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Show 70 MR. R. B. SHARPE ON THE [Feb. 2, After a close examination of the specimen, I do not see how any unbiased naturalist can have any doubt of its being a hybrid, it is so perfectly intermediate in form, size, and coloration between the adult males of the Regent and Satin Bower-birds. The shape and contour of the bill, the colour of the iris, the manner in which the bird is marked, and the shape and form of these markings all tend to prove its hybridism. Added to this, the fact that the bird was shot out of a troup of Satin Bower-birds, in a neighbourhood frequented by Regent birds, a few miles out of Brisbane, is to m y mind quite sufficient proof that it is an accidental hybrid between these species. If Ptilonorhynchus rawnleyi were really a valid species, surely other examples of it would have been found near the same locality ; but so far as I can learn, up to the present time no reliable evidence has been obtained of any more having been since procured or even seen in any part of Australia. 5. Contributions to the Ornithology of Madagascar.-Part I V * By R. B O W D L E R S H A R P E , F.L.S., F.Z.S., of the Zoological Department, British M u s e u m. [Eeceived February 1, 1875.] (Plates XIII. & XIV.) Since my last communication on this subject (P. Z. S. 1872, p. 866) I have examined several Madagascar collections, notably three received by Mr. A. Boucard of Great Russell Street; but these did not contain any novelties, although some few rarities will be found mentioned in this paper. By Mr. Cutter's kindness, however, I have been permitted to examine a very fine collection recently sent home by m y old correspondent Mr. Crossley, whose investigations in the wonderful island of Madagascar will for ever connect his name with the natural history of that part of the world. This last consignment contained many rare species mentioned by m e in former papers-such, for instance, as Brachypteracias leptosomus, Geobiastes squamigera, Atelornis pittoides, Philepitta castanea, Oxylabes madagascariensis, Mystacornis crossleyi, Pseudobias wardi, Corethrura insularis, &c. At present we are unable to state precisely the exact locality where these collections of Mr. Crossley have been made; for the letter which usually accompanies his consignments has, in this instance, miscarried, and all the clue I can find to his whereabouts is the name " Ampasmonhavo " on the tickets of some of his birds. Here he collected the new Atelornis and a Phedina ; but I cannot find the place in the map. It is probably between Antananarivo and Mo-roundava, for which place Mr. Crossley was making when we last heard of him. * Cf. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 384 • 1871, p. 313; 1872, p. 806. |