52 ON THE SPECIES OF HYPSIPETES. 



4. Hypsipetes crassirostris. (Plate XLII. fig. 4 : a, adult; J, young.) 

 Hypsipet^s crassirostris, Edw. Newton^ P.Z. S. 1867, p. 344 (Descr. orig.) ; Ibis, 1867, p. 344. 



Diagn. — Superne saturate olivaceo-brunneus, inferne pallidior virescensque, rectricibus albido 

 terminatis, rostro robustiore. 



Here, again, I find the original diagnosis can be improved— judging, 



that is, from the present state of the specimens ; fgr I think the yellow tinge 



on the lower parts is best expressed by terming it greenish ; and the whitish 



tip to the tail, though it seems to be pecuhar to the adult, is too 



important to be omitted. The remaining characters I take from my brother's 



paper : — 



Iridibus fusco-rubris. Long, tota 10*75, alee 5-3, caudse 4*5, acrotarsi 1*05, dig. med. sine 

 ungue -8, ballucis sine nngue '5, maxillse a fronte I'l, ejusdem a rictn 1*25, mandibulae ab 

 articulol-81, rostri altitude ad frontem '41 poll. Angl. 



A young bird, older apparently than the young H. oUvaceus I have just 

 described, since it seems to have assumed most of the mature plumage, has 

 some of the wing-coverts and the outer web of all the remiges deep fulvous. 

 The tail is without any whitish tip, and the bill is dusky orange. This 

 species, of which I have seen but four specimens (the three obtained by my 

 brother, and one other given to me by Professor Perceval Wright), is, so far 

 as we know, confined to the islands of Mahe, Silhouette, Praslin and 

 Marianne, in the Seychelles group. 



The Plate, for which ornithologists are indebted to the liberality of 

 Mr. Rowley, not only represents the adult and young of this species (the 

 only one of the four forms which till now has remained unfigured), but also 

 shews the curious difference in the colour of the irides of each member of 

 this group— a pecuharity which first attracted the attention of my brother. 



Magdalene College, Cambridge, 

 May 1876, 



