( 430 ) 



and enumerates eleven specimens as " intermediate between C. dillwi/nni and 

 C. eiieiythra," all from Labuan and Borneo, and seven as " intermediate between 

 C. euerythra and C. tridactyla," all from the IMalay Peninsula. 



I am bound to agree with Dr. Sharpe that the above arrangement is problematical 

 and unsatisfactory, and I have — backed by iMr. Kothschiid's enthusiasm for this 

 beautiful family of birds — also taken every opportunity to increase the Tring Museum 

 series, with the result that we have now 44 specimens of it. These 44, the 64 

 now in the British INIuseum, the type of Ceijx rttfidwsa Strickland kindly lent by 

 Dr. H. Gadow, and three other skins, I have carefully studied, thus having examined 

 112 specimens. The conclusions I have come to are, that the difficulties apparently 

 offered by these Ceyces e.xist only in the immature specimens, and that the solution 

 is, in fact, a very simple one. 



There are — apart from blue-mantled C. tridactyla of India and the Philippine 

 C. melanura without yellow below, but with black in the tail and a lilac-red breast 

 — only two species, i.e. Ceyx rufidorsa Strickl., ranging from Malacca throughout 

 the Sunda Islands, and Ceyx dillwynni, inhabiting Borneo and Palawan, as well as 

 (teste Salvadori) Nias and probably Sumatra. 



Specimens of Ceyx rufidorsa from Malacca, Sumatra, and Borneo are larger ; 

 those from Java, Bali, I.ombok, and P'lores smaller. The latter may be separated 

 as a subspecies, and should be called innominata Salvad. The status of the iSIalayan 

 forms of Ceyx is therefore now as follows : 



a. Ceyx rufidorsa rufidorsa Strickl. 



Ceyj- riifiilorsci Strickl., P.Z.S. 1846 p. OH (Malacca). 



Ceyx ctiirylhra Sharpe, Ciii. B. Brit. Mus. XXVII p. 179 (Malacca etc. Type not mentioned ; 

 but Malacca, being first mentioned, the original locality). 



(J ? ad. Bill and feet red. Upperside red with a lilac wash to the tips of the 

 feathers, this lilac colour being very beautiful in adult freshly -moulted specimens, 

 absent or less apparent in worn and faded and in immature ones. Underside bright 

 yellow, lighter, and even whitish on the throat. A tiny dusky black spot in front 

 of the eye. Quills blackish, inner webs of all widely, outer webs of first primary 

 and of secondaries narrowly rufous-cinnamon. I'pper wing-coverts nearly all uniform 

 red. Size large. Wing 58 to 62, culmen from end of feathering 33 to 38 mm. 



Juv. Bill dusky, underside yellowish wliite, breast jiale cinnamon. Scajiulars 

 with a small amount of blackish colour, generally to the basal Jiart of the feathers. 



Hab. Malacca (typ.), Lingga Islands, Suiniitra, liorneo, Natunas, Labuan and 

 Palawan, also Mindoro. 



Dr. Gadow kindly sent me Strickland's type, wliicli is undoubtedly the bright 

 northern, somewhat larger form, renamed ('. euerythra by Dr. Sharpe. The sentence 

 in the original diagnosis, describing a dark bkiisli black ear-spot and lores,* is 

 incorrect. It is true that there is a deej) blackish blue spot beliind the ear-coverts, 

 but the lores are not of that colour, though there is always a small triangular 

 black spot in front of the eye. The lilac colour of the adults is generally brightest 

 above the ear-coverts, and sometimes, tliough rarely, deepens to a dcpji blue spot 

 on the sides of the neck, behind the ear-coverts. 



\\'ith the type in hand it is quite clear that Strickland's C. riifidwsa is not 

 a young tridactyla (as suggested by Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Genova XXIA', 1886, 



• " Loris et macula auriam obscure caeruleo-nigra." 



