1864.] MR. G. R. GRAY ON A NEW SMITHORNIS. 143 
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. The ‘La Hogue’ 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 Didunculus 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. 
2. On a New Species or Smiruornis. By GeorGE ROBERT 
Gray, F.L.S., erc. 
(Plate XVI.) 
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 Platyrhynchus capensis of Siv 
A. Smith. 
It is characterized as follows, under the name of 
SMITHORNIS RUFOLATERALIS, sp. nov. (Pl. XVI.) 
Head and occiput deep black ; lores white ; nape with a narrow 
collar of orange-brown ; back black, varied with white and orange- 
brown ; scapulars and upper tail-coverts orange-brown ; wing-coverts 
black, tipped with white; beneath the body white, but with the 
breast and sides of abdomen more or less streaked with narrow 
stripes of black along the shaft of each feather; each side of the 
breast with a patch of pale rusty colour. Upper mandible black, 
lower one yellow; feet pale horn-colour. 
Length 4" 6"; wings 2" 4'", 
This bird differs from the typical and only hitherto known species 
Smithornis capensis (Smith) in being of a smaller size, and in pos- 
sessing a greater variety of colours. 
The British Museum possesses, through Mr. Gould, a single spe- 
cimen of S. rufolateralis, which was stated to have been brought 
from West Africa; but the exact locality is unknown. 
