JRECTES CEKVTO'IVEB'T H IS 9 j g p
RECTES CERVINIVENTRIS, Gray.
Fawn-breasted Wood-Shrike.
Rectes cerviniventris, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1861, p. 430.— Finsch, Neu-Guinea, p. 176 f l 865).—Meyer, Sitz. k.
Akad. Wissenseh. Wien, lxix. p. 2 0 8 (1874).—Sharpe, Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus. iii. p. 286(1877).—
Rosenb. Malay. Arch. p. 395 (1879).
Rhedes cerviniventris, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, xv. p. 44 (1879).—Id. Orn. Papuasia e delle Molucche, ii.
p. 200 (1881),
As with R . leucorhynchus, so with the present bird, we cannot find Mr. Gray’s authority for stating that it is
found in the island o f Gagie, as no specimen from this island exists in the British Museum, where the type
specimens are deposited. The original specimen came from Waigiou, where Mr. Wallace discovered the
species, and where it has since been met with by Mr. Bruijn, who has also found it in Batanta. The late
Dr. Bernstein likewise procured it in the island o f Ghemien. The habitat Gagie must therefore be
entirely erroneous, though how the mistake arose we are unable to conjecture.
The following description is copied from the British Museum * Catalogue of Birds ’ :—
“ Adult male. General colour above ashy olive, inclining to olive on the rump and upper tail-coverts; the
head crested, ashy grey, this colour pervading the mantle and back ; sides o f face and sides ot neck rather
darker ashy ; wings olive-brown, the inner webs o f the feathers darker brown, the outer webs washed with
reddish olive; tail-feathers brown, washed with olive on the edges of the feathers, the outer ones reddish
brown, edged with deep fawn-colour on the outer web ; throat and fore neck ashy, washed with ochre ; rest
o f under surface o f body chestnut fawn-colour, including the thighs, under wing- and tail-coverts; under
surface o f body dark ashy brown, the inner webs rufous fawn-colour. Total length 8-6 inches, culmen 1‘05,
wing 3 ’75, tail 3 ‘5, tarsus 1*25.”
The Plate represents an adult bird in two positions, o f the size o f life, the figures being drawn from a
specimen in the British Museum.
| [R. B. S.]