OCR Text |
Show 16 MR. RAMSAY ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF SUMATRA. [Jan. 6, rufous-brown, shading into bright chestnut on the hinder part, and widening into a broad patch on either side of the neck. Length about 7*5 inches, wing 3*6, bill -95, tarsus 1*25. One specimen only of this new species is in the collection. MYIOPHONEUS CASTANEUS, sp. n. (Plate I.) Bright chestnut-brown, except on the head, face, throat, and breast, which are dull purplish blue, and the forehead and lesser wing-coverts bright cobalt. Mount Sago, 3 September, 1878. Iris grey-blue (Bock). In the British Museum I found an example of this bird, labelled " Malacca," but without a name. The locality is probably erroneous. This specimen differs considerably from mine, both in dimensions and colour, the purplish-blue head being overlaid with a tinge of chestnut, and the lores and forehead being dusky chestnut-brown. The dimensions of the two specimens are- Wing. Bill fr. gape. Tail. Tarsus. Sumatra (Bock) 5'75 ' 3*8 1*7 ? Malacca ( M M * . Brit.) 5*1 1*32 4 17 Of the 24 species described as new by Count Salvadori (I. c), only 8 were obtained by Mr. Bock, viz.:- Chrysophlegma mystacalis. Pteruthius cameranoi. Rhipidura atrata. Myiophoneus dicrorhynchus. Hemipus intermedius. Arrenga melanura. Heterophasia simillima. Peloperdix rubrirostris. Two of these I cannot admit as good species-Hemipus intermedius and Pteruthius cameranoi. The former, of which I have one good specimen, appears to m e to be inseparable from examples in the British Museum of Hemipus picatus (Sykes), collected at Mahabaleshwar. The latter I have compared with a specimen in the same museum of P. ceralatus, Tickell, from the Kachyen hills in Western Yunnan, and found to be identical. Yet another of the species contained in the above list is, I should say, of somewhat doubtful validity. Rhipidura atrata is very close to, if not identical with R. albicollis (Vieill.) = R. fusciventris (Franklin), of India. It differs, no doubt, in the shade of slaty black of its plumage; but I have found specimens in the British Museum of R. albicollis which nearly match the Sumatran examples, although I am bound to say not quite. The difference, however, is so very trifling that the Sumatran bird can, I think, be hardly regarded as belonging to a distinct species. 1 Bill broken. |