On Bb^d- skins from the Orinoco, Venezuela. 431 



the Common Hazel-Grouse in many very important cha- 

 racters. Whilst in the Common Hazel-Grouse the male 

 differs widely from the female, the former having a black 

 chin and throat, and the latter a buffish-white chin and 

 throat obscurely spotted with black, in Menzbier's Hazel- 

 Grouse both sexes have the chin and upper throat pure 

 white. As will be seen by the Plate, the general colour of 

 Menzbier's Hazel-Grouse is much darker and greyer, espe- 

 cially on the underparts, the pattern of colour in which is 

 different from that of the common bird. The wliite tips of 

 the wing-coverts and the subterminal black band across the 

 outer tail-feathers, so conspicuous in the Common Hazel- 

 Grouse, are absent in Menzbier's Hazel-Grouse. 



The discovery of this addition to the birds of Europe is 

 all the more interesting on account of the other European 

 species, which are confined to the extreme east of the con- 

 tinent, such as Ricticilla ochrura, Erithacus hyrcmms, Tetrao 

 mlokosiewiczi, &c., leading to the supposition that this part 

 of Europe must have been isolated for some time, at no very 

 distant period, geologically speaking. 



XLIV. — On a Collection of Bird-skins from the Orinoco, 

 Venezuela. By Hans von Berlepsch. 



(Plate XII.) 



The vast plains of the Orinoco, in Venezuela, still remaiu 

 a " terra incognita " to ornithologists — at least no account 

 of the birds of this country has yet been published. 



It was therefore with considerable interest that I heard 

 of a collection of bird-skins made in the neighbourhood of 

 Angostura (or Ciudad Bolivar) by a young man sent out by 

 the well-known dealer in natural objects, Mr. F. F. G. Um- 

 lauff, of Hamburg. The whole collection has been submitted 

 to my inspection and, although small, proves to be of consider- 

 able interest. There is evidently one new species contained 

 in it_, and others were not previously known to be denizens of 



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