OCR Text |
Show 1882.] DR. W. BLASIUS ON BIRDS FROM CERAM. 703 The females of Rh. undulatus sent from Borneo by Dr. Platen strikingly resemble the females of Rh. plicatus. I have already drawn attention to the fact that the ridgea on the sides of the base of the bill are very little or even not at all marked in young specimens of Rh. undulatus; so that the characteristic features on which Salvadori (i. p. 398) chiefly founds his belief in the possibility of distinguishing the females of the two species may be entirely obliterated. Under these circumstances it appears to me not superfluous to point out some differences in the colouring of the iris and the naked parts, which are founded on Dr. Platen's careful observations. Rh. undulatus. Female: " iris (like that of the male) orange. Naked skin of the throat-front third light blue, back third dark blue, separated by a black band ; while the old male has the back third of the throat-skin light green, the front one yellow, divided by a dark green stripe; and the young male has a uniform lemon-coloured throat-skin, or a lemon-coloured one divided by a yellowish-green stripe." Rh. plicatus. Female: " iris grey-brown (of the male orange). Naked skin of the throat (like that of the male) bluish white." The difficulty of the distinction exists only for the female, which is in both species entirely black with the exception of the white tail ; while the male of Rh. plicatus is easily to be distinguished from Rh. undulatus by the completely brown-red neck (the present specimens from Ceram have a dark chestnut-brown colouring towards the back, lighter towards the front, and lightest on the chin). The female of the present species is much smaller than the male, as is already proved by the measurements taken by Dr. Platen while the birds were fresh. To render these differences more obvious, as well as to give the possibility of comparison with some measurements of Rh. undulatus, I add the following dimensions : - 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 6. 6- 8- 8- 6- ?. 2- 2. 2- Cauda. cm. 28*5 27*5 29*5 28*0 27*5 27*3 28*0 26*5 26*8 Ala. cm. 42*7 40*5 41*5 43*0 41*5 41*0 38*5 39*0 40*0 Tarsus. cm. 5*2 5*5 5*5 5*8 5*5 5*0 5*0 5*3 5*2 Rostri crista. cm. 13*0 13*0 13*3 11*5 to 13 cm. 11*8 10*7 12*0 11*3 9*1 Rictus. cm. 22*0 21*2 22*0 22*2 21*6 18*3 17*3 19*1 17*4 Nos. 4 and 8 are in the Brunswick Museum ; Nos. 1 and 7 in the Museum Heineanum ; No. 2 in the collection of Mr. Nehrkorn. 9. ALCEDO ISPIDOIDES, Less., Salvad. i. p. 408. "Male. Iris brows*.. L. 15*5 cm., D. 2 cm. Bill black, feet red-brown. Lokki, Ceram, 20 November 1881." The specimen exactly agrees with the description of Salvadori, and F R O C ZOOL. Soc-1882, No. XLVII. 47 |