PARUS AREAKI, M ey er.
PARUS ARFAKI , Meyer.
New-Guinea Tit.
Pams? ar/aki, Meyer, Sitzungsber. der Isis, April 1876.—M ath. a. d. k. zool. Mus. Dresden, i. p. 8, 1875.
T he great stronghold o f the Farida, o r family o f Tits, is the temperate and northern region o f the old
world; from the boreal countries o f Lapland and Siberia to the-hot forests o f India, its dependencies, and
China, the numerous members are found ; as we proceed southward from these countries the form gradually
disappears, so that in Australia and New Zealand it is totally absent. I t was, then, with considerable surprise
th at I received from D r. Meyer an undoubted member o f this f am i f e collected, I believe, by himself in
the northern p a rt o f New Guinea; and this unique specimen this gentleman has intrusted to my care for the
purpose of figuring in the present work, accompanied by the following notes and description.
This new T it reminds us in its general appearance o f the: crested Indian genus Machlolophw; but it
differs from th at form m the length o f the first primary, in the rather lengthened pointed ear-feathers, and in
the singular gold-brown coloration o f the underparts. “ Zoogeographically,” says Dr. Meyer in a letter to
me, “ a species o f Pams from New Guinea is very remarkabM Pams dnereus, Vieill., has been seen as far
east as Flores (Wallace, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863, p. 4 8 5 ) ; hut from Australia, New Guinea, or the Moluccas
no species o f this genus has been known until now.”
Dr. Meyer s ta te s . th at he believes th at neither Signor d’Albertis n o r other New-Guinea explorers
met with this b ird ; neither does Salvadori mention it in his lists.
Forehead, upper and hinder p arts o f head, chin, throat, and chest black; rump olive g re e n ; cheeks
and ear-patch bright yellow, the feathers of latter rather elongated and po in ted ; the whole o f the underparts
yellow, golden brown in the middle o f the belly, merging into yellow on the flanks and under tail-coverts •
on the th ree upper tertiary feathers an oval spot o f yellow; bill black; feet light horn-colour, tarsi some-
what darker.
Total length 4 i inches, bill i, tarsi f , wing 21, tail 2 i.
Hab. Arfak Mountains, New Guinea.
T h e figures in the accompanying Plate are o f the natural size.