Neio Kingfislter of the Genus Corythornis. 567 



across Tropical Africa from Senegamhia to Abyssinia. 

 Besides these, there is a third species, C. galerita, which 

 appears to be confined to Western Africa, from Gaboon to 

 Angola, but is also found, according to several ornithologists, 

 in the islands of the Bight of Benin. 



I have never had the opportunity of examining speci- 

 mens of the Corythornis of Princess Island, which by Dohrn 

 (P. Z. S. 1866, p. 3.25), and more recently by Dr. Sharpe 

 (Cat. B. xvii. pp. 166, 167), has been attributed to C. galerita 

 ( = C. ccsruleocephala) ; but quite recently I have been able 

 to examine five examples (two fully adult and three young) 

 of a Corrjthornis from the Island of S. Thome, collected by 

 Signor Leonardo Fea. I was at once struck by the pecu- 

 liarities shewn by these specimens — especially by the young 

 birds, which were such that I could not possibly identify 

 them with C. galerita. My task in the identification, how- 

 ever, was not easy, as the Turin Museum has no specimens of 

 the last-named species to compare with those from S. Thome. 



As already stated, the young birds from S. Thome are very 

 peculiar, having the malar region, the sides of the head, and 

 breast both on the middle and along the sides, brownish 

 black ; such features are not mentioned as occurring in the 

 young of C. galerita or of any of the allied species. To 

 clear up my doubts about the status of the S. Thome bird, 

 I decided to send three of the specimens (one adult and 

 two young) from that island to Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, who, 

 being the author of several monographic works on this 

 family, and having in the British Museum very rich 

 material to make the necessary comparisons, was, no doubt, 

 the ornithologist most capable of deciding questions relating 

 to the Kingfishers. Dr. Sharpe, after having examined my 

 specimens, assures me that they are different from those of 

 Prince's Island and of the western coast of Africa in the 

 British Museum, adding that the young birds are the most 

 curious that he has ever seen. He has pointed out to rae 

 that, while in adult specimens of C. galerita from Prince's 

 Island the light bars across the pileum are blue, and only on 

 the back part of the crest of a malachite-green, in the 



