Mr. G. R. Gray on a new Species of Smithomis. 457 



the intruder, giving deep guttural growls, followed afterwards by a 

 vibration of the whole body from the head to the tail, uttering at the 

 same time its plaintive notes of goo, goo, goo, repeated in quick suc- 

 cession. On the 23rd of October, the bird looks well ; it has not 

 eaten for the last two days, but has taken a large quantity of gravel. 

 We find the bird requires a large supply of that material for the 

 purpose of aiding digestion. As it was considered the loquat-seeds 

 might have disagreed with the bird, they were discontinued. On the 

 25th it appeared worse ; and fearing it might die, I placed it in a Par- 

 rot-cage to enable the artist to finish the drawing from life, as in a 

 cage of that description he could have a good view of the plumage, 

 &c., over every part of the bird ; when, to our great surprise, it 

 jumped from the perch to the bottom of the cage and commenced 

 eating what, on examination, was found to be hemp-seed ; and from 

 that time it has been fed on that kind of food. It soon regained its 

 usual health, the diet of hemp-seed being occasionally diversified by 

 some bleached almonds ; stale bread is also placed in the cage, but 

 it eats but very little, if any, of it. This circumstance points out the 

 difficulty of arranging a diet for a bird with whose habits we are un- 

 acquainted, as at one time it thrives well upon a certain diet, on a 

 sudden appears to be dying, and then becomes in good health from 

 a change of food accidentally discovered, as in this instance. Since 

 then, the Didunculus has continued in most excellent health ; and 

 has now just been placed on board the ship ' La Hogue,' Captain 

 Williams, under the care of Mr. Broughton, the steward, from whose 

 experience in the management of birds there is every "chance of this 

 rare bird arriving safe at its destination in the Gardens of the Zoolo- 

 gical Society in the Regent's Park. ' La Uogue ' sailed from Sydney 

 early on the morning of the 12th of January, 1864. 



The whole of the time the bird was in my possession it never be- 

 came domesticated, nor evinced the slightest attachment to the lady 

 who daily fed it : it was the same to her as to strangers ; and I do 

 not consider the Didunculug a bird that will be readily domesticated 

 or reconciled to captivity. For some period of time this bird would 

 be very tame comparatively, and then, without any apparent cause 

 to account for the change, would become very wild. At that time 

 the cleaning of the cage was attended with some difficulty, from 

 its violent fluttering on any one approaching for the purpose, in 

 which it evinced no little power of wing. 



On a New Species of Smithornis. By George Robert 

 Gray, F.L.S., etc. 



I beg to call the attention of the Society to a new species of bird 

 belonging to the interesting genus Smithornis, which was established 

 by the late Prince Bonaparte on the Platyrhynchut capensis of Sir 

 A. Smith. 



It is characterized as follows, under the name of 



Smithornis rufolateralis, sp. nov. 



Head and occiput deep black ; lores white ; nape with a narrow 



