18G6.] MR. P. L. SCLATER ON CHAUNA NIGRICOLLIS. 369 



not of Peten, at least of Guatemala or Honduras, the conclusion is 

 utterly erroneous. And the mystery is thus solved. Mr. Bates, 

 some time since, passed through Liverpool on his way from Chicago, 

 and he fortunately visited this museum. In reply to my eager in- 

 quiries on the subject he told me, to my great surprise, that the bird 

 was not a native of that country at all, but that " it was purchased 

 alive by him at Belize, from a ship which had arrived from a port 

 further south ! though he thinks not very far south." 



The only reason for considering the bird a native of Central Ame- 

 rica at all being thus exploded, there remains for more respectful 

 consideration the locality given with our second specimen, that pur- 

 chased from Mr. Leadbeater. This locality is "Bogota;" and, re- 

 markably enough, the label bears the same date as that of Bates's 

 specimens, both having been received in September 1843, though 

 there is no entry whatever of this second bird in the * Catalogue ' 

 spoken of above. But neither Bogota, situate at the base of two 

 lofty mountains and nearly 9000 feet above the sea-level, nor any 

 district immediately subjacent to it, is likely to afford very suit- 

 able haunts for a bird of this kind ; but that its true home will be 

 found to be in low and swampy parts of New Granada may, I think, 

 ultimately be proved to be true. This view receives countenance at 

 least from the occurrence of the most closely allied, more recently 

 discovered, Chauna nigricollis of Dr. Sclater, of which the four known 

 specimens have all been received from the neighbourhood of Carta- 

 gena, New Granada. The description and figure of this species, as 

 given in the * Proc. Zool. Soc' 1864, p. 75, pi. xi., are so applicable 

 to C. derbiana that actual comparison is, I think, desirable satis- 

 factorily to determine their identity or distinction, — the contrast 

 between the black of the neck and the paler colour of the body 

 of C. nigricollis being distinct enough in the specimens of C. der- 

 biana, though not sufficiently brought out in the figure in Gray's 

 ' Genera,' owing doubtless to the allowance made for the dingy 

 state of Bates's specimen consequent on its long captivity and rough 

 treatment. 



2. Note-on Chauna nigricollis. By P. L. Sclater, M.A., 

 Ph.D., F.R.S., Secretary to the Society. 



Along with the communication which has just been read to the 

 Meeting, Mr. Moore was kind enough to send up to the care of Mr. 

 G. R. Gray the two original specimens of Chauna derbiana belonging 

 to the Derby Museum. On comparing these with the typical ex- 

 ample of my C. nigricollis in the British Museum, I at once came to 

 the conclusion that the two species were identical ; and I may state 

 that Mr. Gray, who most obligingly requested my assistance in 

 making the comparison, was of the same opinion. 



As some apology for having made the error of constituting the 

 Chauna nigricollis as distinct, I may urge, first, that, as Mr. Moore 



