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Show 68 MR. R. B. SHARPE ON THE GENUS PELARGOPSIS. [Jail. 27, the back and scapularies dull green, with a faint blue lustre here and there ; whole of the back very rich cobalt; wing-coverts greenish, more distinctly washed with blue ; quills brown, the inner web pale ochre at the base, the exterior web, especially of the secondaries, externally edged with bright blue; tail bright blue above, dark brown beneath; entire under surface very deep ochre; bill dark vermilion; feet dark red. Total length 14 inches, of bill from front 3 4 , from gape 3*7, wing 6, tail 3*8, tarsus 0*5, middle toe 1, hind toe 0*5. Hab. Tavoy, Tenasserim Provinces (Briggs); Burmah (Blyth; mus. Lord Walden); Siam (Schomburgk; Mouhot, mus. J. Gould); Andaman Islands (Tytler, Beavani). This species may be distinguished at a glance by the colouring of the cap, which is always of a light grey, very different from the dark brown cap of P. gurial. Its principal habitat seems to be Burmah, whence it ranges into Siam to the eastward, and perhaps into the Malayan peninsula to the southward. The plates of Reichenbach's work are so inaccurate that it is only doubtfully that I refer the figures given in his ' Tabulae' to the present species. Its range is stated by him to be the Cape of Good Hope, South and South-eastern Africa generally (Dresden Museum), which statement naturally does not aid one in a correct determination of the locality of the specimens figured. 8. PELARGOPSIS FLORESIANA, sp. nov. Flores Kingfisher. Martin-pecheur du Cap de Bonne Espdrance, Buff. Pl. Enl. 590. Halcyon leucocephalus, Wald. P.Z. S. 1863, p. 484 (nee Gm.). Halcyon capensis, Swains. Classif. of B. ii. p. 335 (1837, nee Linn.). Head (distinctly capped) pale brown, with a bluish-green lustre; cheeks, sides of the neck, and a collar encircling the back of the neck pale ochre ; upper part of the back and scapularies ultramarine with a tinge of green ; back rich cobalt, deepening into ultramarine on the rump and upper tail-coverts; quills brownish black, the inner web pale ochre at the base, the outer web, especially of the secondaries, washed with blue ; tail rich blue above, black beneath ; under surface of the body deep ochre, much paler on the throat; bill dark sealing-wax red, black at the tip; feet dark red. Total length 13*5 inches, of bill from front 3*2, from gape 3*7, wing 5*7, tail 3'6, tarsus 0*45, middle toe 1, hind toe 0*45. Hab. Flores (Wallace). In all specimens of the Stork-billed Kingfisher that I have examined from the island of Flores, there has always been a very distinct greenish lustre on the head ; and as the colour of the cap is always a pale brown, and these characters appear to be constant, I do not hesitate to separate it specifically. Buffon's plate represents the bird with a green head ; I have carefully compared an adult Flores specimen with the description given by him, and it agrees very well indeed ; so that I think it extremely probable that the present species formed the subject of his plate. I |
