On Extinct and Vanishing Birds. 201 



entirely vanished from Tahiti, while P ornar ea nigra, of the 

 Society, Marquesas and Tongatahu Islands, is said to have 

 ceased to exist. 



"We also must reluctantly admit that in all probability the 

 two Sandpipers, Prosobonia leucoptera of Tahiti and Eimeo, 

 and Aechmorhynelius cancellatus of Christmas Island and the 

 Paumotu group, have ceased to exist. 



Of all these very few examples are known, not 6 in all, 

 and of Prosobonia only the single specimen in Leyden ; while 

 of Hypotaenidia pacificus only Forster's rough sketch remains. 

 In the extreme Northern Pacific the fine Cormorant, 

 Phalacrocorax perspicillatus, has been exterminated. It 

 formerly inhabited Bering Island, and it is only known 

 from 2 specimens in the British Museum, 1 in St. Peters- 

 burg, and a few bones in American museums. 1 The last 

 region we have to record vanished forms from is the West 

 Indies and Atlantic coasts. In addition to a number of birds 

 mentioned by Ledru and others, which cannot be identified, 

 we find that 7 species of Macaws, 2 Ghrysotis and 2 Conurus 

 have vanished from this earth. As the French travellers 

 have given us very exact descriptions of some of these, we 

 must, I fear, although no specimens exist, give them names, 

 in order to fit them into the system. 



On Cuba there was the fine Macaw, Ara tricolor, of which there 

 are some 7 or 8 specimens in Museums, but it now appears to 

 be quite extinct. I am exhibiting the specimen belonging to 

 the Liverpool Museum. In Jamaica two Macaws occurred, 

 one, which I propose to call 



Ara gossei, nom. nov., 



had a yellow head and hind neck, scarlet cheeks, sides of neck 

 and back, the breast and wing coverts deep blood-red, wings 

 light blue, tail red, with yellow anterior portion. The 

 specimen described was shot in 1765, in the mountains of 

 Hanover Parish, 10 miles east of Lucea, Jamaica, by Mr. Odell. 

 The second species I propose to call 



Ara erythrocephala, nom. nov. 



It had the head red, rest of body bright green, wings and 



1 On the Galapagos Islands the large black Finches of Charles Island, 

 Geospiza magnirostria and O. dentirottris, have vanished. 



