10 The Humming Bird. 



It was agreed between us that he should try to get as many as 

 he could, and to send them to Mr. Maingonnat for me. 



Two years after, at the end of June, 1882, returning from 

 the Riviera, where I had passed the winter, I was quite sur- 

 prised to learn that Mr. Maingonnat had received from 

 Captain Rheinard one specimen of the bird and that he 

 exhfbited-itrat the meeting of the Zoological Society of France 

 on the 1 2th of June, 1882, giving it the name of Argus 

 Rheinardi. 



A few days after, I was at "Mr. Maingonnat, and he con- 

 firmed me what I had heard. I was quite vexed at the time, 

 as it was a well understood thing between Messrs. Rheinard, 

 Maingonnat and myself that I should describe this bird if 

 Captain Rheinard could get it. 



But the thing being done, I could not help it ; but when I 

 saw the bird, I said immediately to Mr. Maingonnat that it 

 was not an Argus, but an extraordinary form of Pheasant 

 between Pavo, Argusianus, and Phasianus, and I suggested 

 the name of Rheinardia ocellata for the bird, a name still more 

 honorific for the discoverer of this magnificent species. 

 Mr. Maingonnat took the hint at once, and without any more 

 advice of mine he made a poor description of this new genus 

 in La Science pour tous, July, 1882, p. 210, under the name of 

 Rheinardia ocellata. 



The skin from which the description was taken by Mr. 

 Maingonnat was sold by him to the Paris Museum for 

 2,000 francs. 



A little while after, another male specimen was sent by 

 Captain Rheinard, then French Resident in Tonkin, and was 

 offered by him to the Paris Museum. 



In 1883 Capt. Rheinard sent six more specimens, among 

 them one female, which 1 believe is still unique and undes- 

 cribed. It is now in the collection of the British Museum. 

 Of these six specimens, one male and one female are exhibited 

 in the Ornithological Gallery of the British Museum, where 

 they show extremely well. One male specimen is in the 

 Museum of Natural History at Lyon, France. Another male 

 specimen is at the Museum of Natural History of Saint Omer, 

 Pas de Calais, France, whose collections have increased 

 wonderfully under the direction of Mr. Ch. Van Kempen. 

 The other two, also males, are now the property of the 

 Honourable Lionel Walter de Rothschild. 



Since 1883, although I have offered a good price for some 

 more specimens, I have been unable to get one. 



Mr. E. Oustalet in a pamphlet, which I possess, having for 

 title Description du Rheinardius ocellatus, Gallinacé voisin des 

 Argus, has given a very good description of the bird, taken 

 from one of the specimens in the Paris Museum. 



