PffiCILOBKYAS AI,BIFACIES, Sharp».
PCECILODRYAS ALBIFACIES, Sharpe.
Southern White-faced Flycatcher.
PcecUodryas albifacies, Sharpe, joum. Linn. Soc. (Zool.) vol. xvi. p. 318 (1882).
A l t h o u g h closely allied to Padloiryas leucops o f North-western New Guinea, Mr. Goldie sent so many
specimens from the Astrolabe Mountains, all of which presented the same characters, that there can be l.ttle
doubt o f the two species being distinct. The present bird is very similar to P . leucops, but has the whole o f the
region round the eye white. In P . leucops the feathers in front of, below, and round the eye are black,
leaving only a large loral spot of white, the facial appearance o f P . albifacies being therefore quite different
when the two birds are compared.
The native name is said by Mr. Goldie to be B I d d im a t t am a t t a h e also states that the legs are yellow;
and this is all we know concerning the species beyond the fact th at it was procured by the above-named
collector in the Choquefi district at the back o f the Astrolabe Mountains.
The following description I copy from Mr. Sharpe’s essay on Mr. Goldie’s collection, published in the
Linnean Society’s Journal. _
“ Adult. General colour above olive-green, with a concealed spot of silky white on the sides o f the rum p ;
lesser and median wing-coverts like the b a ck ; primary-coverts and greater series dusky brown, edged with
olive-green, the latter slightly tinged with rufous brown near the tip s ; quills dusky brown, externally
olive a little more yellow in colour than the b a c k ; tail-feathers light brown, edged with olive, and having
a small tip o f ashy white a t the end o f the inner web ; forehead blackish, extending over the e y e ; top of.
head dark slaty grey with blackish shaft-streaks to the feathers, which are also very faintly tinged with
olive; lores, feathers in front o f the eye impinging on the forehead, feathers above and around the eye,
as well as the space below the eye, pure white; ear-coverts slaty black; cheeks and chin white faintly
washed with yellow; throat and under surface o f body bright yellow, the sides o f the breast and flanks
olive-greenish, a tinge of which is also in the centre o f the b re a s t; axillsries bright yellow; under wing-
coverts white washed with yellow, with a dusky patch near the edge of the wing, which is also yellow; quills
ashy-brown below, whitish along the edge o f the inner web. Total length 4-5 inches, column 0-55, wing
2*85, tail l -9, tarsus O’S.” . .
The figures in the Plate represent a pair of birds of the sire o f life, drawn from the typical *Pec™e™ ln
the British Museum.