164 MR. A. R. WALLACE ON BIRDS FROM NEW GUINEA. [June 10, 
the “‘Ghour” or “ Khur” of travellers in that country. The second 
was from Syria, having been presented by the late W. Burkhardt 
Barker, Esq., in 1854, and was of much interest as being, doubtless, 
of the same race as the ‘‘ Wild Ass” of the Holy Scriptures. 
4, Asinus TxNropus, ex Abyssinia. 
The only Wild Ass not represented in the Society’s collection was 
that of Eastern Africa. It was curious that the only species of this 
section of the Asini which occurred in the African continent was 
that which approached most nearly to the Zebras in possessing a di- 
stinct dorsal cross, and in having the strongest indications of Zebra- 
stripes. Dr. Sclater had examined the animal in the Jardin des 
Plantes, which is mentioned in the ‘Comptes Rendus’* by M. I. G. 
St.-Hilaire as the Onagre d’ Abyssinie, and had obtained, by the per- — 
mission of the authorities of that institution, an accurate drawing of 
it. The example in question had been transmitted to the Jardin des 
Plantes by M. Delaporte, French Consul at Cairo, and M. Degoutin, 
French consular agent at Massouah. The fact of Wild Asses being 
found in Eastern Abyssinia had long been well known. To the au- 
thorities mentioned by Mr. Blyth in his article on Wild Asses, in 
the twenty-eighth volume of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of 
Bengal (p. 229), might be added Leipsius+, as quoted by Dr. 
Wagner, and Mr. John Petherick, H. B. M. Consul at Khartoum, 
who noticed these animals in herds of from five to eight on the elevated 
sandy plains of Taka. But the animal now in the Jardin des Plantes 
was believed to be the first of this species brought to Europe. 
This Wild Ass had also been obtained by Dr. Th. vy. Heuglin during 
his last expedition to Eastern Africa, and had been described and 
figured in the twenty-eighth volume of the ‘Acta Acad. Leopoldino- 
Caroline,’ under the name Asinus teniopus. There seemed every 
reason to believe that our domestic Asses were descended from this 
Abyssinian species. : 
The following papers were read :-— 
1. On somE New AND Rare Birps FrRoM New GuINEA. 
By ALFRED RussEL WALLACE. 
(Plates XIX., XX., XXI.) 
The birds now brought before the Society were collected by my 
assistant, Mr. Allen, on his last voyage. They comprise several in- 
bray like the ordinary domestic Ass. Your animal, while under my care, used to 
emit short squeaks and sometimes snorts, not unlike those of a Deer; but she 
was so young at that time that her voice may not have acquired its mature into- 
nation. Ido not remember to have heard or read of this species braying, though 
the animal is frequently spoken of by Taverner, Porter, and all our travellers in 
Persia.” —P. L. 8. 
* Comptes Rendus, xli. p. 1221. 
+ Briefen aus Aegypten, p. 154. 
