Recent Ornithological Publications. 303 
can be ignorant that Mr. Du Chaillu has discovered some re¬ 
markable novelties in the order of Birds, whatever he may have 
done in Mammals. In this branch of his investigations, how¬ 
ever, he has had the advantage of the services of Mr. John Cas- 
sin, the well-known Ornithologist of the Academy of Natural 
Sciences of Philadelphia, who has thoroughly worked at his 
specimens, and has been able to discriminate between what was 
really new, and what were merely more perfect examples of 
already named species. Mr. Du Chaillu's narrative contains 
several notices concerning some of the more important species 
which he discovered, to which we must call our readers' at¬ 
tention . 
The new Guinea-fowl ( Numidaplumifera *) “is very shy, but 
marches in large flocks through the woods, where the traveller 
hears its loud voice. It utters a kind of f quack/ hoarse and 
discordant, like the voices of other Guinea-fowls. It avoids the 
path left by travellers; but its own tracks are met everywhere 
in the woods it frequents, as the flock scratch and tear up the 
ground wherever they stop. It is strong of wing, and sleeps by 
night on the tops of high trees, a flock generally roosting toge¬ 
ther on the same tree. When surprised by the hunter they do not 
fly in a body, but scatter in every direction. Thus it is a diffi¬ 
cult bird to get, and the natives do not often get a shot at it." 
Of the Phasidus niger, remarkable as being the nearest ap¬ 
proach in the ^Ethiopian fauna to anything like a true Gallus or 
Phasianus , Mr.DuChaillu tells us that when he met with it for the 
first time in the woods, he thought he saw before him a domestic 
fowl. “ The natives have noticed the resemblance too, as their 
name for it shows —couba iga , signifying wild-fowl. Wild they 
are, and most difficult to approach; and also rare even in the 
forests where they are at home. They are not found at all on 
the sea-coast, and do not appear until the traveller reaches the 
* For a good figure of this species and the Phasidus niger, see ‘ Journal 
of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia/ new series, vol. iv. 
pis. 2 & 3. In the same work (pi. 49) are also representations of two 
beautiful Meropidw discovered by Mr. Du Chaillu, Meropogon breweri 
and Meropiscus mulleri ; and in the following plate are figured some very 
remarkable species of Muscicapidce. 
