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Show 590 MR. S H A R P E O N A N E W SPECIES O F MUSCICAPA. [June 20, from the crown by a narrow blackish line ; feathers in front of the eye dusky blackish ; below the eye a white spot; ear-coverts rusty brown, dusky on the upper and hinder margin ; cheeks white, separated from the ear-coverts by a broad dusky streak, and from the throat by another distinct moustache of dusky black; sides of neck like the head and hind neck; fore neck and chest white tinged with sandy buff, and mottled with triangular spots of dusky blackish, inclining to narrow hair-like streaks on the breast ; the latter white, as well as the abdomen ; sides of body and flanks deep sandy buff; thighs white; under tail-coverts light buff; under wing-coverts and axillaries white ; quills dusky below, whitish along the inner edge of the quills. Total length 5*2 inches, culmen 0*6, wing 2*45, tail 2*2, tarsus 0*95. 11. O n a new Species of Muscicapa from Western Africa. B y R. B O W D L E R S H A R P E , F.L.S., F.Z.S., & c , Department of Zoology, British Museum. [Received June 20, 1882.] My late friend Governor Ussher, during his last visit to the Gold Coast, which terminated so fatally for him, devoted considerable time to collecting birds, as was his wont; and both to Captain Shelley and myself he wrote frequently respecting his collections, which included many rare species from Denkera, and from the eastern districts of the Gold Coast, Aguapim, &c. In one letter he speaks of having got six specimens of Picathartes gymnophthalmus; and it is certain that, if it had reached England, the collection would have proved to be of great interest. Unfortunately, since his death the birds have disappeared, and I am informed by his friend Capt. Barrow, who has interested himself in the matter, that there was no such collection remaining among his effects. Nevertheless a few birds have arrived in London bearing labels in the late Governor's handwriting; and certain of them have been offered for sale to the British Museum, which has acquired some of the most interesting specimens. As these were offered by most respectable agents, who had acquired them in the ordinary way of business, there is not the slightest proof that they formed part of the late Governor's large collection ; for they may very probably have been given away by him before his death, and have been thus disposed of in England. They were all birds of dull coloration; but amongst several others of interest there appears to be one Flycatcher which is undescribed, and which I propose to call after m y late friend, to whom I myself and ornithologists generally were so much indebted for his exertions in collecting, often in countries where the climate rendered the task one of considerable difficulty and danger. |
