OCR Text |
Show DIRDS. 19 tipped with white, their bases irregularly barred with transverse marks Of brown and white. Under swface.-Cbin, throat, breast, belly, thighs, under tail-coverts, under lining of wings, and edge of shoulders perfectly white. On the flanks, however, there are some brown feathers irregularly interspersed ; and on the lower part of the breast, most of the feathers show a most obscure margin of pale brown. Bill horn-colour. Cere and tarsi yellow. Fonrt~.-Cere and nostril as in the M. Leucunts, but the bill not quite so strong. Feathers on the sides and back of head narrow and rather stiff; those on the shoulders obtusely pointed,-which character of plumage is very general in this sub-family. Wing: fourth primary very little longer than the third or the fifth, which are equal to each other. First primary three inches shorter than the fourth or longest, and more nearly equal to the sixth than to the seventh. Extremity of wing reaching to within about an inch and a half of the tail. Tarsi reticulated, with four large scales at the base: upper part covered with plumose feathers for about three quarters of an inch below the knee ; but these feathers hang down and cover nearly half of the leg. Middle toe with fifteen scales, outer ones with about nine. Claws of nearly the same degree of strength, curvature and breadth as in Polyborus Brasiliensis, or in M. leucurus, but sharper than those of the latter. Totallongth Tail Wings when folded From tip of beak to :mtel'ior edge of oyc Tarsus from soles of feet to knee joint Inch. 20.1 9 uq g TG Inch. Hind claw measured in straight line from tip to root t\ Claw of midille toe, n twentieth less than that of the hind one. Habitat, Santa Cruz, 50° S. Patagonia. (April.) Mr. Gould, at the time of uescribing this species, entertained some doubts whether it might not eventually prove to be the Pltalcobamus montanus ofD'Orbigny, in a state of change. I have carefully compared it with the description of the P. montanus, and certainly, with the exception of the one great difference of M. albogularis having a white breast, whilst that part in the P. montanus is black, the points of resemblance are numerous and exceedingly close. The M. albogulm·is, appears to be rather larger, and the proportional length of the wing feathers are slightly different; the cere and tarsi are not of so bright a colour; the middle toe has fifteen scales on it instead of having sixteen or seventeen. The black shades of the upper surface are pitchy, instead of having an obscure metallic gloss, and the feathers of the shoulders are terminated with brown, so as to form a collar, which is not represented in the figure of D2 |