LAMPaOCOILSX G BM 1 IS ,
W ilhrtdtLeilith,.
LAMPROCORAX MINOR, Ramsay.
Lesser Brown-winced Starling.
" ’ T ' ' . ' " ' ° “ ™a - “ • Mus- U,v,c- a««w- p. 426 (1882).—Id. Orn. Papnasia e dalle Molucche
In. App. p. 500 (1882)
Calomis/ulmpemis, TristramJfSg.,1882, p. 137 (nee Jacq. et Pnoh.).
Sturmiies (Lamprotomis)'mnor, Ramsay, Proe. Linn. Soe. N. S. Wales, vii. p. 668 (1883).
Both Lieut. Richards and Mr. Stephen have met with this species in the island o f San Christoval in the
Solomon Archipelago, and Canon Tristram has kindly lent ,,s a specimen obtained in th at island by the
first-named naturalist. I , would appear to be a smaller species than L . g r a tis , which it much resembles,
and it Mr. Ramsay is correct, both species occur in the island o f San Christoval (cf. Proc. Linn Soc N S
Wales vii. p. 6 6 8 ) ; but we fancy th at he has written - S a n Christoval” by a slip o f the pen instead of
Cnadalcanar and Laugo, in which islands Mr. Cockerell met with it (cf. Ramsay, op. cit. iv. p. 76).
The following is a description o f the specimen lent to ns by Canon Tristram
Adult female. General colour above glossy greenish black, each feather with a mesial streak of glossy
g ree n ; wing-coverts black, edged with glossy g r e e n ; bastard-wing. and priinary-coverts black ; quills dark
brown, internally pale brown, the secondaries much lighter brown, forming, a marked contrast to the colour
o f the h a ck ; upper tail-coverts like the back; tail-feathers dark brown; crown o f head like the back as
also the sides o f the face; ear-coverts, cheeks, throat, and fore neck like the back and similarly stre ak ed ; rest
o f the under surface greenish black, hut not so plainly stre ak ed ; under wing-coverts and axillaries like
the b r e a s t; quills below dusky, reddish on the inner web : “ Mil black; feet black; iris red ” ( G. E. Richards').
Total length 8 inches, culmen 0-8, wing 4 3 5 , tail 2’8, tarsus 1*05.
T h e two figures in the accompanying Plate represent the species o f the size o f life; they are drawn from
the specimen lent to us by Canon Tristram.
^ ‘‘s ^ ate was prepared some months before the letterpress was written, and it was lettered
L . grandis from Canon Tristram’s identification o f the specimen. Subsequent study has shown us that this
identification was w ro n g ; but the mistake was not found out in time to alter the Plate, which was already
printed off. J
[R. B. S.]