Mr. J. Gould on a new Species of American Partridge. 77 



and was exceedingly voracious, refusing no kind of food, but standing 

 ready with widely gaping bill awaiting the approaching hand which 

 held the food, consisting principally of worms and the larvae of ants, 

 commonly called 'ants' eggs;' but it did not refuse bits of meat, 

 bread, &c. Occasionally it picked up ants' eggs from the ground, 

 but was never able to swallow them, the muscles of the neck not 

 having acquired sufficient power to effect the required jerk and throw- 

 ing back of the head ; it rarely, if ever, partook of water. It re- 

 posed in a nest made of moss and lined with opossum skin, where it 

 appeared to be quite content ; while asleep, the head was covered by 

 one of the wings. When called * bullen-bullen,' it awoke, looked for 

 several seconds at the disturber, soon put its head under the wing 

 again, and took no notice whatever of other sounds or voices. That 

 the young Menura remains for a long time in the nest is proved by 

 the manner in which it disposes of its droppings : our young captive 

 always went backwards before dropping its dung, as if to avoid soil- 

 ing the nest. It is probable that it leaves the nest in the day time 

 when the warmth of the weather invites it so to do, but that during 

 the night it remains in the nest ; and if the weather should become 

 cold the mother shelters her young, the nest being large enough to 

 contain both." 



Description of a New Species of American Partridge. 

 By John Gould, Esq., F.R.S., etc. 



EUPSYCHORTYX HYPOLEUCUS, Gould. 



Forehead, stripe over each eye, throat and under surface creamy 

 white , head and short crest reddish-brown, minutely freckled with 

 darker brown ; round the back of the neck a series of dark-brown 

 feathers, tinted with rufous and spotted with creamy-white ; general 

 tint of the upper surface grey, mottled and finely freckled with rufous ; 

 the centre of the back marked with large blotches of black ; wing- 

 feathers freckled with black, and barred on their outer webs with 

 black bounded posteriorly with white ; tertiaries bordered with buff, 

 lower part of the flanks and under tail-coverts dark brown spotted 

 with white ; tail brown, crossed by narrow, irregular, freckled, grey 

 bars ; bill black ; feet light brown. 



Total length, 7'5 inches ; bill, 0*5 ; wing, 4'1 ; tail, 2'4 ; tarsi, 1*2. 



Hah. Acajutla in Mexico. 



Remark.— For a knowledge of this species I am indebted to the 

 kindness of M. Jules Verreaux of Paris, who has entrusted it to my 

 charge for the purpose of figuring and describing. M. Verreaux 

 tells me he has seen a second example precisely similar in colour to 

 the one here described, which latter circumstance has mainly induced 

 me to consider it a distinct species. In its colouring it is one of the 

 most remarkable members of the whole family ; in size it is about 

 equal to the Eupsychortyx teucopogon, but the crest is not so much 

 developed as in that species ; its white breast at once distinguishes 

 it from that as well as from every other species. 



