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Show "90«] RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER. 617 wind was east at daylight, then north-east, going round to south in the afternoon. The following description was taken a few hours after death. Mr. T. E. Gunn, the well-known Norwich naturalist, dissected the bird before me, and I am also indebted to him for verifying my description and measurements. Red-breasted Flycatcher. $ (? 2nd year), Sept. 15th, 1890. Weight 4'3 drs. Length 5J inches; wing 2-j-l inches; tail If inches. [Beak f; tibia -J-|-; tarsus \\f\ Mandibles, upper dark horn-colour; lower the same, getting lighter towards the base. Jrides blackish brown. The irides were far darker than the artificial ones which have been used : in fact, they were so dark that I thought at first the iris was absolutely black. Legs and toes black. Cheeks ashy brown; crown, nape, back, and wing-coverts mouse-colour. Primaries and secondaries a shade darker, with slightly paler margins. Chin, throat, and flanks warm buff, a faint transverse line between throat and upper breast. Belly and under tail-coverts white, the latter faintly tinged with buff. Upper tail-coverts mouse-colour above, lower feathers black tipped with wood-brown. Tail 12 feathers. Basal portion of four outer feathers on either side white (except part of outer web of outer feather and inner web of fourth feather, which are nearly black), four central feathers (and apical portion of other feathers) dark brown or black. Bv dissection $ ; ovary large and well-defined (no ova visible on examination with a lens). Crop empty. Stomach containing large quantity of insect remainsx. No doubt many of the ornithologists present will be able to give an authoritative opinion as to the age of this specimen. Itseems probable to me that it is at least a second year's bird; there does not seem to be any very evident traces of immaturity about the feathers, and the size and appearance of the ovary rather support this view. Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell, F.Z.S., exhibited a specimen of Holothuria nigra, and made the following remarks thereon :-The Holothurian now exhibited is an example of the Cotton-Spinner (Holothuria nigra), taken this summer off the west coast of Ireland, and has been sent to m e for determination by Prof. Herdman. Its interest lies chiefly in the fact that it has been caught in its own toils, for, as will be seen, it is a good deal covered with " cotton." Mr. Boulenger exhibited the skull of a large specimen of a Sea- 1 TThese were very kindly examined for m e by M r. James Edwards, F.E.S., of Norwich, and proved to consist mainly of earwigs ; there were also fragments of two species of ground-beetles {Dyschirius globosus, Dichirotrichus obsoletus) and of a homopterous insect {Acocephalus nervosus).] |