54



Late in November two Bishops died, which proved on

dissedtion to be both hens ; but, on comparing one with the

other, I at once perceived that one was P. francisccina ; the other,

I knew not what. I put these birds into the hands of a skilful

taxidermist, who made them into two admirable skins. A

comparison with the series in the Natural History Museum

clearly demonstrated the fadt that my second hen was that of

P. nigriventris, a species but rarely imported ; but, nevertheless,

bred by Mr. Fritz Schrodter, of Vienna, in 1882.


As Dr. Sharpe has not pointed out the distinctive

charadters of the female of this bird in his Museum Catalogue,

it may perhaps be useful to do so here : The female of P. nigri¬

ventris, , on the upper surface, is marked almost exactly as in that

sex of P. oryx, the black stripes being very much narrower than

in P. franciscana, but especially on the crown, where they are

more regular, running in slightly divergent lines from the base

of the upper mandible. O11 the under surface the colouring

differs widely from that of P. oryx, and more nearly resembles

that of P. franciscana ; bnt, apart from its slightly inferior size

and shorter beak, the chin and throat of P. nigriventris are pure

white, instead of huffish white ; the fore chest is crossed by

a diffused sandy buff belt, with scarcely perceptibly darker

longitudinal streaks ; the sides of the chest are, however, more

distindfly streaked with smoky brownish : in P. franciscana the

entire breast is sandy brownish, far more sordid in tint, and

is distinctly streaked even in the middle, and much more so

at the sides, where some of the streaks are blackish*; the pure

white area of the under surface in P. nigriventris, is therefore of

nearly double the extent of that in P. franciscana ; the flanks

are of a clearer sandy buff, and not streaked, and the under

tail-coverts are of a purer white.


The male in breeding plumage bears a general resemblance

to that sex of P.flammiceps ; but is, if anything, rather smaller

than P. fra?iciscana : whether any of my males will prove to be

this species, I cannot say at present ; but I certainly have two

species.



* The whole breast and sides of P. oryx female are heavily streaked.



