508 Mr. G. E. Lodge on some 



These two specimens are almost exactly alike in plumage, 

 one o£ them being only a trifle brigliter in colour. On dis- 

 section they proved undoubtedly male and female, the male 

 being the brighter coloured one. The sizes were : S ^k 

 inches in length, Q^ in breadth ; 2 45 in length, 6 in breadth. 

 This surprised me much, as I had a pamphlet by G. E. and 

 A. H. Verrill, '^ Notes on the Fauna of the Island of Dominica ' 

 [from 'Transactions^ of the Conn. Academy, vol. viii. p. 315, 

 April, 1892], kindly given me by Mr. A. Frampton, a resident 

 in Dominica, in which the authors state, when treating of 

 this species, " Sexes very different in plumage." They further 

 state that they only met with one female, which they obtained, 

 and that the males were observed about the nests and sitting 

 on the eggs. I had a conversation on this subject with 

 Dr. NichoUs while in Dominica, and he was of opinion that the 

 two sexes of this species are similar in colour, and that Verrill 

 had made some mistake about this. Since my return to 

 England I have further pursued this matter, but find that 

 Gould and Elliot both describe the female as being quite 

 different from the male. Gould also figures a white-breasted 

 female in his grand monograph. I have also examined the 

 series of skins in the British Museum, and among several of 

 the wholly green and blue birds there is a white-breasted 

 one, labelled a female, but the locality is not noted on the 

 label. Both my birds are entirely green and blue. One of 

 the Gould cases in the British Museum appears to me to be 

 wrongly labelled. The birds seem to me to be of this 

 species, but are named Eucephala grayi, which is coloured 

 almost exactly like Thalurania ivagleri, but the green is of a 

 rather yellower tone, and the bird has a red beak, whereas 

 the beak of T. wagleri is black, with the lower mandible 

 flesh-coloured for about three-fourths its length from 

 the base. 



In its geographical distribution this bird is remarkable. 

 It is described as being found in the north of Brazil, and 

 Gould says it may possibly be found in Guiana, which is nearly 

 on the Equator. Then it is found nowhere else except in this 

 island of Dominica, which is about 15° N. lat. This is very 

 remarkable when we come to consider the numerous islands 



