412 MR. p. L. SCLATF.R ON DARWIn's RHEA. [Jlllie 3, 



scarce and little-known animal, and we are much indebted to Col. 

 Ross for the present pair, which appear to be about three-parts 

 grown. 



3. Two Swainson's Long-tailed Jays (Calocitta formosa), pur- 

 chased May 24. In 1877 we had a single specimen of this fine 

 Corvine bird in the Society's Aviaries. The present examples have 

 been acquired from the Jardin d'Acclimatation in Paris, where a 

 small consignment of them has lately been received. 



Mr. Sclater laid on the table two young specimens of Darwin's 

 Hhea (Rhea darwini), obtained by Mr, A. A. Lane at Cancoa, in 

 the Province of Tarapacii, during his recent visit to that district, 

 while employed by Mr. H. Berkeley James, F.Z.8., to collect birds 

 in various parts of Chili. Mr. Sclater made the following 

 remarks : — 



" It was long ago stated by Dr. Philijipi (see his Catalogue of 

 ChUian Birds, An. Univers. de Chile, xxxi. p. 270, 1868) that 

 Darwin's Rhea is found in the vicinity of Mendoza; and the same 

 author (Ornis, iv. p. 1-59) has mentioned this species as of common 

 occurrence in the desert of Atacama, on the eastern side of the 

 Andes, and ascending to the high plateau. Mr. H. Berkeley James 

 has likewise assured me that a Rhea occurs in this district, though 

 he was not certain as to the species^. 



" The specimens I now exhibit, along with tbe larger adult, but 

 imperfect specimen, received from the same collector, have set this 

 question finally at rest. It is now certain that Rhea danvini, so 

 far from being confined to the portion of Patagonia south of the Rio 

 Negro, as has been generally supposed, extends, like many other 

 species of birds, along the eastern base of the Andes into the north of 

 the Argentine Republic, and thence crosses the chain into the pro- 

 vince of Tarapaca (20° N. lat.), which now belongs to Chili." 



Mr. Sclater exhibited the flat skin of a Zebra, received from 

 Berbera, Northern Somali-Land, by Herr Menges, and kindly for- 



^ Mr. James writes as follows : — 



" In a sporting excursion to the Cordillera of Tarapaca some fifteen years 

 ago, I came across some Rbeas which were very wild, and it w;is impossible to 

 distinguish the species; it was at an altitude of about 12,000 feet, on a sandy 

 plain ulterly destitute of vegetation, and what the birds fed upon I cannot 

 imagine. 



" Mr. Lane, when sending the skin shown at the meeting, makes no remark as 

 to how he procured it ; he mentions, however, that he had bought two young 

 birds from the Indians, which he kept alive for some time; when they suc- 

 cumbed he preserved the skins and sent them to me. 



"Rhea-skins make up into very pretty rugs, and large numbers are brought 

 from the neighbourhood of Mendoza in the Argentine Republic, across the 

 Cordillera, into Central Chili. The Patiigonian Indinns also, in the Straits of 

 Magellan, trade in them ; but I have never known skins brought to the coast 

 from the interior of Tarapaca."— t/i<«e 1, 1S90. 



