67 [Vol. xxi. 



A discussion then arose regarding the change of colour 

 without a moult in the specimen of Merops natalensis 

 exliibited by Mr. Grant, and Mr. W. P. Pycraft remarked 

 that the evidence so far available seemed to lend but little 

 support to the assumption often made, tiiat full-grown 

 feathers could change their colour by an influx of pigment 

 travelling up the shaft and along the barbs of the feathers. 



The red colour of these feathers, he pointed out, was not 

 due to red pigment, but to structural peculiarities of the 

 horny surface; and it might, therefore, be supposed that the 

 different hues observable in the red breast of this particular 

 specimen represented so many stages in the process of 

 shedding an outer layer masking the surface-markings 

 which gave rise to the full colour effect. 



Dr. C. B. TiCEHUiiST and Mr. H. F. Withekby also 

 joined in the discussion. 



Dr. BowDLER Sharpe described a new species of Weaver- 

 Finch, obtained by Mr. Claude Graut, as 



Pyrenestes granti, sp. n. 

 cJ . Similis P. coccineo, sed minor, rostro valde minore : 

 noteeo olivaceo-griseo, supracaudalibus scarlatiuis : pileo 

 autico et vertice, cum facie laterali, et gutture toto 

 scarlatiuis : corpore reliquo subtus olivascenti-brunneo. 

 Long. tot. 4*4' poll., culmen 0*5, al:€ "Zo, caudai 22, 

 tarsi ()*7. 



Hab. Beira, 27. xii. OG. 



Dr. BowDLER Sharpe exhibited a skin of a new species 

 of Bird-of-Paradise, which he proposed to call 



LOBORHAMPHUS PTILORHIS, Sp. U. 



Yclutino-niger, purpurascenti-cupreo vix oleaceo nitens : 

 pileo metallico, paulo laitiore, aliter dorso concolori, 

 plumis nasalibus dense vclutinis : facie laterali ])ileo 

 concolori ; gutture oleaceo-viridi, chlamyde prsepecturali 

 pleruraque metallice rubesceuti-purpureo, sed plumis 

 nonnullis chalybeo-viridi marginatis : corpore reliquo 

 subtus velutino-nigro, plumis hypochoudriacis elongatis 

 nigris ; rostro et pedibus nigris ; rictu ad basin tumido 

 membrana flava ornato. Long. tot. c. 13'5 poll., 

 culm. 1'3, alae 7'\j caudae 62, tarsi 2*1. 



