The Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum - a landmark in the history of ornithology - was produced under the editorship of Richard Bowdler Sharpe and published in 27 volumes between 1874 and 1898 by order of the Trustees. Although the original plan in 1872 was that Bowdler Sharpe should produce the entire work, this proved impossible and he was therefore assisted by ten well-known ornitholgists - Gadow, Hargitt, Hartert, Oglivie-Grant, Salvadori, Salvin, Saunders, Sclater, Seebohm and Shelley. The entire work when completed described 11,617 species distributed over 2,255 genera.

Count Tommaso Salvadori (1835-1923), who worked at the Zoological Museum in Turin, Italy, was responsible for Volume 20 dedicated to parrots and Volume 21 on pigeons. According to the introduction to Volume 20 he was asked by Albert Günther, Keeper of the Department of Zoology, to undertake the production of the work in the spring of 1889. He finished at the end of 1891 after two and a half years labour. The British Museum held 5,113 specimens belonging to 450 species. He had access to an additional 49 species in Italian collections, thus 499 species are described including 13 for the first time. There were also 14 species and subspecies he was unable to identify.

Page 147

2. ANODORHYNCHUS.

Anodorhynchus, Spix, Av. Bras. I. Tab xi* (1824). Type A. hyacinthinus.
Aodorhynchus, Spix, Av. Bras. i. p. 25 (1824).
Sittace, part., Wagl. Mon. Psitt. p. 499 (1832).
Anodontorhynchus, Agassiz, Nomencl. Zool. Index Univ. p. 24 (1846).
Anadorhynchus, Finsch, Papag. i. p. 387 (1867).
Anoplorhynchus, Sundev. Méth. Nat. Av. Disp. Tent.
p.70 (1872) Type A. hyacinthinus.
Range. Central Brazil and Paraguay.

Key to the Species.

a. Nearly uniform cobalt-blue.................................. hyacinthinus, p. 147
b. Cobalt-blue; head, neck, and also lower parts
greenish blue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..............., leari, p.148.
c.Greenish blue; head and neck with a distinct
greyish tinge, darker on the cheeks, throat, and
upper breast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .............. glaucus, p.149.

P. 148

2. Anodorhynchus leari.

Macrocercus hyacinthinus, Vieill. Gal. des Ois. Pl. 24 (but not the text) (1823); Lear, Parrots, pl. 9 (1832).
? Ara hyacinthe, Less. Conpl. de Buff. p. 201 (part.), pl. 29. f. 1 (1837).
Macrocercus (Cyanopsitta) glaucus, var., Souancé, Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1856, p.57.
Anodorhynchus leari, Bp. Naumannia, 1856, Consp. Psitt. n. 2; Souancé, Icon. Perr. pl. i. f.1 (1857); G.R.Gr. Hand-list, ii. p.145, n. 8088 (1870).
Ara leari, G. R. Gr. List Psitt. Brit. Mus. p. 30 (1859); id. List Vert. An. 8th ed. p. 338 (1883); id.P.Z.S.1886, p. 417.
Ara glauca, ,Sclat. (nec Vieill.) P.Z.S. 1860, p. 372; id. List Vert. An. (1877), p. 240; id.P.Z.S.1878, p. 976.
Sittace leari, Finsch, Papag. i. p. 392 (1867); Pelz. Orn. Bras. p. 254 (note) (1871); Gieb. Thes. Orn. iii. p. 495 (1877); Rchnw. Journ. f. Orn. 1881, p. 265 (Consp. Psitt. p. 153); id. Vogelbild. Nachtr. 71 (1883).

* Mr. Waterhouse (Ind: Gen. Av p.11) quotes p. 47 of Spix's work, where I cannot find mentioned the genus Anodorhynchus; curiously enough also Spix, who spells it Aodorhynchus in the Index of the first volume of his work, by misprint quotes p. 48 instead of 25.

Adult male. Cobalt-blue ; head, neck, and lower parts greenish blue ; back, scapulars, and wing-coverts with narrow paler edges; the feathers of the abdomen distinctly edged with bluish green ; inner webs of the quills towards the base, greater under wing-coverts, and quills underneath blackish grey; tail underneath black : naked skin round the eyes and at the base of the lower mandible yellow; iris black; bill black; feet blackish. Total length 28·5 inches, wing 13·8, tail 16, bill 3, tarsus 1·3.
Hab. Probably some part of Brazil.

a. Male ad. sk. Brazil ? (Zool.Soc. Gard.). Sclater Coll.