124 MR. GOULD ON SOME NEW BIRDS, [April 8, 



Mr. Gould exhibited to the Meeting and described two new spe- 

 cies of Humming- Birds, which he had recently received from Ecuador; 

 a new Fregilus from the Himalayas, which had hitherto been re- 

 garded as identical with the European bird of that form ; and a spe- 

 cies of Prion, which appears to constitute an additional member of 

 that peculiar genus of oceanic birds. 



The Humming-Birds were named, respectively, Seliothrix longi- 

 rosti'is and Aphantoehroa hyposticta ; the Fregilus, F. himalayanus ; 

 and the Prion, P. magnirostris ; and were thus described : — 



Heliothrix longirostris, Gould. 



Male : upper surface and wing-coverts brilliant green ; wings 

 dark purplish brown ; four middle tail-feathers bluish black, the re- 

 mainder pure white ; lores, line under the eye, and ear-coverts velvety 

 black, terminating in a small tuft of violet-blue feathers ; below the 

 black line a stripe or moustache of glittering green ; chin, throat, 

 and under surface snow-white ; bill black ; legs and feet fleshy 

 brown. 



Total length 5^ inches ; bill \^ ; wing 2^ ; tail 2^. 



Hah. Ecuador. 



Remark. — I have been for years receiving from Ecuador examples 

 of what I believed to be females of a new species of Heliothrix ; but 

 now in 1862 I have received an adult male, which convinces me that 

 my opinion was correct, and I have therefore described it under the 

 above appellation. In comparison with the other species of the genus, 

 I find it to be most nearly allied to H. auritus, being similarly co- 

 loured to that bird ; it is, however, of larger size, has a considerably 

 longer bill, and in my specimen, which is doubtless adult, the crown 

 is devoid of the glittering hue seen in H. auritus ; at the same time, 

 it is somewhat brighter than the back. 



Aphantochroa hyposticta, Gould. 



All the upper surface, wing-, and tail-coverts deep green ; wings 

 purplish brown ; tail dull purplish green, deepening into blackish 

 brown at the tip, the two outer feathers on each side very slightly 

 fringed with white at the tip ; feathers of the throat, breast, and 

 centre of the abdomen dull white at the base, with a spot of dull 

 green near the tip, giving those parts a spotted appearance ; re- 

 mainder of the under surface dull green ; under tail-coverts dull green 

 at the base, deepening into black near the end, and fringed with 

 grey ; tarsi and thighs rather thickly clothed with white feathers ; 

 bill black, except at the base of the under mandible, which appears 

 to have been flesh-colour. 



Total length 4^ inches ; bill 1^%; wing 2| ; tail If. 



Hab. Ecuador. 



Remark. — I have several specimens of this bird all similarly co- 

 loured ; and I believe the specimen from which the above description 

 was taken to be fully adult. It differs from A. cirrhochloris in its 

 spotted breast, in its shorter tail, and its rather more lengthened and 



