NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 323 



ish-black. Bill and feet lead or horn color ; edge of upper and terminal hall" 

 of under mandible very pale, nearly white. Total length (of skin,) about 

 8 inches, wing 4}, tail 3^ inches. 



Male, young? Very similar to the female, but rather larger and with a few 

 feathers on the top of the head, yellow and with the rump strongly tinged with 

 greenish yellow. Total length (of skin,) 8| inches, wing 4, tail 3J inches. 



Hah. Cape Lopez and River Camma, Western Africa. Spec, in Mus. Acad., 

 Philada. 



36. Celeus flavescens, (Gmelin.) 



This well known but apparently very variable species, it is quite discourag- 

 ing to encounter with one's perceptive ability somewhat sharpened by keep- 

 ing a careful lookout for the nicely adjusted characters of the species, in 

 some other groups. Here can be found, not only difference in size, but colors 

 in an assortment of shades and variety. 



With about twenty-five specimens before me, I am not a little perplexed, 

 and find it difficult to believe that they are really only one species, but even 

 with that large number of specimens, I do not deem it expedient to attempt 

 a separation. They seem to admit of division into three groups, as follows : 



1. The bird figured by M. Malherbe, (pi. 53, fig. 1, 2,) with clear black and 

 pale yellowish-white plumage. Five specimens in the Academy Museum are 

 from Guiana, and were presented by Dr. C. Hering, of this city, who obtained 

 them in that country. This bird seems to be the true P. flavescens of Gmelin, 

 who merely gives a name to the species figured in Brown's 111. pi. 12, and it 

 is the largest variety. Dr. Hering's specimens are fully lj inches longer than 

 M. Malherbe's male, (fig. 1,) and the wing measures 6-j inches. 



2. The yellowest variety, specimens of which, in the Academy Museum, 

 were brought from the Island of Trinidad by Mr. A. F. Darley. This is about 

 the size of M. Malherbe's figures, and is very probably the same as fig. 3, 4. 

 Specimens are mature, and clear black, butthe head, crest, rump, under wing 

 coverts and dorsal bands, deep ochre-yellow, brightest on the rump. Wing 

 measures 5| inches. Other specimens from Southern Brazil most nearly re- 

 semble this variety. 



3. The smallest variety, characterized by black and a much darker ochra- 

 ceous or dull orange plumage, in some specimens with the orange color ap- 

 proaching a bay or chestnut shade. The dorsal bands are narrower, and the 

 bird is smaller than the preceding varieties, though the wing measures about 

 5| inches. This variety I regard as possibly a distinct species. The locality 

 is not given in any specimen of this variety in the Academy Museum, nor 

 have I other means of information in this particular. 



37. Celeus lugubris, (Malherbe.) 



This is another variable species, of which specimens are in a very fine 

 collection made by Capt. T. J. Page, U. S. Navy, during his expedition to the 

 River La Plata, and which is now in the National Museum. Specimens vary 

 in the shade of the brownish-black of the upper parts, and also in the width 

 of the transverse yellowish-white bands of the back ; one specimen having 

 only arrow-heads, and very narrow tips of that color. Apparently this spe- 

 cies can be easily recognised by the chestnut-colored spots and transverse 

 bands on the quills. 



38. Celeus exalbidus, (Gmelin.) 



Another of the same kind. Of this apparently abundant species, speci- 

 mens vary in almost as great a degree as in domestic fowls. The species, how- 

 ever, can be always recognized without hesitation, though one specimen may 

 have the entire wing brownish-black, and another the same part light-chest- 

 nut I These are about the extremes, but intermediate specimens of various 

 varieties of color are of more common occurrence. 



1863.] 



