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Show 432 LETTER FROM MR.W. H. HUDSON. [Julie 24, this country by the captain of one of the Union Steamship Company's vessels. It fed well, principally on raw meat pounded small, in the same manner as the American Ant-eaters (Myrmecophaga jubata), two specimens of which, obtained in October and November 1867, were still living in good health in the Society's Menagerie. Mr. P. L. Sclater exhibited some very fine specimens of Snakes, forwarded to the Society by Mr. George Wilks, of Buenos Ayres, C.M.Z.S. These had been determined by Dr. A. Giinther as Hete-rodon cforbignyi (Giinther's Cat. of Colubrine Snakes, p. 83) and Euophrys modestus (ib. p. 139). Mr. W . T. Blanford, C.M.Z.S., exhibited specimens of the head of a Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros keitloa 1) aud of an ^Elian's Wart-hog (Phacochcerus eeliani), obtained by him during the late Abyssinian expedition, and called attention to the fact that the incisors were permanent in both jaws of the latter, a fully adult individual. Mr. Blanford also exhibited, and made remarks upon, some skins of Hyraces obtained by him in various parts of Abyssinia. Mr. Blanford exhibited specimens of three very rare Indian birds, viz. Trocalopteron fairbanki from the Anamullay Hills, Prinia adamsi (with the nest) from near Ahmednuggur, and Alcijjpe brucei from Mahableshwar. Mr. Howard Saunders, F.Z.S., exhibited some eggs of the Flamingo (Phoenicopterus antiquorum), and the skull and skin of the Spanish Lynx (Felis cervaria), obtained by him in the neighbourhood of Seville during a recent visit to Spain. The Secretary exhibited, on behalf of Mr. King, and made remarks upon, some drawings by Mr. Tuffen West, illustrating the development of Hippocampus annulosus and H. brevirostris. An extract was read from a letter addressed to the Secretary by Mr. William H. Hudson, dated Buenos Ayres, April 30, 1869. Alluding to the paper by Messrs. Sclater and Salvin on birds collected by him near Buenos Ayres (P. Z. S. 1868, p. 137) Mr. Hudson observed, " I regret to find that I have made so great a mistake as to mark as females two of the three black-plumaged Silver-bills (Lichenops perspicillatus, I. c. p. 141). This was pure carelessness, as all the black-plumaged birds I have ever opened were males, and the red females. 1 have watched them pairing and building their nests, and am therefore quite positive they are male and female, though the country-people here regard them as of different species." |
