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Show 218 MR. J. GOULD ON FOUR NEW BIRDS. [Mar. 26, Aigoceros equina, Smith, 111. Zool. S. A. i. t. xxviii. Hab. Northern confines of Cape Colony, now almost extinct (Smith)*. 2. HIPPOTRAGUS BAKERI. (Pl. XVI.) Hab. Upper Nubia. 3. HIPPOTRAGUS NIGER. Aigoceros niger, Harris, Trans. Zool. Soc. ii. p. 216, t. 39. Hab. Transvaal republic (Harris) ; Zambesia (Peters 8f Kirk) ; Uniamuezi (Speke); Southern Kordofan (Priissenayer). 2. O n four N e w Species of Birds. By J O H N G O U L D , Esq., F.R.S. &c. BRACHYPTERYX (DRYMOCHARES) STELLATUS, sp. nov. Forehead, ear-coverts, breast, chest, and abdomen grey, crossed by numerous narrow wavy lines of black; at the tip of each of the feathers of the abdomen, flanks, under (and some few of the upper) tail-coverts an irregular arrowhead-shaped mark of white; lores black ; all the upper surface, wings, and tail chestnut-red ; bill black; feet brown. Total length 4| inches, bill §, wing 2|, tail 2, tarsi lj. Hab. Nepaul. Remark.-I am indebted to Lieut. C. V. Eccles, of the Rifle Brigade, for one of the two specimens of this interesting species, brought by him, with other birds, from the rich country of Nepaul. Unfortunately he could not give me any precise information as to where his specimens were procured, further than that he believes they were shot on the dense scrubby side of the mountains, at an elevation of about 10,000 feet. In its structure and in its dense and silky plumage this bird is so closely allied to the smaller members of the genus Brachypteryx as scarcely to be removeable from them ; and I should not have ventured to suggest a separate generic title, were there not so great difference in its colour and markings. The beautiful stellations of the breast render it specifically different from every other bird with which I am acquainted, while the black crescentic wavy lines of the chest and the chestnut colouring of the back distinguish it from all the species of the genus Brachypteryx, to which in the lengthened form of its thighs, tarsi, and toes, it bears a striking resemblance. Ornithologists may please themselves as to the adoption or rejection of the new generic name proposed. Some may be inclined to * I think it doubtful whether the West-African animal, of which the horns were obtained by Whitfield (Cf. Gray, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 133), is really of the same species. A. leucophcea of Pallas, however, is probably nothing more than H. equinus. |