. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. Birds. 5(3). Figure 2. Comparison between the wing-coverts, rump and uppertail-coverts of the four subspecies of the Streak-headed Mannikin Lonchura tristissima. Left to right: L. t. tristissima, L. t. hypomelaena, L. t. calaminoros, L. t. calaminoros from Karkar Island, L. t. bigilalae. Lonchura melaena bukaensis subsp. nov. Syntypes. Specimens no. 24361 and 24359 in the collection of the National Museum and Art Gallery, Port Moresby. These birds were taken at Buka airfield (5°15'S, 154°35'E); date and collector not recorded. Description. Adult
. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. Birds. 5(3). Figure 2. Comparison between the wing-coverts, rump and uppertail-coverts of the four subspecies of the Streak-headed Mannikin Lonchura tristissima. Left to right: L. t. tristissima, L. t. hypomelaena, L. t. calaminoros, L. t. calaminoros from Karkar Island, L. t. bigilalae. Lonchura melaena bukaensis subsp. nov. Syntypes. Specimens no. 24361 and 24359 in the collection of the National Museum and Art Gallery, Port Moresby. These birds were taken at Buka airfield (5°15'S, 154°35'E); date and collector not recorded. Description. Adult about 120 mm long. The wing is 54 mm, the culmen 12—13 mm. This race differs from L. m. melaena in being much darker above. The black extends over the entire head and washes over the dark olive-brown back. The wings are dark brown. The rump, uppertail-coverts and edges of the tail are dark scarlet to chestnut (described by Hadden as cinnamon-rufous, but in the specimens I examined they were definitely darker and redder than this). The black on the breast is much more extensive than in L. m. melaena. The belly is buffy-salmon. Etymology. The proposed name derives from the location of origin of the syntypes. STREAK-HEADED MANNIKIN Lonchura tristissima (Wallace) Coates (1990) refers to "a stable hybrid population" of L. tristissima x L. leucosticta along the coastal area of the central province of PNG. I looked into this during a visit to the area, and was able to make a close examination of the Lonchura specimens in the NMAG, all of which were in excellent condition. I concluded that the supposed hybrids are a perfectly valid and distinct, hitherto undescribed subspecies of L. tristissima. In further studying the species at Tring and the AMNH later, I concluded also that the four races of L. tristissima recognised by Paynter & Storer can be clearly separated and the confusion about them reduced significantly. The following descriptions are, to the best of my jud
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