( 1!'!' ) 



by the small bill only," as Messrs. Meyer & Wiglesworth believed. Yuung birds 

 have the feathers of the forehead edged with buff, the upper wing-coverts edged 

 with buff, the feathers of the white collar, sides of throat, breast and abdomen, 

 and the whole breast fringed with blackish brown, the latter also tinged with 

 fulvous. Moreover, the bill is not only shorter, but differently shaped, the culmen 

 less distinctly ridged, more rounded, the whole bill clumsier, less pointed in 

 appearance, because not so long and yet thick at base. Nothing of all this is 

 seen in the small Talaut birds, and I cannot understand how Messrs. Meyer & 

 Wiglesworth conld conclude that they were young, after first believing that they 

 were " a race of Halcyon sancta." I can find only four specimens among our 

 237 examples which closely approach and partly reach the small Talaat birds in 

 either bill or wing measurements. The eight perfectly adult small birds from 

 Talaut (partly Cursham coll. and partly taken by Waterstradt's native collectors) 

 have the bills 35 — 40 mm. long, against 45 — 50 mm. in normal U. chloris, the 

 wing 94 — 08 mm. against 1()S — 120 mm. in typical normal //. cldoris. Whether 

 this small form on Talaut is a geographical representative of ckloris (though both 

 are found on Talaut, one might only breed there, the other be an occasional 

 immigrant), or a perfectly developed species co-existing with typical large cldoris, 

 or a local aberration — for it is only known on Talaut,— it will be desirable to 

 have a name for it, and I therefore name it herewith : 



Halcyon enigma nom. nov. 



Type: S ad., Lirong, Talaut, April 1897, John Waterstradt's natives coll. 

 No. 143 t. 



6. Halcyon sordUlm is also nothing more than a subspecies of chloris, being 

 closely approached by some females of true cldoris ; and so is, of course, my 

 colonus, which is just a small edition of sordidus with different distribution. 



Mr. Kiihn sent the following very typical // ckloris cldoris from the South- 

 West Islands : — 



5 c??, Kisser, April— May 1901. (Nos. 3912, 3963, 4048, two without 

 numbers.) 



14 c??, Roma, Jul}-, August 1002. (Nos. 5072, 5177, 5073, 5177, 5213, 

 5214, 5321, the rest without numbers.) 

 1 (?, Letti, 18. xii. 1902. (No. 6512.) 



6 (? ? , Wetter, October 1902. (Nos. 5619, 5620, 5854—5856, 5874.) 



5 <? ? , Moa, November, December, 1902. (Nos. 6209, 6210, 6326, 6345, 6413.) 



CUCULI. 



72. Chrysococcyx rufomerus Hart. (?). 



Chrysococcyx rufomerus Hartert, Xov. Zonl. vii. p. 21 (1900 : Dammer). 

 Chalcocnrcyx innominatus Finsch, Notes Leyden Mus. xxii. p. 94 (1900 : Kisser). 



It is not easy |to unravel the different supposed species of Chrysococcyx. 

 Dr. Finsch and I described almost simultaneously (though my article appeared 

 apparently at least a month earlier) a form which we named rufomerus resp. 

 innominatus, from Dammer and Kisser, Finsch from a single specimen, I from 

 a series of nine. I have no doubt that we have both described the same bird, 

 for we both refer to the very dark jiileum, wider dark barring of the 

 underside, and absence of rufous-cinnamon in the tail. Now we have received 



