OCR Text |
Show 1881.] MR. R. B. SHARPE ON SCHCENICOLA AND CATRISCUS. 919 Eclecti is produced by the same pigment (ara-red) as the red which adorns the breast of the male Eclecti (see Dr. C. Fr. W . Kruken-berg, 'Vergl. physiologische Studien,' ii. p. 161 seq., Heidelberg, 1881; and A. B. Meyer, ' Mitth. d. ornith. Vereins zu Wien,' p. 83 seq., 1881)-facts which not only do not contradict the. statement that the green and red Eclecti sexually belong together, but directly support it. They, besides, give a clue to the occurrence of yellow in the females and of red in the males: in the first case the male influence comes into appearance in the female dress, in the second the female influence in the male dress. Only a partial mixture of colour takes place in Eclectus, whereas in the majority of birds the mixture of male and female characters is a more complete one. But, however this may be, the doubts which some ornithologists still entertain as to the "theory" promulgated by myself in 1874, will finally vanish only after successful breeding-experiments in captivity. Our hopes that this may be soon accomplished are founded on the fact that Dr. Frenzel, of Freiberg in Saxony, has already succeeded twice so far that two couples of young Eclecti have been developed in the eggs, ready to emerge, when they died from unknown causes. These four specimens are now preserved in spirit in the Dresden Museum. But Dr. Frenzel informs me that now again his pair (green and red) of E. pectoralis are sitting vigorously on fertilized eggs1. If he succeeds in rearing up the young ones, we shall have the pleasure of observing the change of plumage from red into green, or of stating that the sexual difference of colour exists from the beginning-a question which is, as far as I see, not yet finally settled, 2. A Note on the Genera Schoenicola and Catriscus. By R. B O W D L E R S H A R P E , E.L.S., F.Z.S., & c , Department of Zoology, British Museum. [Eeceived October 21, 1880.] During the last two years a great deal of interest has been shown in India with respect to Jerdon's Schcenicola platyura, a little Reed-bird, which was described by him as Timalia platyura (Madr. Journ. xiii. p. 170), and was afterwards made the type of the genus Schcenicola by Blyth (J. A. S. Beng. xxxiii. p. 374). The typical specimen was lost; and the bird remained unidentified for years, merely receiving a short notice, in 1863, from Jerdon iii his ' Birds of India' (ii. p. 73). In 1878, however, Mr. Frank Bourdillon met with the species in Southern Travancore, as recorded by Mr. H u m e in the 7th volume of' Stray Feathers' (p. 37). Again, in Capt. Legge's ' Birds of Ceylon,' reference is made to a specimen which had been since 1854 lying undetermined in a box in the British Museum; but Capt. Legge (somewhat inconsistently, in m y opinion) only gave it a place in his work in a foot-note. There is not the slightest reason for believing that the specimen in question is not a genuine Ceylonese skin, -1 See Dr. Frenzel's letter above, p, 910, |