- ¿ E L U R C E D U S S T O N I I , S h a rp *
iELURCEDUS STONII, Sharpe.
Stone’s Cat Bird.
JEkircedus stonii, Sharpe,,Nature, Aug. 17, 1876, p. 339.—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genova, ix. p. 193 (1876).
—Sharpe, Proc. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 495 (1877).—Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N ew S. Wales, iii. p. 268
(1879);' iv. p. 97 (1879).—Salvad. Orn. della Papuasia &e. p. 678 (1881).
C o u n t S a lv a d o r i, in his great work on the birds of New Guinea, mentions his having examined the type
o f this species in the British Museum ; but he considers that it is by no means a very well-marked form,
and may yet prove to be identical with AS. buccoides. This was at first my own idea; and although I had
the drawing prepared some years ago, I never ventured to publish it, but relied on the arrival o f more
specimens to decide the validity o f the species. I have since seen several examples from South-eastern
New Guinea, and I have found all the characters noted by Mr. Sharpe to be fully borne out in all the birds
examined by m e ; so that now I have no alternative but to recognize Stone’s Cat Bird as a well-founded
species of the genus ¿Elurcedm. It is closely allied to AE. buccoides o f North-western New Guinea (which
bird, by the way, has been said by Count Salvadori to have been obtained on the Fly river also), but is
distinguished by the small spots on the under surface and the darker head. It represents AE. buccoides in
South-eastern New Guinea.
Mr. E. P. Ramsay records the capture o f a few specimens by Mr. A. Goldie, about fifteen miles inland
from Port Moresby. They were found in dense scrubs, feeding on fruit and berries.
The following description has been copied from Mr. Sharpe’s original account o f the species
A dult.— General colour above bright green, some o f the feathers tinged with blue; wings green, like
the back, the inner webs dusky brown, the primaries externally washed with yellow, the secondaries tipped
with the latter colour; tail green, blackish on the inner webs o f the outermost rectrices, which are tipped
with white; head dark brown, slightly washed with oliv e; hind neck yellowish buff, mottled with black
centres to the feathers, those adjoining the mantle spotted with green; sides o f face and throat pure
white, with a few tiny spots o f black ou the ear-coverts, larger on the sides o f the neck; rest of under
surface o f body oehraceous buff, the fore neck and chest minutely spotted with green, the flanks also with a
few tiny spots o f the latter colour; under wing-coverts yellowish buff, the edge o f the wing washed with
green. Total length 9 -3 inches, culmen 1*15, wing 5*05, tail 3 ’5, tarsus 1*55.
The figure in the Plate, which represents the species o f about the natural size, has been drawn from the
typical specimen kindly lent to me by Mr. Bowdler Sharpe.