from Norfolk Island. 49 



Mr. Layard states that all liis specimens agree in size. 

 We may therefore fairly^ I think, recognize the race from 

 Norfolk Island, as Mr. Layard suggests, by the name Platy- 

 cercus pennanti, var. nobbsi, in honour of the E,ev, G. H. 

 Nobbs, the devoted friend and guide of the Norfolk Islanders, 

 the immigrants from Pitcairn's Island. 



The Halcyon of Norfolk Island appears to me to be de- 

 cidedly distinct. I have before me a large series of all the 

 known species of the group. In dimensions it is rather 

 larger than most of the other species, its wing measuring 

 3"9 in. as against 3*6 in H. sancta, H. solomonis, Hamsay, and 

 H. sacra, 3*7 in H. vagans and H.julia, 4*1 in H. chloris and 

 H. occipitalis, and 4'2 in H. tristrami. The frontal buffy- white 

 spot does not, as in all the other species, except H. solomonis, 

 extend further than the angle of the eye, so that the light 

 eyebrow is entirely wanting. The under wing-coverts are 

 light buff, as in //. sancta, to which in general coloration it 

 approaches most closely, except that the green of the head 

 and back is decidedly duller, though not nearly so dark as in 

 H. vagans. But its most characteristic distinction is the bill, 

 which differs markedly from that of all its congeners, both 

 mandibles being extremely compressed, the culmen being 

 slightly recurved and the gonys still more so. The width of 

 the bill at the nostril is 0'3 inch, while the nearest approach 

 to this is 0'4 in one specimen of H. sancta, all the other 

 species ranging from 0*45 to 0*55 in width at this point. At 

 0"75 inch from the tip the width is 0"1 inch, all the other 

 species ranging from 0'15 upwards. This description will, I 

 think, justify the recognition of the bird, under the name 

 which Mr. Layard proposes for it, as 



Halcyon norfolkiensis, sp. nov. 

 Diagn. Halcyoni sanct(B similis, sed statura majore ; super- 



cilio nullo albido nee albescente ; mandibulis arctissime 



compressis et recurvatis. 

 Hab. Norfolk Island. 



SIR. V. — VOL. in. 



