Pachycephala pectoralis fergussonis Mayr

Pachycephalidae, Aegithalidae, Remizidae, Paridae, Sittidae, Neosittidae, Certhiidae, Rhabdornithidae, Climacteridae, Dicaeidae, Pardalotidae, Nectariniidae, And & Lecroy, Mary, 2010, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History Part 8. Passeriformes:, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2010 (333), pp. 1-178 : 28

Pachycephala pectoralis fergussonis Mayr

Pachycephala pectoralis fergussonis Mayr, 1936: 2 (Fergusson Island, D’Entrecasteaux Archipelago).

Now Pachycephala melanura dahli Reichenow, 1897 . See Galbraith, 1956: 207, Coates, 1990: 211–212, and Boles, 2007: 427.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 330000 , adult [male], collected on Fergusson Island , D’Entrecasteaux Archipelago , Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea, on 19 January 1929, on the Whitney South Sea Expedition (no. 36615).

COMMENTS: The AMNH number of the holotype was given in the original description. It was sexed as a female on the original label but is in full adult male plumage. There is one paratype: AMNH 330001 (36616), collected on Fergusson Island on 18 January 1929.

Hannibal Hamlin, leader of the Whitney South Sea Expedition, noted in his journal (vol. T, p. 36, unpublished journal of the Whitney South Sea Expedition in the archives of the Department of Ornithology, AMNH) that he was not present when the expedition vessel, France, made its stop on Fergusson. The information on collecting localities and dates available to Hamlin were derived from the logbook of the France and there are some discrepancies. Charlie and Teora, who were the collectors, reversed the sex symbols, but Hamlin noted ‘‘When I went over the collection I found that in every case, without exception, the male sign had been substituted for the female, and vice versa.’’ He later changed all of these.

Prior to 18 January, the France was anchored off Fergusson, near the mission station at Salamo, ca. 09.40S, 150.47E. On the 18th, they received fuel that had been brought them by the mission vessel and sailed the same day. The holotype of fergussonis is the only specimen listed as having been collected on the 19th, when the France was at sea. The label, written later by Hamlin, originally gave the date as ‘‘ Jan 1915,’’ an obvious slip of the pen. 1915 has been crossed out and replaced by 1929 with the 19 and the 29 separated by the crossed out date. This was interpreted as 19 January ’29. I think it was probably collected on the 15 January, as according to Hamlin’s journal, collecting took place from the ship between 14 and 17 January, probably at Salamo or on one of the small islands offshore. The holotype and paratype of fergussonis are the only two specimens referred to on Hamlin’s list as ‘‘white-bib thickhead.’’ All other thickheads are listed either as ‘‘thickhead’’ or ‘‘whitebreast thickhead’’ ( Pachycephala simplex ).