220 MR. J. GOULD ON FOUR NEW BIRDS. [Mar. 26, 



red ; above and rather behind the bare orbital space a mark of 

 greyish blue, and on the cheeks, next the bill, is a patch of purer 

 blue ; throat and all the under surface lively grass-green, with a 

 tinge of blue on the lower part of the breast, forming an obscure 

 halfmoon-shaped mark ; lower part of the abdomen and under 

 tail-coverts of a yellower and more lively grass-green than the 

 throat ; two outer tail-feathers on each side green, the remaining 

 six dull blue, tipped with deep chestnut-red, except the third from 

 the centre, in which the chestnut only occurs on the inner web. 



Total length 14|^ inches, bill 2g, wing .5|, tail 6^, tarsi Ij. 



Hab. Unknown ; supposed to be Peru. 



This species is about the size of A. hcematopygius, but it differs 

 from that bird, and also from its larger near ally A. castaneorhynchus, 

 in the third feather of the tail having the chestnut mark at the tip 

 on the inner side only ; from the former it also differs in the pos- 

 session of a dull blue mark over the eye, a character found in A. 

 castaneorhynchus, but from which species its diminutive size, as well 

 as the greater number of the tail-feathers being tipped with chest- 

 nut, will at all times distinguish it. 



PODICEPS MICROPTERUS, Sp. nOV. 



Crown of the head and the ornamental diverging plumes chestnut- 

 red at the base, their tips being black ; back of the head and uape 

 chestnut-red, passing into the brown of the back and upper surface 

 generally, the feathers of which, particularly those of the rump, are 

 interspersed with chestnut-red ; throat, cheeks, and fore part of 

 the neck white ; under surface mottled silvery grey, brown, and 

 chestnut ; upper mandible apparently reddish brown ; the lower 

 one is bright yellow throughout its entire length ; feet apparently 

 olive. 



Total length 12 inches, bill 2\, wing 4, tarsi I|. 



Hab. Lake of Titicaca in South America. 



Retnark.— This very singular bird, which is about the size of 

 Podiceps rubricollis, has a very stout bill, and a crest which re- 

 minds one of some of the species of the genus Eudyptes. Its 

 apology for a wing renders it specifically distinct from every known 

 member of its family ; and it is questionable if it be not the smallest- 

 winged bird, for the size of its body, yet discovered. 



For this new and valuable acquisition to ornithological science I 

 am indebted to David Forbes, Esq., a gentleman too well known as 

 a traveller and as a scientific man to require any eulogium from me. 

 I will merely, therefore, offer him my thanks for bringing me the 

 present bird, which was killed by himself on the Lake of Titicaca, 

 in Bolivia, as well as for several specimens of Humming-birds which 

 also fell to his gun during his stay on the elevated lands of the 

 southern hemisphere. 



I cannot conclude this paper without remarking the prevalence 

 of birds in the southern division of the world with diminutive wings, 

 some being almost apterous, while others have these organs reduced 

 to such a small size that they cannot be of the slightest service for 



