Four new subspecies of birds from the Moluccas and New Guinea

Routine examination of the bird collections of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie reveals, from time to time, the presence of unnamed subspecies. Four of these, from the Moluccas and from New Guinea, are described here. I am well aware that the detached description of some new subspecies is not a very valuable contribution to systematic ornithology, and usually try to incorporate descriptions in larger papers and revisions. The subspecies concerned belong, however, to species that are well-known or have been revised recently, so that little would be gained by postponing their descriptions. I am indebted to Dr. Dean Amadon for the loan of material of Ailurơedus buccoides stonii from the collections of the American Museum of Natural History. Tanysiptera galatea boanensis subspecies nova Diagnosis. — Adult birds differ from the adjacent races T. g. nais G. R. Gray and T. g. acis Wallace, in that the whole crown is azureous blue; moreover several feathers on the anterior part of the back have azureous edges. In both nais and acis, the central and anterior parts of the crown are blueviolet, and the anterior part of the back is violet. The new race has the scapulars paler azureous in colour than the two other races. Material. — ♂ ad., type of subspecies, RMNH regd. no. 35579; ♀ ad., ♀ juv., all collected in 1863 on Boano by D. S. Hoedt. Distribution. — Confined to the island of Boano, off the north-west coast of Ceram. Remarks. — These birds were compared with a large series of T. g. nais, but only a single adult male of T. g. acis was available for comparison. The