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Show 708 DR. W. BLASIUS ON BIRDS FROM CERAM. [Nov. 28, 15. CYRTOSTOMUS ZENOBIA (Less.), Salvad. ii. p. 262. "Female. Iris brown. L. 10 cm., D. 1*5 cm. Bill and feet black. Lokki, Ceram, 17 Nov. 1881." In the Brunswick Museum several specimens exist of the nearly allied species C. frenatus (S. Miill.) from Celebes, a very good species, which is distinguished by the yellow colour of the belly of the male. The females on the other hand are not to be distinguished. Salvadori explains by this conformity of the plumage of the female the mistakes with regard to the countries where the two species are found. The underparts of the present specimen are not so vividly coloured as those of another female sent by Dr. Platen from Amboina (cf. Blasius and Nehrkorn, torn. cit. p. 425, sp. 23). The specimen is in the Brunswick Museum. 16. PHILEMON SUBCORNICULATUS (Hombr. et Jacq.), Salvad. ii. p. 355. Two specimens (1. " 8, 17 Nov. 1881"; 2. 2, 16 Nov. 1881"). For both, the label repeats:-" Iris brown. L. 35 cm., D. 9 cm. Bill brown. Skin round eyes and feet yellow-brown. Lokki, Ceram." No difference of sex is to be remarked. If Hombron and Jacquinot state the length of bill to be 11 cm., this must be a mistake in writing or printing. The bill of the specimens in question measures about 4*5 cm.; and Salvadori, who has examined the original specimen, states the length of bill in that to be 4*6 cm. The description of this species, which is very similar to Ph. corniculatus, but has a scarcely marked horn, coincides almost exactly with the specimens of Dr. Platen. No. 1 is in the Brunswick Museum ; No. 2 in the collection of Mr. Nehrkorn. 17. C O R V U S VIOLACEUS, Forster, Salvad. ii. p. 487. "Female. Iris brown. L. 34 cm., D. 2 cm. Bill and feet black. Lokki, Ceram, 17 Nov. 1881." The specimen, which nearly resembles in size our Jackdaw (Corvus monedula), agrees with the smallest of the measurements given by Salvadori, and is to be regarded on that account, as well as on account of the yet faint appearance of the metallic lustre an the feathers, as a young bird. The species belongs, in contrast to C. validus and C. validissimus (both represented in the Brunsw. Mus.), to the short-billed species of Corvus of the fauna of the Moluccas. On the specimen in question the bill is still decidedly shorter than in the figure given by Schlegel in the ' Bijdr. tot de Dierk.' in 1859. The specimen is in the Brunswick Museum. N.B. In the following species, which will be treated in the third, not yet published, volume of Salvadori's work, I follow the systematic arrangement given by Salvadori in the ' Uccelli di Borneo,' and accept the nomenclature of his ' Prodromus.' Besides I cite some of the principal recent monographic and ornithological papers. |
