( .i2!) ) 



~'4. Podargus meeki Hurt. {Ball. B. 0. chd, Vol. VIII. p. 8). 



This interesting species is interniediate in size lietweeu Por/a/yits oci'llafus 

 Q. k G. from New (Guinea and l\ intenuniliii.^i Hart, t'roiu tlic D'Eiitrecasteanx and 

 Trobriand Islands. It diflers from l)otli in t\\e J't-mnlf not being rufons, but !i])pareutly 

 always brownish, and much more heavily marked with longitudinal l)lack spots on 

 the under surface than the moli-. and darker above. The wing measures 190— 

 195 mm., the tail 167 — Imi mm. "Iris hazel: feet yellowisli horn-colour: bill 

 yellowish horn-brown to dark brown h(irn-colour.'" 



25. Caprimulgus macrurus Horsf. 



Four skins of both sexes, liroenred iit different times in April. Thev are all 

 much iu moult. 



2(1. Eurystomus crassirostins Scl. 

 i. April Tth, isy.s. Bill bhtckish, except base (if mandiM.-. which i-^ vi'd. 



27. Merops oruatus Lath. 



In March and April adult birds were in fairly good fresh plnnnige. while young 

 birds ^exp in moult. ( niniudn mi Siidest Islnnd. 



28. Alcedo ispida moluccana I 



jCSS. 



Common on t^ndest Island. " Iris dark brnwn : bill black in the hkiIc, black 

 with red basal half to mandible in t\w frni'ile : feet bright red." 



Elsewhere I have stated my belief that the Moluccau Kingfisher cannot logically 

 lie called a species, as there are connecting links between it and A. i.J/oi-csiiind, and 

 again between ^1. i.fioresiana and A. ispida henffale/isis, and then again between 

 ^1. i. bengalensiB and A. ispida ispida. 



There is — I may repeat it here again — no reason to let drop the name of 

 bengalensis altogether as a synonym, for if one subspecies is recognized the other 

 must be considered as well, and never do we meet with anything as small as . 1 . /. henga- 

 lensis in Europe, and never with the large typical ,1. iapida ispidn in India. They 

 are therefore subspecies, no matter how much connected by intermediate links. 



20. Halcyon sancta ^^ig. k Horsf. 



A series of //. miirtn from Sudcst Island sliows very constantly a very dark 

 back, washed with brown, and a dark olive-brown crown with a bluish lino behind 

 the eye. This same character is also to be seen in all the specimens from Woodlark 

 Island and iu the majority of those from Hossel and St. Aignan Islands. Some 

 specimens from New Britain also resemble these birds, but some Australian ones as 

 well show the same peculiarities or indications of it. It seems certain (cf ^leyer k 

 Wiglesworth, Birdn of ( 'eli;6(\f. Vol. I.) that J/, sancta wanders northwards in winter; 

 it is therefore not impossible that the siiecimens from St. Aignan which closely 

 resemble Australian examples are birds of passage ; therefore at j)resent I refrain 

 from naming what I lielieve to be a subspecies from the smaller islands east of 

 New Guinea, 



