OCR Text |
Show 494 MR. P. L. SCLATER ON ANIMALS IN THE MENAGERIE. [May 16, position to discuss the correctness of all these identifications ; but regards Ps. eeruyinosus, which was founded primarily upon Edwards's "Brown-throated Parrakeet" (Birds, iv. pl. 177), I think there can be no question that Dr. Finsch is in error in considering this, as he does (I. c. p. 507), the young of C. pertinax. Since September 1866 we have had living in the Gardens two specimens of Conurus ceruginosus, as I have always termed them, which were presented to the Society by Mrs. C. Vinall on the 21st of that month. These birds have still the bluish cap and brown throat characteristic of C. ceruginosus, as portrayed in Edwards's figure, and have not acquired any yellow on the head or face. There are merely some slight indications of a few yellow feathers round the eye. I have two skins, exactly similar, in m y own collection, one of a bird formerly living in the Society's Gardens, which died in December 1866, and the other collected at S. Esteban in Venezuela, by Mr. Goering*. Mr. Salvin has a precisely similar specimen, lately obtained by Mr. Wyatt at Cienaga, in the valley of the Magdalena. Under these circumstances I think that Conurus ceruginosus must be restored to its position in the genus, as Mr. Salvin and I have already attempted to show, P. Z. S. 1867, p. 588. 30. PSITTACUS TIMNEH, Fraser. As Dr. Finsch, although admitting this species, has stated that he nevertheless believes it to be only the young of Psitt. erithacus, I think it right to state that the example of this species acquired by the Society in February 1861 is still living in the collection, and has not changed in the least; so that there can be no question, I think, of its being quite a distinct species. Mr. Bartlett tells me he has seen numbers of the Timneh Parrot in the hands of dealers, and that it is perfectly well known as a distinct species. 31. TANYGNATHUS ALBIROSTRIS, Wallace. In March 1868 we purchased the first living specimen I had ever seen of this species, as already recorded in the Society's * Proceedings' (1868, p. 262). In August 1869 we purchased a second ; and a third individual of the same form is now living in the Society's Gardens. I must say that, so far as I can tell from an examination of the living birds, I am inclined to agree with Mr. Wallace (P. Z. S. 1862, p. 336) in considering this bird specifically distinct from T. muelleri, of which we have had several living examples. It is at once recognizable by its white bill. 32. BUTEO AUGURALIS, Salv. Two Buzzards, purchased April 26, 1866, and believed to have been received from West Africa, were named by m e Buteo augurf, and thus inserted in the Society's register. Mr. Gurney, however, to whom we owe many thanks for the trouble he takes in the correct * See P. Z. S. 1868. p. 632. t See P. Z. S. 1866, App. p. <jn<». |