ON PSOPHIA VIRIDIS AND PS. OBSCURA. 81 



NOTE XL 

 ON PSOPHIA VIRIDIS AND PS. OBSCURA 



BY 



Dr. O. FINSCH. 



When Dr. Sharpe wrote the Catalogue of the Fulicariae 

 and Alectorides (Birds, vol. XXIII, 1894) he referred with 

 regard to the above two species to the material in the 

 Leyden Museum , as they were not then represented in the 

 collection of the British Museum. Misled by the wrong 

 determination of the specimen labelled »Psophia viridis 

 Spix" Dr. Sharpe declared both species named above iden- 

 tical, saying, and no doubt quite correctly, in reference to 

 the two specimens in our Museum »I have seen one of 

 the typical specimens of Psophia obscura in the Leyden 

 Museum and could not find any character distinguishing it 

 from Ps. viridis". But the specimen out of the old collection 

 of Temminck and labelled in his handwriting » Psophia 

 viridis Spix , Bolivia" does not belong to this species , but 

 is a true Ps. obscura Natt., of which species our Museum 

 fortunately possesses one of the 3 examples collected by 

 Johan Natterer at Para. This specimen , an old female , is 

 the type of Sharpe's description of his »Ps. viridis" and 

 differs from the other one {»Ps. viridis Temm. nee Spix) 

 in having purple tips to the greater series of the wing 

 coverts. Otherwise both specimens are exactly alike; the 

 feathers of the neck are almost black like the under 

 parts, and show only a faint purplish gloss, but by 



IS'otes £roca. the X^eydeu ]\Xu.seu.m, "Vol. X.X.. 



6 



