fore neck and chest, and the inner wing-coverts b lack ; whereas
in P . cethiops the abdomen, is black, the inner wing-coverts are white, forming a shoulder-patch, and there
is no' white on the sides o f the fore neck.
T he present species was discovered in north-western New Guinea by Signor D ’Albertis, and has heen met
with in the same locality by Dr. Beccari and M. Laglaize. I t has been more recently obtained in the
Astrolabe Mountains by Mr. Goldie, and a specimen from that range of mountains has been lent to me by
Mr. Ramsay.
The following description is copied from the 4 B ritish Museum Catalogue o f Birds ’ :—
44 A dult male. Above velvety black; upper tail-coverts white, forming a band across ; wings and tail black;
sides o f face, sides o f neck, throat, and breast black, as well as the flanks and th ig h s ; abdomen, vent, and
under tail-coverts wh ite; on each side o f the chest a broad line of pure white feathers running from the
sides o f the lower throat to the sides o f the upper b re a s t; under wing-coverts black; quills ashy black below.
Total length 5 -l inches, culmen 0 -6, w in g 3 -3, tail 2, tarsus 0*85.”
The figures in the Plate, which represent an adult bird of the natural size, are drawn from the Astrolabe-
Mountain specimen lent to us by Mr. Ramsay, the type o f his P . sylvia. [R . B. S.]