notes on species of the australian genus pardalotus.

NOTES ON SPECIES OF THE AUSTRALIAN GENUS PARDALOTUS.

In his "CatalogueoftheBirdsiuthe British

Museum,"

vol. x_(1885),

p. 54, Mr. E.

Bowdler

Sharpe distinguishes three different forms of Fardaloti having the

"head

streakedwith white on hindercrown

and

occiput," as follows:

a'. Allthe primaries edgedwithwhite,forminga largewiug-patch; tips ofprimary-

covertsscarlet ornatus.

v. Thirdandfourth primariesedged with white; tipsofprimary-covertsscarlet,or

orange,oryellow assimilis.

c'. Thirdprimaryonlyedged with white; tipsof ijrimary-covertsalwaysyellow

affiiiis.

The

first

and

third of thesehetreatsof as good species, butassimilis heregards as"subsp.

a"

of P. ornatus _(p. 56).

In looking over the collectioniu the National

Museum,

1 findthat it

possessesthree specimensof true P. ornatus

Temm.

(orP. striatus auc- torum plurimorum nee Gmel.); three typical specimens of P. affinis

Gould {=P.

striatus

Gmel.

neeauct.*); and besides, seven specimens which are identical withP.a^nis,with the exception that theyhavethe tipsofthei)rimarycoverts colored redandnot yellozv; thatis,theyhave the outer edgeof only ilie third primary white, plus a red wing spot.

These Itake to betypical P. assimilis of

Ramsay,

for the reason that this author gives no other characterby whichto distinguish assimilis fromaffinis than the colorof the

wing

spot.t 1

may

also mention that aspecimen from

New

South

Wales

(U.S.

Nat

Mus.,No.88285),whichthe National

Museum

in 1882 received from the Linnean Society ofthat province is

marked

^^Pardalotus assimilis $^."

The

specimens under considerationconsequentlydiffer

somewhat

from Mr. Sharpe'ssix speci-

*Mr. Sharpe hasalreadypointedout thefactthat P. striatuaGM.^isnot ornatusTkmm,, and he hasalso hinted at the probability of the former beinj; Gould's affinis. La- thamiuhisdescriptionmentionedthe blackhead withthewhite stripes,the yellow eupraloral spotandtheyellow tips tothe outer wing-coverts,"makinganobliquemark near the outeredgeof thewing." If,therefore, hisbirdisaPardalotiis atall, itschar- actersfitverywell thespecies inquestion. Latham does not giveanylocality,and Gmelin's assertionofitshabitat beingSouth Americais, therefore,evidently an in- ventionofhis.

tHisdefinitionisasfollows(Proc.Linn.Soc.

New

South Wales,II,1878,p.180, foot- note): "Tips of spurious wings always orange-red never yellow as in P. affinis."

Gould also uses theterm "spurious wing," both, of course, meaning theprimary- coverts.

294

1886.]

PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 295

mens

wbicli have the " third andfourth primaries edgedwith white."

He

says:

"1

flud, moreover, that all the birds for which I propose to adopt Ramsay's

uame

of P.assimilishave, asarule,the thirdnudfourth primaries edged with white,the third fortwo-thirds of its length, the fourth oulynear the base,butvarying inextent and sometimes extend- ing a good

way

up the edge of the feather." Except two, none of

my

specimens

show

the slightesttraceof white on the fourthprimary (ex- cept at the tip, of course), not even at the extreme base.

The

only specimens (U. S. ^STat. Mus., Nos. 33048

and

99432) showing features similar tothosedescribed byMr. Sharpe havethemiddle portionofthe outer

web

very narrowlyedgedwithwhite, while the base isleftblack;

but one of these specimens (No. 99432) also differsin havingasimilar, though still narrower,white edgeto the secondprimary (thefirst oneis

narrowly edgedin allofthem).

The

tips ofthe primary covertsin this specimen are orange red (they ranging in the series from scarletVer- million toorangered)

and

altogether thebirds look to

me

as only pre- sentinga slightindividual variation.

The

next question arises as to the similarlycolored specimens of the British

Museum,

but I hardly think that they can

come

under

any

other category.

Mr. Sharpe furthermore states that his msimiUs havethe primary coverts all the

way

from pure yellow to crimson. Those with yellow tips

and

white-edged fourthprimary I should refer to affinis proper, to whichtheyapparently take the

same

positionasdoes

my

aberrantspeci-

meu

totrue and typical assimilis.

We

have,then,twoforms,affinis

and

assimilis,the only distinguishing character ofwhichis thecolorofthe tips oftheprimary coverts. But,

if

we

have to take Mr. Sharpe's

word

for it

—

^and

^my

^{series seems to}

corroborate his statement

—

^this color " varies from yellow

and

orange

toscarlet

and

even crimson." It seems to

me

unquestionable that

we

have hereproven to us ^{^^}intergradation'^ betweenthese

two

forms, and, according to thecode of nomenclatureof the

American

Ornithologists' Union, the

names

of these

two

forms should therefore stand asParda-

lotus affinis (or striatus)

and

Pardalotusaffinis (or striatus) assimilis.

Toward

P. ornatus, which has all the primaries (except the second) edged with white, I can see no intergradation,

and

hence the refer- enceof assimilis to thisspecies is quite incomprehensible tome.

IfP. ornatus

must

necessarily have a subspecies, such a one

may

probably be found in P. melanocephalus.

The

only specimen of the latter in the possession of the Kational

Museum

^(No. 107515) shows considerable tendency towai-dsthe former,

and may

indeed be regarded as

somewhat

iutermediate, forit has two distinct white stripeson the occiput

and

a few white spots on the black ear-patch.

At

any rate, P. melanocephalus

and

its yellow-rumped counterpart, P.xantliopygius, arevery closely allied to P.ornatus,

and

should not beseparated in

any

synopsis by the interposition of P. imnctatus

and

its allies. Accord-

296

^^OTES

ON genus pardalotus.

ingly Ishould arrange thespecies

somewhat

differently from

what

Mr.

Sharpe has done,

and

propose the following

amended

KEY TO THE SPECIES.

a'. Cap audback uniformolive, the feathersslightlymargined withdusky.

P. quadragintus.

a*. Capandbackcoloreddiftereutly,the ground-color of the former being black.

bK Capdotted with whiteoryellowroundspots.

c'. Foreheadconcolorouswiththerestof thecajj; supraloral spotwhite; under tail-covertsyellow.

dK

Enmp

chestnut P.punctatus.

dp.

Rump

yellow P. xanthopygius.

c^. Foreheadpalefawu,differiugfromtherestofthecap;supraloral spotscarlet

;

undertail-covertsyellow P.riihricatus.

5^. Capwithoutroundedspots,

c'. Third(audoftenfourth)primaries onlyedged withwhite.

d^. Tii)sofprimarycovertsyellow P. affinia.

d^. Tips ofprimarycovertsred P. affinis assimilis.

c'*. Alltheprimariesedged withwhite,formingalargewiug-patch.

rf'. Cap streakedwith white on occiput, andear-coverts densely spottedwith

white P. orvatus.

d-. Capaudear covertsuniformblack.

e^.

Rump

dulltawny P. melanocephaliis.

e^.

Rump

bright yellow P.uropi/gialis.

P. quadragintus has been

made

Xo. 1, as i^robably the most general- ized foim, and next to it is placed P. puncfatus, which in its

young plumage

shows considerable general resemblance to the green-headed species,

and

which also in the white round spots on the smallerwing- coverts shows itsnearrelationship.

The

National

Museum

possesses specimensof the following species

:

p. (juadragintus,2 specimens.

P.punctatus, 1.5specimens.

P. xanthopygius,1specimen.

P. affinis,^'ispecimens.

P.affinis assimilis, 7specimens.

P.ornatus,3specimens.

P. melanocephalus,2specimens.

Si^ecimens ofP. ruhrieatus

and

tiropygialis are, therefore, verydesir- able.

Among

the six specimens of P. assimilisisthe one brought

home by

Mr. Peale (U. S. Explor. Exped.)

and

recorded as P. striatus.

Smithsonian

Institution,

March

16, 1886.