238 



Miscellaneous. 



by which the specimen is attached to its perch, have also been 

 added to complete it. 



Thus far I have referred to the defective portions, which must be 

 decidedly considered as made up from the plumage of various birds, 

 artificially intermingled, to give the appearance of a perfect speci- 

 men. I will now pass to the more pleasing task of noticing the 

 parts which I think are those belonging to a distinct species. I 

 will first, however, mention, that on comparing the feathers of these 

 parts, as far as regards their structure, with those of the same parts 

 of a well -authenticated specimen of Tanysiptera Dea, one is readily 

 satisfied with their identity of character and disposition. But the 

 differences of colouring between those portions which are left of the 

 original bird and the same parts in the old species, will be better 

 explained by the following description. 



The tips of the feathers that compose the crest, as well as the 

 elongated central tail-feathers, are ultramarine in this bird ; while 

 in the Tanysiptera Dea these parts are of a rich cobalt ; in both, 

 however, the tail-feathers are tipped with white. 



The back is deep shining black in the present bird ; but in the 

 T. Dea that part is of a dull black, with each feather margined with 

 deep blue. 



The outer tail-feathers have the inner w r ebs brownish black, and 

 the exterior webs ultramarine ; while in the T. Dea they are white, 

 margined narrowly on the exterior edges with cobalt. 



The central tail-feathers are much shorter than those of the T.Dea, 

 though the size of the bird is nearly the same. 



From these differences I may venture to give the following short 

 specific characters of the bird before me, under the name of Tany- 

 siptera 'Nympha : — 



Deep black above, margined with deep blue ; the occipital crest 

 and central tail-feathers ultramarine, the latter tipped with 

 white ; the lateral tail-feathers brownish black, with the outer 

 webs ultramarine : beneath, &c. ? 



I have two reasons for bringing this partly artificial bird before 

 naturalists : — first, to call the attention of ornithologists to the fact 

 that some of the continental preparers of objects of Natural History 

 still continue the shameful practice of endeavouring to deceive the 

 zealous collector by false means, as in bygone days, when several 

 such were published in splendid works, that have since been dis- 

 covered to be manufactured for the purpose of obtaining large sums 

 of money from amateurs who were struck by their magnificent 

 appearance : secondly, to point out, as far as such a specimen w T ill 

 admit, the existence, without doubt, of a second species of an ex- 

 tremely rare genus, and thus endeavour to lead to its further eluci- 

 dation, in the hope of establishing the fact of the existence of more 

 than one species. In further proof of the latter assertion, I may 

 add, that I have seen another specimen, which differs in several 

 respects from both those now mentioned, and may be an inter- 

 mediate species between them, and which will be soon described by 

 M. La Fresnage, of Paris. — George Robert Gray. 



