Bi?-ds of Prince's Island. 6.23 



Denkera in Capt. Shelley's collection^ and now in the British 

 Museum^ Avhich he referred to Ibis olivacea Du Bus, and 

 for which he proposed the new generic name Lampribis. 

 Unfortunately, Mr. Elliot did not notice the striking 

 differences between his bird and Ibis olivacea of Du Bus, 

 which liad already been twice figured. 



Messrs. flotl)schild_, Ilartert^ and Kleinschmidt, in the 

 Nov. Zool. iv. p. 377, called attention to the difference 

 between the figure of so-called Lampribis olivacea in Elliot's 

 paper and the two birds figured by Du Bus. They pointed 

 out that the bird figured in the P. Z. S. from Denkera (col- 

 lected by Ussher) could not possibly be referred to Du Bus's 

 descj'iption and plate of Ibis olivacea, and therefore proposed 

 for it the name Lampribis rara. In this they were perfectly 

 justified, and they expressed the opinion that " It is probable 

 that Du Bus's bird is nothing more than an old Hagedashia 

 hagedash, or a closely allied species not yet known to lis 

 except by the type." 



A close examination of the specimens in the British 

 Museum tends to prove that Ibis olivacea Du Bus is a 

 perfectly good species. It certainly is not H. hagedash, 

 "which fact has already been pointed out by Count Salvadori, 

 for this species never attains the long flowing crest so clearly 

 depicted in both the plates of Ibis olivacea which Du Bus 

 published. The latter part, therefore, of Messrs. Bothschildj 

 Haitert_, and Kleinschraidt's supposition appears to be more 

 correct, for there is in the National Collection a siugle 

 specimen of a bird which very closely resembles Ibis olivacea 

 as figured by Du Bus. This was obtained by Mr. G. L. 

 Bates at Efulen^ Kamerun, on the 19th of May, 1903, and 

 if I am correct in my supposition, is tlie only example of 

 Lampribis olivacea in the British Museum. 



This example, which does not appear to be adult, has the 

 upper parts, including the wings, similar to L. rara, but the 

 tail and rump are glossed with purplish-blue instead of with 

 green. The feathers of the neck are brown, including the 

 long crest-feathers, which are slightly glossed with green, 

 and the entire underparts are dull olive-green very slightly 



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