1868.] MR. J. GOULD ON FOUR NKW BIRDS. 219 



regard the bird as a member of the old geuus, while others may 

 consider its colour, markings, and tout ensemble sufficiently different 

 to justify the divisional name of Drymochares. In size the bird is 

 about twice that of the English Wren, Troglodytes europceus. 



Sturnus purpurascens, sp. nov. 



Face, head, throat, and neck deep bronze, passing into green on 

 the upper part of the back and breast ; lower portion of the back 

 and upper tail-coverts purplish blue ; abdomen dusky brown, with 

 a bronzy lustre ; wing-coverts deep coppery or bronzy red ; wings 

 greyish brown, each feather bordered by a velvet-like line of black, 

 showing very conspicuously on the tips of the secondaries ; tail 

 similar, but the velvet edging not so well defined ; under tail-coverts 

 black, tipped with white. A few of the feathers on the upper part 

 of the back and on the upper tail-coverts with a spot of white at 

 the tip ; bill yellow ; feet reddish-brown. 



Total length 8| inches, bill I5, wing 5|, tail 3, tarsi 1^. 



Hab. Erzeroum. 



Remark. — I have had in my collection for many years three skins 

 of a very beautiful Starling, all collected in Erzeroum, two of which 

 are adult and one a yearhng bird. Compared with Sturnus vulgaris 

 on the one hand and S. uidicus on the other, this bird will be 

 found to differ in a remarkable manner from both. In size it is 

 considerably larger than either, while in colouring it is sufficiently 

 different to constitute it a new species. Beautiful as is our own 

 Starhng, the Erzeroum bird far exceeds it even in its finest nuptial 

 and breeding dress, the entire back being of a lovely purple, while 

 green is the prevailing tint of that part of S. vulgaris ; the resplen- 

 dent bluish-green of the wings of the European bird is replaced in 

 the new species by shining coppery red, the lengthened plumes of 

 the chest are bluish green instead of coppery, and the breast is 

 coppery instead of the green or bluish green seen in <S. vulgaris. 

 The two birds, in fact, present a singular transposition of colouring ; 

 and the Erzeroum bird, for which I propose the name of S. pur- 

 purascens, is, as above stated, by far the finest of the two. The 

 adults, as in S. vulgaris, are more or less speckled with white at the 

 tips of the feathers of the back, according to age ; and the young of 

 the year presents all the characters of the adult, so far as regards 

 the purple colouring of the back and the bronzy red of the wings, 

 but, as is the case with a specimen of our own Starling of the same 

 age, has the entire plumage very distinctly guttated with white, 

 while the bill, as is usually the case, is of a dark hue. 



AULACORHAMPHUS SEXNOTATUS, Sp. UOV. 



Bill chestnut-red, with the centre of the culmeu above almost 

 black ; sides of the base of both mandibles edged with white, nmch 

 more broadly on the lower than on the upper ; crown and all tlie 

 upper surface green, tinged witli sulphur, deepest on the shoulder ; 

 on the rump a spot of blood-red ; bare eye-orbits dull brownish 



