Dr. O. Fiuscli on Clialcopelia brelimeri. 467 



viridis, ventre medio nigro, gutture toto aurco-flavo, hoc 

 colore in collo in aurantiacum transeunte : rostro ct pc- 

 dibus nigris : long, tota 5, alee 2'7 , caudse 1*75. 

 Hab. Status Antioquise^ reipubl. Columbianse. 

 M. Salmon's single specimen, now in my collection, is the 

 only example yet received of this beautiful species. The figure 

 represents it of the natural size. 



XLIII. — Note on Chalcopelia brehmeri. By. Dr. O. Finsch. 



I HAVE received from Count Hercules Turati, of Milan, a 

 Dove from the Ogone, a confluent of the Gaboon, labelled 

 " Chalcopelia puella, Schleg./^ but which, after an examina- 

 tion with the true C. puella from Fantee, proves to belong not 

 to that species, but to C. brehmeri, described by Dr. Hart- 

 laub from a single specimen in the Bremen Museum, sent by 

 Mr. Henry Brehmer from Gaboon. It is worthy of remark 

 that the original description of C brehmeri (Ibis, 1865, p. 236) 

 relates to the young, not full-coloured bird, and that the dis- 

 tinguishing characters, " nearly allied to C. puella, but differ- 

 ing in the reddish colour of the forehead and the rectrices ; 

 it is also smaller than C. puella," are also referable only to 

 the young bird, and of no sj)ecific value. 



The adult C. brehmeri, indeed, corresponds in every respect 

 with the adult C puella ; only the blue of the head and hind 

 neck is a little darker and more vivid, but it may be distin- 

 guished by the metallic spots on the last secondaries, the so- 

 called tertials. These are in C puella dark metallic green, 

 whereas they are in C. brehmeri splendid metallic coppery red, 

 with golden greenish reflections. These spots are also indi- 

 cated in the young bird, and are of the same coppery shine 

 as in the old bird ; but this significant character, the only one 

 which may be considered of specific value, as far as our know- 

 ledge reaches at present, is not mentioned in the description 

 in ' The Ibis.' 



The smaller size of the type specimen is also due to the 

 bird not being full-grown ; the old bird is as large as, perhaps 

 a little larger, than C puella. 



