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AN ACCOUNT OF THE BIRDS COLLECTED BY MONS. G. A. 

 BAER IN THE STATE OF GOYAZ, BRAZIL. 



Br C. E. HELLMAYR. 



THE state of Go}'<az is one of the least-known districts of the vast Brazilian 

 territory, and ver}' few zoological collections have as yet been made in 

 this interesting region. It was first visited, I believe, by Mons. Anguste de Saint- 

 Hilaire. His collections went to Paris, bat, with the exception of a few species 

 described in Temminck's " Recneil de Planches Coloriees," and in Lesson's 

 " Traits d'OrnithoIogie," nothing has been published upon the ornithological 

 results of his exertions. The celebrated naturalist J. Natterer traversed the 

 " capitany " of Goyaz from its southern frontier (Rio Paranahyba) to the city 

 of (joyaz, and then continued his way through the western parts of the state 

 to Mattogrosso. The birds obtained on this occasion are duly enumerated b}' 

 Pelzeln in his well-known work : " Zur Ornithologie Brasiliens." The expedition 

 of Count Castelnan and Mons. Deville, in 1844 and 1845, spent some time in 

 the vicinity of Goyaz, at Bomfim, Amaro Leite, Catalao, as well as on the banks 

 of the Rio Maranhiio (Espirito Santo do Peixe) and R. Tocantius (Porto Imperial). 

 The collection thus gained, numbering several hundred specimens, was deposited 

 in the Paris Museum, but only a few species were mentioned in the ornithological 

 portion of the " Voyage dans I'Amdrique du Sud." Professor Behn, of Kiel, 

 traversed the state of Goyaz from west to east, and seems to have secured a 

 considerable series of birds which, however, have never been properly studied. 

 Dr. Sclater described a new Jacamar, Brachjgalba melanosterna* and Berlepsch 

 and Leverkiihn in their joint paper f discussed some of the rarer species in 

 Prof. Behn's collection, then belonging to the Kiel Museum. A few species 

 are recorded from Catalao, south-eastern Goyaz, by Prof. Reinhardt in his 

 " Bidrag till Kundskab om Puglefanuaen i Brasiliens Camijos." J ( 'ouut Berlepsch 

 possesses a number of skins obtained by Prof. Von den Steinen and Dr. Ehrenreich 

 near Leopoldina, Rio Araguaya, and received in exchange from the Berlin 

 Museum, where the bulk of the collection is preserved. It shared, however, 

 the fate of Behn's, St. Hilaire's, and Gastelnan's treasures, and was never 

 reported upon. 



Mons. Baer has given an account of his travels in the " Bulletin du Museum 

 d'Histoire Naturelle " of Paris, vol. xiii. 19UT. pp. 288-95. The following notes 

 about the localities visited will be of interest as showing the nature of the country, 

 and may be of use to some future explorer. Mons. Baer writes : 



" Tons mes oiseaux sont de I'dtat de Goyaz, k I'exception des Nos. 2440 h 2442 

 obtenus ;i Agua Suja (Miuas Geraes) — Conurtis leucophthalmus, Nothura maculosa 

 et Muscirora tyranmis. 



" Oiseaux observes dans Goyaz et non rapportes par moi de cet 6tat : 



" Musciwra tyrannus (Campininhas), Piaya cayana cabanisi, Gypagus papa 

 (Araguaya), Jabiru mycteria, Herodias egretta, Leucophoyx candidissima 



* P. Z. S. Land. 1855. p. 15. 



t Ornis, Yi. 1890. pp. 1-32. 



J \^deiuk. Meddel. 7uiiur/iist. Foren. Kj^ibenltavn, 18V0. pp. 1-124, 315-457. 



