bird in a state of nature, tells me that its habits are nearly those of 

 the American Robin (Turdus migratorius) , and I am inclined to 

 consider that bird as its nearest ally. 



The Philadelphian collection contains the only adult male I have 

 seen of the beautiful Flycatcher named Muscicapa rugensis by 

 Hombron and Jacquinot (Ann. d. Sc. Nat. xvi. p. 312). M. Pu- 

 cheran, led away by the strong compressed beak, which is truly 

 remarkable in this family, has placed this bird in the genus Colluri- 

 cincla. But an attentive examination of its structure shows, without 

 doubt, that it is a Muscicapine, though with abnormal characters 

 pushed to the extreme of divergence. I think, however, it may 

 safely be placed in the neighbourhood of Pomarea nigra, with which 

 it corresponds in its changes of plumage. Prince Bonaparte has 

 proposed for it the separate generic name Metabolus. 



The Smithsonian Institution possesses examples of Pachyrham- 

 phus aglaice (v. P. Z. S. 1856, p. 297), collected by Mr. Couch in the 

 province of New Leon, Mexico. This is the farthest northern ap- 

 pearance of a bird of this family hitherto recorded. 



Mr. Lawrence of New York, amongst many other very interesting 

 birds in his collection, showed me the first example I had seen of 

 Audubon's Alauda spraguii. This has always been rather a puzzling 

 bird to me, as the New World is commonly supposed to be devoid 

 of true Larks — although one would have thought the immense 

 grassy prairies of the Northern Continent to be a region perfectly 

 adapted to the members of this group of animals — and their place is 

 occupied by the modified Starling-like form Sturnella. Prince Bona- 

 parte has located this curious bird in the genus Otocorys ; Professor 

 Baird has called it an Agrodroma. But an examination of the spe- 

 cimen which I now exhibit, and which has been kindly lent to me 

 by Mr. Lawrence, at once shows that its true place is not in either 

 of these genera. Though rather tenuirostral, it must, I think, be 

 placed within the Alaudidce (and not with the Pipits) near Calan- 

 drella and Otocorys, with which forms it agrees in the absence of 

 the first spurious quill, and I venture to propose for it the distinct 

 generic title Neocorys. 



Mr. John Bell of New York gave me a most interesting account of 

 the discovery of this bird, which was made by Mr. Audubon's party 

 on the Upper Missouri in the neighbourhood of Fort Union, at 

 the junction of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers. Here it is 

 abundant, though not easy to obtain, being only noticeable when 

 soaring high in the skies like our Sky-Lark, and pouring forth its 

 long-continued song. 



The Smithsonian Institution and Philadelphian Collection both 

 contain examples of Myiadestes Townsendi, which I found, as I had 

 anticipated, to be truly different from the bird which I charac- 

 terized in these Proceedings last year under the name of M. uni- 

 color (v. P. Z. S. 1856, p. 299), and still more so from Lafresnaye's 

 M. obscurus, to which Prince Bonaparte and Cabanis have united it. 

 Another species of this peculiar form, which I first saw in Mr. Law- 

 rence's collection, is*M. elisabethce from Cuba ( Muscicapa elisabethce, 



