^LURCEDUS ARFAKIANUS, i»%er.
Arfiik Mountain Cat-bird.
? PnioMùrhjnclms melanotic (nec Gi-ay), Rosenb. Nat. Tijdsclir. Nederl. Ind. xxv. p. 236 (18(i.'), pt. : teste
Salvadori).—Id. ,1. f. O. 18G4, p. (pt.).
PUhrhjncìms mdamtis, pt. (nec Gray), Schlegel, Nederl. Tijdsclir. Dierk. iv. p. 51 (1871).
JElm-mhs mehnotis (nee Gray), Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1873, p. 097.—Elliot, Monogr. Parad., Intr. p. xxii
(1873, pt.).—Sclater, Ibis, 1874, p, 416.
Ailurcedus arfaidmms, Meyer, Sitz. k. Akad. Wissenseh. Wien, Ixix. p. 82 (1874).—Sclater, Ibis, 1874, p. 410.—
Gould, B. New Guinea, i. pi. 40 (1875).—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov. ix. p. 193 (1878), x.
p. 151 (1877).—Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 99.—D'Albert. Nuova Guinea, p. 581 (1880).
Ptilorhjnchm arfaidmms, Giebel, Thes. Orn. iii. p. 370 (1877).
Ptilomrhynclms ar/aUanus, Rosenb. Malay. Arch. p. 554 (1879).—Musschenbr. Dagboek, pp. 213, 241
(1883).—Rosenb. Mittb. orn. Ver. Wien, 1885, p. 54.
jEUircedm ar/aiianus, Salvad. Orn. Papuasia, p. 073 (1S81).—Sliarpe, Cat. B. B)-it. Mus. vi. p. 384 (1881).—
D'Hamonv. Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1880, p. 511.—Salvad. Agg. Orn. Papuasia, ii. p. 100 (1890).
THIS is a small form o{ yE. mdamt'is of Gray, wliicli inliabits the Aru Islands and the Fly River in S(nitlicastcrn
Now Guinea. The Arfak Cat-liird is, however, a s1ii,'htly smaller bird than yE. melwmlk, with a
somewhat hhieker bead and a black hand ou the najie. The throat also ai)pears blacker than in the Aru
bird, by reason of the broader black margins to the feathers.
All the specimens at ¡¡resent known have eome from the Arfak Mountains, where they liave been found
by D'Alberlis, Beecari, and the hunters em|iloye(l by Dr. A. Ii. Meyer and tlie late Mr. Bruijn. Comit
Salvadori had eigbt specimens before him when he wrote his ' Oriiitologia della I'apnasia,' and he considers
tbe species to be quite distinct from the Bhiek-clieeked Cat-bird from Aru. Some of the females hail the
fore-neck less black tliau in the males, and iu all his series the fulvous spots on tbe crown varied considerably
in size, but in one female bird tbey were es|)eeially small and of a rcddisli-bnlf colour. A very young
female had all the feathers ou the lower parts of a soft texture and a brown colour, the upper ¡¡arts, wings,
ami tall being of the same colour as in the adult birds.
All references to JE. mdanotk from New Guinea, exce|)ting from the Fly River district, doubtless refer to
yE. arfahanus.
Professor Sehlegel mentions some specimens of a Cat-bird, collected by Moedt in the Island of Mysol,
and refers them to yE. mclanotis, but Comit Salvadori considers that they are more likely to belong to
/E. urfakianus or to an undescribed species.
The Plate represents tbe specimen procured by D'Albertis In the Arfak Mountains. It Is the same one
which be lent to the late Mr. Gould for illn.stration iu the ' Bi rds of New Guinea.'