EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT 81 



nished by Mrs. Johnstone, a well-known English aviculturist. 

 Her specimens, received from Formosa in 1912, were the first 

 living examples of the species ever exported from that island, 

 and ours are the first to reach this country. 



The series of raptorial birds has been strengthened by the 

 addition of a pair of hooded vultures (Vultur monachus) , and 

 two Abyssinian vultures {Necrosyrtes monachus), a species of 

 small size but extreme rarity. An unusually fine Greenland 

 gyrfalcon {Falco rusticolus candicans) was picked up far out 

 at sea by Chief Officer Keiller of the steamer ''African Prince," 

 and presented to the Society. In previous years, two other gyr- 

 falcons of the Icelandic form have been received at the Zoologi- 

 cal Park under similar circumstances. 



A number of rare birds were obtained in Germany, includ- 

 ing two Abyssinian great-billed ravens (Corvultur crassiros- 

 tris), a bird large in size and with the beak enormously swollen; 

 four Barrow bustards or knorhaans (Trachelotis barroivi) , a 

 very uncommon species, and an ocellated megapode or mallee 

 fowl (Lipoa ocellata), a now rare member of a group well 

 known from the habit of allowing its eggs to be hatched by 

 the heat generated by the decaying masses of herbage in which 

 they are deposited. 



Two Chilian flamingoes (Phoenicopterus chilensis) , and a 

 yellow-billed coot (Fulica leucoptera), were received from Ar- 

 gentina, and a delightfully tame southern boat-billed heron 

 (Cochlearius cochlearius) , was brought from Colombia, so that 

 we now have both known species of these interesting and bi- 

 zarre birds. 



Two very rare species were added to the collection of bar- 

 bets — the black-collared (Lybius torquatus) and the pied 

 (Tricholaema leucomelon) . These are undoubtedly the first 

 specimens to be exhibited, in this country, at least. 



Pheasant Monograph. — Progress in this great task has 

 been satisfactory for the present year, and there seems no 

 reason why the text and plates should not be completed by the 

 autumn of 1914, in readiness to be published early the following 

 spring. Unusual opportunities have arisen for research along 

 osteological and other lines, which will add to the thoroughness 

 of the monograph as a whole. Seventy plates are now in the 

 hands of the publisher. The text, as so far completed, deals 

 with all but five of the genera. 



