128 



assumed a feminine appearance ; but birds, on the contrary, when 

 the function of the ovary was destroyed, put on the male character. 



March 22nd, 1859. 



Dr. Gray, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. 



Mr. Gould exhibited and characterized two new species of birds, 

 one belonging to the family Cuculidce, the other to the Coturnicece, 

 and remarkable as forming probably the smallest species of the 

 groups to which they respectively pertained. 



For a small Shining Cuckoo, killed at Port Essington, on the north 

 coast of Austraha, and of the same form and very nearly alHed to 

 the Chrysococcyx lucidus of New South Wales and the C. basalis of 

 Java, Mr. Gould proposed the name of Chrysococcyx minutillus ; 

 and for the Quail, which belonged to the genus Excalfactoria of 

 Bonaparte, that of Excalfactoria minima. 



The following are the descriptions of these new species : — 



Chrysococcyx minutilltjs, Gould. 



Head, all the upper surface, and wings shining bronzy-green ; all 

 the under surface white, barred with bronzy-green, the bars being 

 most distinct on the flanks ; primaries and secondaries white on the 

 basal portion of their inner webs ; two centre tail feathers bronzy- 

 green ; the next on each side bronzy-green on the outer web, rufous 

 on the inner web, crossed by a broad band of black near the tip, and 

 with an oval spot of white across the tip of the inner web ; the two 

 next on each side bronzy-green on their outer webs, their inner webs 

 rufous, with large spots of black near the shaft, most conspicuous in 

 the outermost of the two feathers ; their inner webs are also crossed 

 near the tip with a very broad band of black, and have an oval spot 

 of white at the tip ; the outer feather on each side is barred alter- 

 nately on the outer web with dull bronzy-green and dull white, and 

 on the inner one with broad decided bars of black and white, and 

 tipped with white ; bill black ; feet olive. 



Total length 5|- inches, bill f , wing 3^, tail 2^, tarsi \. 



Remark. — This bird is perhaps more nearly allied to the Java 

 species, C. basalis of Horsfield, than to the C. lucidus ; but it is as 

 much smaller than the C. basalis as that bird is less than C. lucidus. 

 The type of C. basalis, which is the only one I have seen, is not 

 a fully adult bird ; and yet the measurement of its wing exceeds by 

 half an inch that of the C. mhmtillus. 



Excalfactoria minima, Gould. 



Forehead and sides of the head grey ; crown of the head, all the 

 upper surface, and wing-coverts reddish-brown, conspicuously spotted 



