W JJart d tb .eb lilh . PAiCHYCEPHAlLA KBUNNEA., Ramsay.
Waller imp.
PACHYCEPHALA BRUNNEA, Ramsay.
Brown Thickhead.
Eopsaltria (? ) brunnea, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, i. p. 3 91 (1877).
Pachycephala brmnea, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, in. p . 382 (1879) ; iv. p. 99 (1879).—Salvad Ibis
1879, p. 324.
Pachycephala dubia, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N . S. Wales, iv. p. 99, note (1879).—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civ.
Genov, xv. p . 46 (18 7 9 ).—Id. Orn. Papuasia &c. ii. p . 228 (1881).
In an early collection o f Mr. Goldie’s from South-eastern New Guinea occurred a single specimen of this
hird, which we identified as. Pachycephala brunnea o f Ramsay, and the Plate was lettered with this name. We
regret that at the tune we had own-looked fee fact that there was already a P . brunnea o f Wallace, and that
therefore Mr. Ramsay's name could not stand. As Count Salvador! has pointed out, the species has also been
described a second time by Mr. Ramsay under the name of P . dubia, by which title it should be known. The
habitat seems to be South-eastern New Guinea, where it has been obtained on the Laloki river, and more
recently in the Astrolabe Mountains by Mr. Goldie. It belongs to the plain-coloured section o f Thickheads,
and appears to be very closely allied to P . simplex o f Gould.
The following is a copy o f the diagnosis o f the species given in Count Salvadori’s work on the Birds of
New Guinea.
Above clear brown tinged with olive, the head darker; inner web of the quills and tail-feathers dusky grey
(with the base o f the quills whitish), white below ; lores dusky; a faintly indicated dnsky band above the e y e ;
throat greyish ashy, dusky towards the breast, the latter marked with a transverse band of dusky , sides of the
breast and o f the abdomen dusky ; abdomen, under tail-coverts, and under wing-coverts silky white; tail dusky
above, tinged with olive like the wing, below dusky cinereous ; shafts o f the tail-feathers black above, below
white. Total length 5-5 inches, wing 3-3, tail 2-5, bill 0-55.
For the opportunity of figuring this species we are indebted to Mr. Edward Gerrard, jun., who kindly lent
us one o f Mr. Goldie's specimens from the Astrolabe Mountains. The Plate represents the bird, o f the
size of life, in two positions.
[R. B. S.]