| OCR Text |
Show 1878.] MR. R. B. SHARPE ON A NEW INDICATOR. 793 Professor Newton, M.A., F.R.S., V.P., exhibited the skin of a bird supposed to be a hybrid between the Red Grouse (Lagopus scoticus) and the Ptarmigan (L. mutus), observing:- "This remarkable specimen was lately given tome for the museum of the University of Cambridge by Capt. Houston, of Kintradwell, in Sutherland, having been shot there out of a covey of Grouse ou the 1st of September, 1878. As will be seen, it bears some considerable resemblance, above, to a hen Ptarmigan in summer plumage; but its general appearance is much darker. Beneath, there is a greater resemblance to the young of the Red Grouse; and the primaries are much as in that bird, being, however, partially edged with white to a much greater extent than is commonly found in the latter. I have shown the skin to several ornithological friends, none of whom have been able to offer any other suggestion concerning it than that originally made by the donor, namely that it is a hybrid between the two species named; and in confirmation thereof, Capt. Houston told me that the part of his ground on which it was shot is close to a locality frequented by the Ptarmigan. Without having made an exhaustive search, I may say that I am not aware of any record of such a hybrid as this is supposed to be, though information received from several quarters induces m e to believe that other examples have before now occurred; and my chief object in exhibiting the present specimen is to call attention to the subject." The following papers were read:- 1. O n a new Species of Indicator, with Remarks on other Species of the Genus. By R. B O A V D L E R S H A R P E, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. [Received July 18, 1878.] In an article which I sent to Mr. Dawson Rowley's ' Ornitholo-logical Miscellany' (vol. i. part iii.) I gave a revision of the Indica-torida?, or family of Honey-Guides; and I am now able to add somewhat to the information there recorded. INDICATOR CONIROSTRIS (Cass.) : Sharpe in Rowley's Orn. Misc. vol. i. p. 196. A few specimens of Honey-Guide having in the hasty packing away of m y African collection become mislaid in another box, were not available when I wrote m y paper on Indicatoridae. Now that m y collection has been added to the British Museum they have been discovered; and I was pleased to find among the missing birds a fine adult specimen of the present species from the interior of Fantee. It was sent to me by Governor Ussher in one of his last collections, and is the first example known from the Gold Coast. I find, |
