PLATE CXLIX. 



alhinolala, as expreffive of the charafterillic fpots of white on th© 

 black patch of the neck ; at the fame time, that we mud obferve^ there 

 are other particulars in which the plumage differs from the common 

 Turtle, and might afford a fuitable fpecific title, fhould that feleQed 

 by us be thought liable to obje6lion. 



The firfl account of this remarkable bird that appears we believe 

 on record, is comprehended in the very concife inscription affixed to 

 a certain cafe in the late Leverian Mufeum, containing a fpecimen and 

 duplicates of the fame bird. Dr. Latham mentions only one» but 

 there were more. The infcription briefly denominates them, the 

 ** Spotted Necked Turtle," and relates that they were (hot in Buck- 

 inghamfhire. Thefe birds were included in the Mufeum at the time it 

 was arranged in Leicefter Houfe, and pofifefTed by Sir Afhton Lever, 

 as we perceive by the reference of Dr. Latham in the third volume of 

 his General Synopfis, the place in which the firfl; account of this bird 

 occurs ; the defcription is in the following words : — In the Leverian 

 Mufeum, is a bird, fhot in Buckinghamfhire, which differs from the 

 common one, in having almofl the whole fide of the neck black, in- 

 flead cf a patch X)nly ; and inflead of each feather being tipped with 

 white, there is a round fpot of white on each, very near the end, 

 giving the fides of the neck a mofi beautiiul appearance." 



In the fucceeding work of the fame author, (Index Ornithologicus) 

 the fame opinion is continued, it being flill confidered as a variety 

 only of the common Turtle. *' A priore variat lateribus colli nigris, 

 apicibu« pennarum macula alba notatis." 



During the interval that elapfed between the publication of thefe 

 two works, the improved edition of the Linnaean Syflem, by Gmelin, 



had 



