Mr. P. L. Sclatev on two rare Species of the Dendi'oeca. 87 



underside, except the throat and neck, smeared with reddish 

 chestnut, almost the same tint as that of the pectoral band, 

 which in this example is much narrower than usual. 



44. Dendrocygna arcuata (Gould, vii.pl. 14). 



45. Dendrocygna eytoni (Gould, vii. pi. 15). 



St. Paul's, Newtown, Sydney, New South Wales, 

 March 5, 1864. 



VII. — Note on tivo rare Species of the American genus Dendrceca. 



By P. L. Sclater, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., Secretary to the 



Zoological Society of London. 

 In the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London^ for 

 1860 (p. 298) Mr. Salviu and I described a new species of 

 the American genus Dendrceca, intermediate between the well- 

 known D. virens and its western representative, D. townsendi, 

 under the name chrysoparia. The distinguishing marks of this 

 species (which was established on two skins obtained by Mr. 0. 

 Salvin in the mountainous district of Vera Paz *, Guatemala) 

 were the black back and white abdomen. In both D. virens 

 and D. townsendi the back of the adult male is olive ; and the 

 breast, in the latter bird, is bright yellow, in the former bird 

 decidedly tinged with that colour. The sides of the head in 

 D. chrysoparia are pure yellow, brighter than in D. virens, with 

 a distinct black line through the eye ; in D. townsendi there is a 

 large and conspicuous black auricular patch. In fine, the new 

 species seemed to us (as, in fact, it is) evidently readily distin- 

 guishable from the two previously known species of the genus. 



In 1862, in an interesting series of birds collected by M. 

 Boucard in Southern Mexico, which were submitted to my ex- 

 amination by M. Salle, I found three examples of a Dendrceca 

 belonging to the same group of species. Not having Mr. Sal- 

 vin's types at hand for comparison, I concluded, somewhat 

 hastily, seeing that they possessed some of the characters 



* " On the highest point of the road between Salama and Tactic." 

 (Salvin in ' Ibis,' 1860, p. 273.) 



