1875.] MR. RAMSAY ON PTILONORHYNCHUS RAWNSLEYI. 69 
58. QUERQUEDULA HOTTENTOTA, Smith. 
Tamatave. 
59. SARCIDIORNIS AFRIcaNA, Eyton. 
Tamatave. 
A female from the above locality ; and a fine male is in the present 
collection from the S.E. coast, with several eggs of a creamy white 
colour with a dull smooth surface, like the egg of Catrina moschata. 
60. GRACULUS AFRICANUS, Gm. 
S.E. coast of Madagascar. 
Two males and three females are in the present collection, in dif- 
ferent stages of plumage. 
Called ‘‘ Ramangavia ” by the natives of the S.E. coast. 
4. Notes on the Original Specimen of Ptilonorhynchus 
rawnsleyi. By E. P. Ramsay, C.M.Z.S. 
[Received December 31, 1874.] 
Having recently had an opportunity of examining the original 
specimen of Ptilonorhynchus rawnsleyi, I beg leave to offer to the 
Society a few remarks on this curious bird. 
The whole of the plumage of this specimen is of a shining bluish 
black, intermediate in tint between that of the male Regent bird 
(Sericulus chrysocephalus), and that of the Satin bird (Ptilonorhyn- 
chus holosericeus). On the primaries is a broad band of bright golden 
yellow, beginning at 2°5 inches from the upper edge of the shoulder ; 
this band or patch of yellow extends to the tips of the secondaries ; 
the outer webs of the feathers from the seventh primary are divided as 
in the adult male Regent bird. The two outer tail-feathers are mar- 
gined with pale yellow on their outer edge; the three next on each 
side are just touched with the same tint, except the centre pair, which 
are touched with a deeper tint of orange-yellow; the outer tail- 
feathers are margined on their inner webs with pale brownish yellow. 
The feathers of the head are short, resembling those of the adult 
male Regent bird; the feathers on the crown of the head and those 
extending over the back of the head to the nape have a patch of 
orange colour near the centre of the end of each.feather ; the outer 
edge of this spot, where it joins the narrow blackish blue margin, is 
of a deeper orange tint, some feathers having a line of bluish black 
down the centre along their shafts, dividing the orange-coloured spot 
in half; the extreme narrow margin of all these feathers is of a 
bluish black, of the same tint as the rest of head- and neck-feathers*, 
* The orange-coloured markings on these feathers do not show conspicuously, 
unless the feathers on the crown are raised, when, however, they are easily seen. 
The moment the skin was handed to me, I noticed them, and was greatly sur- 
prised that this very important mark of hybridism had been apparently over- 
looked by Mr. Gould (Suppl. B. Austr. pl. 54) and Mr. Diggles (Ornith. Austr, 
pl. 52), both of whom have figured the bird from this identical skin, 
