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Show 66 MR. R. B. SHARPE ON THE GENUS PELARGOPSIS. [Jail. 27, After carefully comparing a skin of the adult Javan bird with Brisson's elaborate description, I believe that his "Ispida capitis bonce spei" was really taken from a Javan specimen. Consequently the species stands primarily as Alcedo capensis, Linn. But in the face of the manifest incongruity of such an appellation, I believe myself justified in proposing a new name for the bird, and I therefore take the opportunity of connecting with it the name of my friend Mr. W . T. Fraser, of Soerabaya, Java, to whom I am indebted for many kind remittances of Javan Kingfishers. It is very seldom that we meet with a specimen of P. fraseri with any thing like a distinct cap. Mr. Wallace's collection, however, contains a specimen obtained by himself in Eastern Java which has the cap very distinct, like the bird figured by Professor Reichenbach (I. ci). The species, however, differs from P. burmanica by always having an admixture of ochre, sometimes very distinct, in the feathers of the head. 6. PELARGOPSIS GURIAL. Halcyon gurial, Pears. Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1841, p. 633 (descr. orig.); Blyth, Cat. Birds Mus. As. Soc. Beng. p. 47(1849); Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 155 (1850); Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 228 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1865, p. 30. Ramphalcyon gurial, Reich. Handb. Alced. p. 16, t. ccccxxvi. (1851). Pelargopsis gurial, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. ii. p. 156 (1860). Halcyon capensis, Jerd. Madr. Journ. 1840, p. 231 ; Blyth, Ann. Nat. Hist. xii. p. 94(1843). Halcyon brunniceps, Jerd. Madr. Journ. 1844, p. 143. Halcyon leucocephalus (part.), Horsf. & Moore, Cat. Birds Mus. E.-I. Co. p. 123 (1854). Halcyon leucocephalus, Jerdon, Birds of India, i. p. 222 (1862); Day, Land of Perm. p. 460 (1863) ; Beav. Ibis, 1865, p. 407; Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 347. Gurial of the Bengalese (Pearson). Mala-poyma of the natives of Malabar (Jerdon). Head dark chocolate-brown; sides of the neck and a collar encircling the same pale ochre; upper portion of the back and scapularies dull green ; rest of the back rich greenish cobalt; wing-coverts dull green with a faint blue lustre; quills black, the inner web yellowish white at the base, the outer edge of the whole of the feathers greenish blue; tail greenish blue above, black beneath ; under surface of the body ochre, palest on the throat; bill very dark sealing-wax red ; feet dull red. Total length 14 inches, of bill from front 3*1, from gape 3'7, wing 6*4, tail 3*6, tarsus 0*5, middle toe 1*1, hind toe 0*5. Hab. All India, from the extreme south to Bengal and Ceylon; common in Malabar ; rarely seen in the Carnatic and upon the tableland ; occasionally found in Central India and the Northern Circars |