( 294 ) 

 41. Tanygnathus megalorhynchos subaffinis i>d. 



r„n,/g,„illu,s siibaffinh Sclatcr, I'ro,: Z.,,,1. So.: /..„„/..», IsS:;. pp. .".l, r,3, 194, 200 (Timorlaut) ; 

 Finsch, Notee Leijden Mm. xxii. p. 200 (Babbei). 



Mr. Kiihn sent seven specimens shot in August and September at Tepa. 

 These birds appear to be all adnlt males in perfect iilnmage, with the exception of 

 one (No. 684S) which is an immature male. This last one has the lesser npper 

 wing-coverts dark green, not blue, and the outer edges to the median and greater 

 wing-coverts are narrow and dull lemon-3'ellow. All the others have the lesser 

 wing-coverts, bend of wing and tips of scapulars and median and greater wing- 

 coverts bright blue, the borders to the wing-coverts broad and of a very bright 

 yellow. They surpass thus in brightness of the wing onr series of T. m. suhaflims 

 from Tenimber (Timorlaut) ; but as only a few of the latter are adult males in fresh 

 jilnmage, and one closely approaches our Babber specimens, I believe that the 

 differences are due to the different season and age of the birds, Imt not peculiar fo 

 the localities. " Iris chromeous ; bill scarlet ; feet slaty l)lack." (Nos. OOol, (iTTn, 

 6806, 6840, 6846, 6945, 6946.) 



The home of T. m. sulxifUnis is otherwise Timorlaut (Tenimber). It does not 

 occur on Moa, Wetter, Letti, or Kisser. 



42. Alcyone azurea yamdenae Rothsch. 

 Cf. A''"!'. Zor,J. 1904. p. 19G. 



"What I said {I.e.) about two .specimens from Roma applies exactly to two 

 examples from Tepa, Babber Island. They may be said to agree with the type of 

 A. II. ynimlenac, except that their wings are slightly longer, measuring 73 and 

 7.'>-5 mm., while the wing of the type of A. a. yawdnmr measures about 7(l-.5 mm. 

 It is very probable that the type of ijiinuhniiif is an exceptionally small specimen of 

 the same subspecies, but more material from Tcninilicr is necessary fo dec^ide this 

 question finally. 



43. Halcyon australasia dammeriana ? 



Cf. iV"i-. Z„o}. 1904. pp. lOli, 197. 



The specimens from Baljber are rather puzzling. They are as dark cinnamon 

 below and on the crown and liindneck as //. australasia (Inmmcriaiui. From the 

 twelve specimens of //. a. (hnnmeriana before me they differ as follows : the 

 crown, instead of having a fairly large, rarely small, bluish green patch, has 

 generally a rather smaller jiatcli, and four examples have no patch whiifever, 

 but have the crown uniform dark cinnamon ; flic wing is generally som(^\vhat 

 shorter, varying from 75-5 to 79r), instead of 78 to 84 mm. in //. a. ilnmmeriami. 

 The question therefore is: are our series sufficiently large to prove an average 

 of size or more or less largely patched crown in one of these forms or not ? I do 

 not wish, at present, to decide, but probably the Babber form deserves a name. 

 Babber lies between the Letti-Moa group and Tenimber, and we slionld therefore 

 expect either the Letti-Moa form (//. a. interposita) or the Tenimber form 

 (//. a. mi/ior). But witli neither of these do our Babber birds agree ; they are 

 darker underneath (and jirobably smaller) than //. it. hi/rrpo.s/fn, and they are 

 ninch darker on the throat and in the middle of the abdomen and somewhat larger 

 ihan //. a. minor. That the Dammer form shnnld inhabit Babber as well is very 

 strange— but nothing is impossilile. 



