500 MR. SHARPE ON MACU^RHAMPHBS ANDERSSONI. [May 16, 



on the sides above the thighs and under tail-coverts is less prominent ; 

 the thighs are bright yellow ; the under surface of tail-feathers a dull 

 yellow ; the outer web of first quill pure black." 



5. On Macluerhamphiis anderssoni. 

 By R. B. Sharpe, F.L.S., Librarian to the Society. 



[Received April 11, 1871.] 



By Lord Walden's kind permission I am enabled to exhibit to- 

 night one of the very rarest of Accipitres, the Machcerhamphus 

 alcinus, from Malacca ; and I take the present opportunity of giving 

 a history of the two species of Machcerhamphus now known, as great 

 confusion exists as to the question of their specific identity. 



In the 1st volume (1 848) of the ' Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde,' 

 which forms the 4to publication of the Zoological Society of Am- 

 sterdam (Natura Artis Magistra), Dr. G. F. Westerman described a 

 bird from Malacca which he called Machcerhamphus alcinus, making 

 it the type of a new genus and species. The typical specimen, which 

 was placed, and is still to be seen in the Museum at Leyden, re- 

 mained unique for many years, till in 1865 the late Mr. Andersson 

 sent to Mr. Gurney a bird which the latter gentleman believed to he 

 new to science, and to which he therefore gave the name of Strin- 

 gonyx underssoni, after its discoverer. This was described at a 

 Meeting of this Society on the 14th of November, 1865 ; but on the 

 1 2th of June in the following year Mr. Bartlett made some remarks 

 on the specimen, which he believed to be the previously described 

 M. alcinus of Dr. Westerman, supposing the latter gentleman to have 

 made an error in the locality whence his example came. The way 

 that Mr. Bartlett accounted for the mistake was in this wise. In 1852 

 he received a collection for sale from the late Mr. Andersson, which 

 was the first consignment of that excellent collector to this country. 

 This collection, or rather the remnant of it, was described in the 

 ' Contributions to Ornithology,' by Messrs. Strickland and Sclater 

 (/. c. 1852, p. 141). After stating that the birds had been sent to 

 " Mr. A. D. Bartlett, of London, for sale," Mr. Strickland proceeds : 

 — " Unfortunately, as too often happens in such cases, many of these 

 birds were dispersed before any catalogue was made of them. Some 

 were purchased for the British Museum ; others were bought by 

 Mr. Frank, a dealer in Amsterdam; and of the residue about 100 

 specimens have passed into my possession." It so happened that 

 Mr. Gurney asked Mr. Bartlett, who is, as we know, one of the best 

 taxidermists in the world, as a favour, to stuff the Damara specimen 

 of Stringonyx for the Norwich Museum, to which Mr. Gurney had 

 presented it ; and no sooner had Mr. Bartlett seen the specimen, 

 than he called to mind a similar bird which he had once before pos- 

 sessed. This was of course the identical type of Machcerhamphus • and 



