550 Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, ^c. 



Strickland on my first Damara Collection*, I find you were at a 

 loss to know whether Irrisor erythrorhynchus and /. senegalensis 

 were identical or distinct species. If you have not decided this 

 point yet, I may perhaps help to throw some light on the sub- 

 ject. Thus in my Note Book I find the following remark : — 



" ' Nos. 1876, 1877, 1878, 1879. These four specimens were 

 all killed out of one flock, consisting of five individuals, the last 

 of which got away badly wounded. These four specimens form 

 a most interesting series, as they exhibit all the variety of colour, 

 spots on wings, curve of bill, exti'eme length, &c. &c., said to 

 belong to both /. erythrorhynchus and /. senegalensis ; and there 

 can be no doubt but they are of the same catch. One spe- 

 cimen has the bill almost black, two have it more or less so, i. e. 

 half-black and half-red, and the fourth, which I supposed to be 

 the mature bii'd, has the bill quite red. All have the legs, toes, 

 and insides of both mandibles red. In some the spots sup- 

 posed to exist on the three first secondaries are present, and 

 oval in shape, of a white colour ; in others perhaps only one 

 spot (the re</-billed example has only one) is discernible. All 

 four specimens exhibit distinctly the two kinds of curve seen in 

 the outlines of the bill of this bird as depicted in the ' Natura- 

 list's Libi'ary,' vol. xii. p. 117.' 



" The specimens above mentioned are still in my possession, 

 but unfortunately at the Cape, or I would give you a fuller de- 

 scription, or rather a description of each bird separately. Three 

 out of the four specimens had all the indications of immature 

 birds about them, whilst the parent bird was much larger, with 

 a uniformly red bill, as had also the wounded bird which got 

 away. 



"/. erythrorhynchus is not uncommon in Damara-land and* 

 parts adjacent. It is always found in flocks, each flock being, 

 apparently, a family. When they move from tree to tree (and 

 their flight, if not disturbed, is seldom more extensive), they 

 utter harsh garrulous notes. 



" You remark on Pelidna suharquata that it is remarkable for 

 the shortness of its bill ; I mean as regards specimens received 

 from this country. I have to state that the bill of this bird 

 * [Contributions to Ornithology, (1852) p. 154.— Ed.] 



