OCR Text |
Show 1866.] MR. O. SALVIN ON NEW BIRDS FROM VERAGUA. 67 This species is larger and more densely haired than Pteropus edwardsii, found in the same island ; and I do not think that it can be an extraordinary variety of that species. It was sent to the collection during the Zambesi expedition. PTEROPUS ELSEYII, sp. nov. Fur short, close, uniform reddish brown ; head paler and duller; neck, upper part of shoulders, and chest bright pale red bay ; underside of body reddish bay ; sides of the body and near the "shoulders pale yellowish. Young. Back black, grey-washed ; belly black brown ; neck bay ; head blackish grey. Hab. North-east coast of Australia: Claremont Island (John Macgillivray, 1860; Dr. J. R. Elsey). I name this species after m y late friend Dr. Elsey, the Surgeon in one of the Australian Land Expeditions, who collected many specimens under great difficulties. 7. Descriptions of Eight New Species of Birds from Veragua. B y O S B E R T SALVIN, M.A., F.Z.S., &c. (Plates VII. & VIII.) During the past year two collections of birds were forwarded to Mr. Godman and myself by Enrique Arce from Veragua. One was made near Santiago de Veraguas, and the other near a small village called Santa Fe, which is described as being situated thirty miles nearer to Panama. The two collections comprise 156 species of birds of various orders; nine of these appear to be new to science, eight of which I now describe. Santa Fe is a mountainous district, and the climate temperate, from which I gather, and also from the character of some of the birds sent, that the elevation at which the greater part of the collection was made, was from 2000 to 4000 feet. There are no species peculiar to greater altitudes. Arce is now at Chiriqui, and I trust ere long to receive a collection from that district. As the few species that have been received thence are mostly of great interest, I have hopes that considerable additions will be made to our collections. Through the exertions of Arce and the collectors who are enriching the Smithsonian Institution, this section of Central America bids fair to become one of the best-explored of any portion of the Neotropical region. In drawing up the following diagnoses I have endeavoured to compare the species I describe with as many of their nearest allies as I have access to, thereby, I trust, rendering the task of identifying them less laborious and more certain. In this I have been greatly assisted by Dr. Sclater, and the use of the specimens in his rich collection. |