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  _Descriptions of Three New Birds from the Belgian Congo._

  BY JAMES P. CHAPIN.

  BULLETIN OF THE
  AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY,
  VOL. XXXIV, ART. XVI, pp. 509-513

  _New York, October 20, 1915._




=Article XVI.=--DESCRIPTIONS OF THREE NEW BIRDS FROM THE BELGIAN
CONGO.

BY JAMES P. CHAPIN.


The whole of the large collection of birds secured by the Congo
Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History during the years
1909 to 1915, under the leadership of Mr. Herbert Lang, has now arrived
safely at the Museum. It is composed of material gathered all across the
Belgian Congo, from Boma on the west to Aba in the northeastern corner,
but the greater part from the more remote territory between Stanley
Falls and the Enclave of Lado, including the dense equatorial forests of
the Ituri, Nepoko, and Bomokandi, and the high-grass and bush country of
the Uele District to the north and northeast.

Of the relatively small number of zooelogical expeditions that have
passed through and collected in these regions, none has ever before
been able to make such a prolonged stay, and the varied zooelogical
results of this Expedition are surely of the highest scientific
interest. The ornithological collection contains in the neighborhood
of six thousand skins, and represents some 600 different species, a
number of them of course new to science. These it is our purpose to
describe as promptly as possible in this Bulletin, before taking up
the greater work of a general report on all the forms collected, with
more extended notes on their distribution, habits, food, and nests.

Descriptions of the first three new forms follow:


=Chaetura melanopygia= sp. nov.

     Related to _C. stictilaema_, but much larger, with feathers of
     upper breast more heavily margined with blackish, and without any
     trace of a light rump-band.

     Description of type, collector's No. 4986 Congo Exp. A. M. N. H.,
     [Male] ad. Avakubi, Ituri District, Belgian Congo, Aug. 15, 1913.

     Upper parts brownish-black (chaetura-black, Ridgw.) becoming black
     on wings and tail, with faint violet and green reflections (green
     on freshly molted feathers). Ear coverts drab, bordered with
     fuscous-black; feathers of throat pale smoke-gray, margined with
     fuscous, those of upper breast similar, but heavily bordered with
     fuscous-black, consequently with a very pronounced "scaly"
     appearance; lower breast growing darker, so that the dark borders
     are less conspicuous, and the feathering of the belly completely
     fuscous-black with slight oily gloss. Under wing coverts
     mouse-gray with darker edges, flanks and under tail-coverts black
     with slight greenish gloss. Tail slightly rounded.

     Iris dark brown, bill black, feet bluish, shading to dusky brown
     on tips of toes and claws. Sexual organs enlarged.

     Length (skin) 145 mm.; wing 164; tail 49.5; bill (exposed
     culmen), 7.5; metatarsus 13.

Only one specimen secured, out of two or three of these swifts that were
flying about over the Ituri River, in company with several examples of
_Chaetura cassini_. In spite of our long stay in this region, the species
was not again positively recognized; but _Chaetura cassini_, _C.
stictilaema_ and _C. sabinei_ were all of common occurrence there.


=Apaloderma minus= sp. nov.

Resembling _Apaloderma narina_, but decidedly smaller, of different
coloration, and with bill less swollen. The serration of the maxilla
is less pronounced.

The adult male of _A. minus_ is distinguished by the bluer hue of the
forehead, throat, and upper breast, which show in certain lights deep
violet reflections, and by the more scarlet, less crimson color of the
remaining underparts. In life the naked areas on the cheeks are bright
yellow, whereas in _A. narina_ they are light green.

The adult female differs in the more tawny or ochraceous coloration of
the breast, which is grayish in this sex of _A. narina_, although
sometimes washed with light brown on the upper breast. A greenish
gloss on the upper breast is more common in females of _A. narina_.

In juvenal plumage both species are entirely buff below, the feathers
more or less tipped with dusky.

     Type: collector's No. 4983. Congo Exp. A. M. N. H. [Male] ad.
     Avakubi Ituri District, Belgian Congo, August 13, 1913.

     _Description of Adult Male_ (type).--Throat, upper breast, lores
     and forehead glossy wall-green, in certain lights with violet
     reflections; upper tail-coverts much the same, but nape and back
     brilliant peacock-green. Lower breast, sides, belly, and under
     tail-coverts bright scarlet-red; feathering of legs dusky, with
     faint green gloss and slightly bordered with whitish. Primaries
     fuscous-black, the outer ones margined with white and the inner
     ones white at the base. Alula and primary-coverts blackish;
     lesser wing-coverts blackish, broadly margined with green; middle
     coverts with less green and vermiculated with white. Greater
     coverts and secondaries blackish vermiculated with white, the
     former narrowly edged with green, the secondaries only very
     faintly. Three middle pairs of rectrices blackish, slightly
     glossed with violet-blue and margined with green; outer three
     pairs white, with bases black faintly glossed with blue, this
     blackish color extending out furthest on inner webs, and finally
     breaking up into small dusky spots.

     Iris red-brown; distal portion of bill light greenish gray, base
     of bill and two naked patches beneath eye light cadmium-yellow,
     naked skin above eye lemon-yellow; bare skin of foreneck (covered
     in life by plumage) light blue; feet pale pink.

     Length (skin) 254 mm.; length of bill (culmen from base) 18 mm.;
     height of bill at nostril 9.5 mm.; greatest width of maxilla, near
     gape, 16 mm.; wing (measured with dividers) 113 mm.; tail 146 mm.

     In some of the other male specimens the green borders on the
     secondaries are lacking, and the exact intensity of the white
     vermiculation is of course variable. The measurements of a series
     of 11 adult males are: bill, 17-18.5 mm.; wing, 108-115.5; tail,
     136.5-151. This is smaller than any _Apaloderma_ heretofore
     described.

     _Adult Female._ Crown, back, and rump brilliant peacock-green,
     upper tail-coverts viridian. Lores, forehead, and ear-coverts
     more brownish; throat and upper breast snuff-brown, sometimes
     with glossy green at sides of neck or a few narrow green borders
     on the chest. Lower breast cinnamon, sometimes finely barred with
     dusky; belly somewhat lighter and rosier than that of male;
     feathering of legs dusky. Tail similar to that of male; but the
     vermiculation on the wing-coverts and secondaries is very much
     finer, and light ochraceous-buff, not white.

     Iris red-brown; naked cheek-patches lemon-yellow, base of bill
     slightly deeper yellow; culmen dusky, bill light green below;
     feet flesh-color, claws gray.

     Measurements of three adult females: bill (culmen from base),
     17-17.5 mm.; wing 104.5-113 mm.; tail, 140-149 mm.

     An _immature male_ has the green of the upper breast broken by
     irregular bars of cinnamon. The lower breast is cinnamon mixed
     with rose, and barred at the sides with green, and shades to
     light scarlet-red on belly and under tail-coverts. The greater
     wing-coverts and three inner secondaries bear each a large spot
     of light ochraceous buff, extending across the whole width of the
     innermost secondary, and most of the secondaries are vermiculated
     or speckled on their outer webs with buff. Just behind the eye
     there is a small spot of white, and the lower edge of the
     ear-coverts is marked by a buff line.

     Iris dark brown; maxilla dusky, but its base greenish-yellow like
     the naked cheek-patches, mandible light yellowish-green, with
     light-gray tip; feet pinkish. Bill, 18.5 mm.; wing, 108; tail, 139.

     A _nestling_ ([Male]), with tail only 25 mm. long, is of a
     yellower green above (calliste green); lores, forehead and entire
     underparts cinnamon-buff, the downy feathers slightly tipped with
     dusky except on abdomen. The wing-coverts and inner secondaries
     bear large spots of buff. Iris brownish-gray; bill very light
     bluish-gray, its base and corners of mouth greenish-yellow; feet
     pale flesh-color, claws gray.

     The spots on the inner secondaries, in the first plumage, appear
     to be much larger in the case of _A. minus_ than with _A.
     narina_, for an immature female specimen of the latter shows only
     rounded spots on the outer webs not exceeding 5.5 mm. in diameter,
     while the additional buffy speckling is practically absent.

This trogon was found by us in the Ituri forest, from the Nepoko River
south to Avakubi and westward to Ban