218 MR. J. GOULD ON FOUR NEW BIRDS. [Mar. 20, 



Aigoceros equina, Smith, 111. Zool. S. A. i. t. xxviii. 

 Hab. Northern confines of Cape Colony, now almost extinct 

 {Sinith)*. 



2. HiPPOTRAGUS BAKERI. (PI. XVI.) 



Hab. Upper Nubia. 



3. HiPPOTRAGUS NIGER. 



Aigoceros niger, Harris, Trans. Zool. Soc. ii. p. 216, t. 39. 

 Ilnb. Transvaal republic (Harris) ; Zambesia {Peters ^- Kirk) ; 

 Unianiuezi {Speke) ; Southern Kordofan (Friissenager). 



2. On four New Species of Birds. 

 By John Gould, Esq., F.R.S. &c. 



Brachypteryx (Drymochares) stellatus, sp. nov. 



Forehead, ear-coverts, breast, chest, and abdomen grey, crossed 

 by numerous narrow wavy lines of black ; at the tip of each of the 

 feathers of the abdomen, flanks, under (and some few of the upper) 

 tail-coverts an irregular arrowhead -shaped mark of white; lores 

 black ; all the upper surface, wings, and tail chestnut-red ; bill 

 black ; feet brown. 



Total length 4| inches, bill f, wing 2|, tail 2, tarsi I5. 



Hab. Nepaul. 



Remark. — I am indebted to Lieut. C. V. Eccles, of the Rifle Bri- 

 gade, for one of the two specimens of this interesting species, 

 brought by him, with other birds, from the rich country of Nepaul. 

 Unfortunately he could not give me any precise information as to 

 where his specimens were procured, further than that he believes 

 they were shot on the dense scrubby side of the mountains, at an 

 elevation of about 10,000 feet. In its structure and in its dense 

 and silky plumage this bird is so closely allied to the smaller mem- 

 bers of the genus Brachypteryx as scarcely to be removeable from 

 them ; and I should not have ventured to suggest a separate generic 

 title, were there not so great difference in its colour and markings. 

 The beautiful stellations of the breast render it specifically different 

 from every other bird with which I am acquainted, while the black 

 crescentic wavy lines of the chest and the chestnut colouring of the 

 back distinguish it from all the species of the genus Brachypteryx, 

 to which in the lengthened form of its thighs, tarsi, and toes, it 

 bears a striking resemblance. 



Ornithologists may please themselves as to the adoption or rejec- 

 tion of the new generic name proposed. Some may be inclined to 



* I think it doubtful whether the West- African animal, of which the horns were 

 obtained by Whitiield (Cf. Gray, P. Z. S. 1860, p. 133), is really of the same 

 species. A. leucuphcea of Pallas, however, is probably nothing more than H. 

 cquinus. 



