A REVISION OF THE KINGFISHER GENUS RAMPHAL 

 ('VOX (PELARGOPSIS). 



By IIaim:; ( '. ( )n: iiiiiu si.i;. 

 Assist 'i at Ornithologist, Department of Vgriculture. 



The many specimens of Ramphalcyon {=Pelargopsis) collected 

 by Dr. W. L. Abbott during his various exploration- in the East 

 Indies include nearly all of these birds now in the United States 

 National Museum. Mr. Robert Ridgway, the curator of birds, some 

 time ago referred them to the writer for identification, which has 

 led, almost unconsciously, into an investigation of all the forms of 

 the genus. As the results may not he without interest for other 

 workers in the same field, it seems well to publish them at the pres- 

 ent time. 



The genus Ramphalcyon is a well-defined group in the subfamily 

 Alcedininae, ami is naturally divisible, according to coloration, into 

 three sections, which appear to represent three species, two of them 

 separable into geographical races. 



One of these sections comprises the brown-backed, brown-winged, 

 red-billed Ramphalcyon amauroptera, which ranges from eastern 

 India to the Malay Peninsula, without, however, any apparent modi- 

 fication into subspecies. 



The second section is composed of Ramphalcyon melanorhynchus 

 and its two conspecific forms, ami i> confined t<> Celebes and a few 

 adjacent islands. This species has the hill partly or wholly black, 

 anil the hack and wings brownish or dusky, with a greenish or bluish 

 sheen. 



The third section contains the remaining form-, all characterized 

 by a red hill, and more or less greenish back and wings. This is a 

 difficult group, particularly when studied with insufficient material, 

 and is not at present in a satisfactory condition. The examination of 

 altogether some 80 examples, mostly of recent collection, largely from 

 new localities, and representing all hut one of the forms," indicates 



■ Ramphalcyon capensh floresiana. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXXV, N j. 1 657. 

 free. X. M. vu I. xxxv— OX (2 657 



