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Show 1866.] VISCOUNT WALDEN ON BIRDS FROM TENASSERIM. 553 Bengal, and agree in having bright yellow irides; while those from Southern India (P. mahrattensis, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832), otherwise nearly similar in plumage, are distinguishable by having the irides white or greyish white. From the Andamans. 1. HALCYON CAPENSIS, (Linn.). Alcedo capensis, Linn. S. N . ed. 12. 1766, i. p. 180. no. 9. Ispida capitis bonar spei, Briss. Orn. iv. p. 488. no. 8. No. 3. Port Blair, Andamans. If we resolve to regard all the local races of this Kingfisher, or any of them, as constituting so many distinct species, we must dissever the A. capensis, Linn., from the A. leucocephalus, G m . Of the Lin-nsean species we possess a detailed description in Brisson's ' Ornitho-logia ;' and with it this Andaman specimen very nearly agrees. The upper part of the head is " cinereous inclining to fulvous," and forms a distinct cap. Dr. Jerdon observes, when writing on the Indian form, that specimens from the east, and especially from Tenasserim, have the cap "albescent or dirty brown." Its blues are not pure, but greenish as in Brisson's type. A. leucocephalus, Gm., founded on Buffon's 757th plate, represents the form in which the occipital plumage is uniform with that of the neck, nape, and under surface, the cap being therefore absent, and in which the blues are pure, rich, and brilliant. A Sarawak specimen in m y collection fully answers to Buffon's account and plate, even to the brown striae of the occiput, this appearance being the result of each feather having a dark brown centre at its base, and being but narrowly edged with fulvous. When these feathers normally overlap one another, the occiput appears of a colour uniform with the nape, the brown centre of each feather being invisible; but if any of them are disarranged the occiput puts on the appearance shown in Buffon's plate. Thus A. capensis, Linn., forms the type of all the races with a coronal patch, and A. leucocephalus, Gm., of those in which the cap is wanting. To the first belong the Hindostan and Ceylon birds, the Bengal race having been accurately described by Captain Pearson (J. A. S. B. 1841, p. 633) under the name of H. gurial; and if all the Indian specimens are, as Dr. Jerdon states, uniformly brown on the head, Pearson's name must be applied to them. A Flores specimen in m y collection has the head and crest dark brown, as in Ceylon specimens of mine. But while in the Ceylon bird, which seems to be identical with H. gurial, Pears., the scapulars and wing-coverts are dingy greenish blue, in the Flores bird the blue is intense and perfectly pure, as in the Sarawak specimen. The variations of this widely extended form have yet to be studied. Dr. Cabanis observes (Museum Heineanum, i. p. 156) that every degree of variation is to be found in a series of specimens of this species ; but he does not mention whether he was certain of the localities from which each specimen came. M y experience of the form is the same as that of the learned doctor, but with this addition, that the varieties are coincident with changes of loca- PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1866, No. XXXVI. |