171 



llenmvks on tje §c\m f ericmcotus.* 



Pericrocotus neglectus. 



Like P. brevirostris, but smaller, (L., 6o to 7 ; W., 32 to 337 ; T., 3 - 

 to 3 3, against in brevirostris, L., 7*5 to 8 5 ; W., 34 to 37 ; T., 3 75 



to 4'5.) Male, coloured like eastern examples of brevirostris, but with 

 the black of the throat descending further on the breast and a propor- 

 tionally larger bill — Female, much darker grey above than brevirostris, 

 and with chin, throat, and lower parts bright yellow as in speciosus. 



The above diagnosis will, I believe, suffice to distinguish tins 

 presumably new species of pericrocotus from all other species 

 known to occur within the limits of our Empire, and from any 

 species as yet acknowledged and recognized from elsewhere, 

 but it is just possible that it may really belong to some name at 

 present taken as a synomym. 



I do not, however, think this likely, as there are not many 

 syuomyms to dispose of. 



Minutus, Tern, apud Strickl,(Contr.Orn., 1849, p. 94, pi. 32, ^) 

 is almost certainly Blyth's igneus, and if not, has at any rate a 

 female of the same type, with orange scarlet rump and upper 

 tail-coverts, and is therefore quite distinct from our bird in 

 which the female is of the speciosus, elegans, &c, type. 



Flagrans, Boie apvd Bp., (Consp., 1., p. 357, 1850) whatever 

 it may be, is not our bird. It has, I believe, been quite wrongly 

 united with the previous (or, if they possibly differ, two previous) 

 species. How the mistake was made between Bonaparte, 

 Temminck, Verreaux, and Strickland I do not pretend to say, 

 but either the bird figured and described by Strickland is not 

 Temminck's*?m'ft2^a, or Temmiuck's minuta is not really, though 

 Bonaparte says it is, identical with his "Jlagra?is, ,} Boie. 



The original and only authentic description of this latter 

 species appears to be that contained in the Conspectus, loc. cit. 



" Ex Sumatra, Borneo, Similis P. peregrino ; sed colore 

 nigerrimo loco plumbei et igneo loco aurantii." 



Clearly what this means is, that the bird is of the dull o-loss- 

 less type, like peregrinus, only with black replacing the leaden 

 grey. By no possibility could Bonaparte have here referred to 

 a bird of the glossy black type such as the male of igneus. 

 He had both brevirostris and fiammeus before him, and he would 

 have likened it to one of these, of the latter of which the male 

 is, so far as colour goes, an almost exact miniature. Nor could 



* See also Mr, Sharpe on this genus, S. F., IV., p. 205. 



