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Show 1870.] MR. J. BRAZIER ON GRACULA KREFFTI. 551 2. GEOTHLYPIS MELANOPS, Baird, B. N. A. i. p. 241. A fully adult male of this Geothlypis, which Prof. Baird has recently separated from G. trichas. The exact locality of the specimen is not given. Sclater's collection contains a similar example from some part of Mexico, hitherto confounded with G. trichas. There can, we think, be no doubt of the validity of this species, which (as Prof. Baird also notes, I. ci) is quite distinct from G. speciosa, Sclater. Of the last-named bird, Sclater's typical specimens are still unique. 3. THRYOTHORUS PLEUROSTICTUS, Scl. Cat. A. B. p. 21, pl. iv. This species has not before been sent from Mexico, and only one (the type) specimen from Guatemala. Several examples, however, have been forwarded from Costa Rica during the last few years. 4. CYANOSPIZA LECLANCHERI. Passerina (Spiza) leclancheri, Lair. Rev. Zool. 1841, p. 260, et Mag. de Zool. 1841, Ois. pl. 22. Spiza leclancheri, Bp. Consp. i. p. 475. A pair of this charming species from San Juan del Rio; the first we have yet met with. Lafresnaye described and figured the male of this Finch from an example obtained by M. Leclancher, one of the officers of the ' Venus,' during the expedition of that vessel, near Acapulco. The female does not differ materially from the male, except that the coloration of the plumage is of a less brilliant tint. 5. MOROCOCCYX ERYTHROPYGIA (Less.): Scl. Cat. A. B. p. 322. One skin of this Cuckoo from San Juan del Rio ; the first Mexican specimen met with, except an example in the Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, U. S. A. (examined by Sclater in 1856), which was procured near Mazatlan by Mr. Bell of New York. 2. Notes on Gracula kreffti. By JOHN BRAZIER. During my visit to the Solomon Islands along with my friend Sir William Wiseman in September 1865, we obtained six living examples of the Grakle recently described by Mr. Sclater (P.Z. S. 1869, p. 120) as Gracula kreffti at Ysabel* or Isabel Island (as some writers please to call it). This was the only island in the group in which we met with it. These birds were bought of the natives. On m y visit to the mountains I saw plenty of the same species, but I found it impossible to get within gun-shot of them. This Grakle is a bird that is almost always on the wing, and frequents the mountains of the island, never the low land. How the natives take them alive is a question. When in captivity they soon become tame. The natives bring them off * In Mendana's ' Voyages' it is called Santa Ysabel. |
