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Show 500 MR. SHARPE ON MACHIRHAMPHUS ANDERSSONI. [May 16, on the sides above the thighs and under tail-coverts is less prominent; the thighs are bright yellow ; the under surface of tail-feathers a dull yellow ; the outer web of first quill pure black." 5. O n Machcerhamphus anderssoni. By R. B. S H A R P E , F.L.S., Librarian to the Society. [Received April 11, 1871.] By Lord Walden's kind permission I am enabled to exhibit tonight one of the very rarest of Accipitres, the Machcerhamphus alcinus, from Malacca ; and I take the present opportunity of giving a history of the two species of Machcerhamphus now known, as great confusion exists as to the question of their specific identity. In the 1st volume (1848) of the ' Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde,' which forms the 4to publication of the Zoological Society of A m sterdam (Natura Artis Magistra), Dr. G. F. Westerman described a bird from Malacca which he called Machcerhamphus alcinus, making it the type of a new genus and species. The typical specimen, which was placed, and is still to be seen in the Museum at Leyden, remained unique for many years, till in 1865 the late Mr. Andersson sent to Mr. Gurney a bird which the latter gentleman believed to be new to science, and to which he therefore gave the name of Strin-gonyx anderssoni, after its discoverer. This was described at a Meeting of this Society on the 14th of November, 1865 ; but on the 12th of June in the following year Mr. Bartlett made some remarks on the specimen, which he believed to be the previously described M. alcinus of Dr. Westerman, supposing the latter gentleman to have made an error in the locality whence his example came. The way that Mr. Bartlett accounted for the mistake was in this wise. In 1852 he received a collection for sale from the late Mr. Andersson, which was the first consignment of that excellent collector to this country. This collection, or rather the remnant of it, was described in the * Contributions to Ornithology,' by Messrs. Strickland and Sclater (I. c. 1852, p. 141). After stating that the birds had been sent to "Mr. A. D. Bartlett, of London, for sale," Mr. Strickland proceeds : - " Unfortunately, as too often happens in such cases, many of these birds were dispersed before any catalogue was made of them. Some were purchased for the British Museum; others were bought by Mr. Frank, a dealer in Amsterdam; and of the residue about 100 specimens have passed into m y possession." It so happened that Mr. Gurney asked Mr. Bartlett, who is, as we know, one of the best taxidermists in the world, as a favour, to stuff the Damara specimen of Stringonyx for the Norwich Museum, to which Mr. Gurney had presented it; and no sooner had Mr. Bartlett seen the specimen, than he called to mind a similar bird which he had once before possessed. This was of course the identical type of Machcerhamphus; and |