1878.] MR. R. B. SHARPE ON A NEW INDICATOR. 793 



Professor Newton, M.A., F.R.S., V.P., exhibited the skin of a 

 bird supposed to be a hybrid between the Red Grouse {Lagopus 

 scoticus) and the Ptarmigan (L. mutus), observing : — 



"This remarkable specimen was lately given tome for the museum 

 of the University of Cambridge by Capt. Houston, of Kintradwell, 

 in Sutherland, having been shot there out of a covey of Grouse on 

 the 1st of September, 1878. As will be seen, it bears some con- 

 siderable resemblance, above, to a hen Ptarmigan in summer 

 plumage ; but its general appearance is much darker. Beneath, 

 there is a greater resemblance to the young of the Red Grouse ; and 

 the primaries are much as in that bird, beiug, however, partially 

 edged with white to a much greater extent than is commonly found 

 in the latter. I have shown the skin to several ornithological 

 friends, none of whom have been able to offer any other suggestion 

 concerning it than that originally made by the donor, namely that 

 it is a hybrid between the two species named ; and in confirmation 

 thereof, Capt. Houston told me that the part of his ground on 

 which it was shot is close to a locality frequented by the Ptarmigan. 

 Without having made an exhaustive search, I may say that I am 

 not aware of any record of such a hybrid as this is supposed to be, 

 though information received from several quarters induces me to 

 believe that other examples have before now occurred ; and my 

 chief object in exhibiting the present specimen is to call attention to 

 the subject." 



The following papers were read : — 



1. On a new Species of Indicator, with Remarks on other 

 Species of the Genus. By R. Bowdler Sharpe, 

 F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. 



[Received July 18, 1878.] 



In an article which I sent to Mr. Dawson Rowley's ' Ornitholo- 

 logical Miscellany' (vol. i. part iii.) I gave a revision of the Indica- 

 toridae, or family of Honey-Guides ; and I am now able to add some- 

 what to the information there recorded. 



Indicator conirostris (Cass.) : Sharpe in Rowley's Orn. Misc. 

 vol. i. p. 196. 



A few specimens of Honey-Guide having in the hasty packing 

 away of my African collection become mislaid in another box, were 

 not available when I wrote my paper on Indicatoridse. Now that 

 my collection has been added to the British Museum they have 

 been discovered ; and I was pleased to find among the missing birds 

 a fine adult specimen of the present species from the interior of Fan- 

 tee. It was sent to me by Governor Ussher in one of his last collec- 

 tions, and is the first example known from the Gold Coast. I find, 



