1844-45.] DESCEIPTIONS OF SOME NEW SPECIES OF BIEDS. 3 



Scops malayanus, n. sp. 



It was not till after the strictest comparison had been drawn between this species and the 

 S. aldrovandi of Europe that I ventured to consider it as distinct. The grounds upon wliich I 

 have separated the two species are these. First, the total absence of grey perceived in the 

 plumage of ^S*. aldrovandi ; secondly, the superior strength of bill and length of tarsus of that bird ; 

 thirdly, the distinct manner in which the under surface of the primaries are mottled. These 

 differences I consider to be sufficient to warrant their separation, particularly as two species from 

 Africa, ^S'. cajyensis and S. senegalensis, have been described ond acknowledged as distinct, and 

 also a species from Brazil, without possessing greater distinctions. 



The present species was received from Malacca. 



I shall now endeavour to point out the more prominent features in the plumage of the 

 present bird. The under surface is distinctly divided into two equal portions; the first, 

 including the chin, throat, and breast, being wood-brown mottled with a little white, light rufous, 

 and black, irregularly distributed ; the lower division, including the belly, vent, thigh-coverts, 

 and under tail-coverts, is white, speckled with deep brown and light rufous. The ground of 

 the upper surface is ferruginous wood-brown, closely speckled with black, and purest on tlie 

 upper tail-coverts ; four large white spots occur on each side of the back, which when examined Madr. Joum. 

 will be found to form only the outer webs of the feathers to which they belong, the inner webs ^^j^ ' p ^^^43 

 being like the rest of the dorsal plumage ; each of these feathers is tipped with black ; a 

 little white occurs over each eye, and the cheeks are minutely speckled with white ; the ears are 

 bright rufous at the base, but resemble the dorsal plumage at the tips ; the bristles wliich 

 spring from the chin and nostrils are dirty white ; the first quill has five rufous spots on its 

 outer web, the second also has five spots, but the two nearest the tips only are rufous, the others 

 being white ; the spots on the three next quills are Avhite, and those on the sixth are entirely 

 rufous ; the inner webs in ^S*. aldrovandi are barred, bvit these bars are wanting in the Malay 

 Scojfs, light tawny blotches breaking only the hair-brown colour of the quills ; the tips of the 

 quills, however, are faintly and minutely speckled ; the third and fourth quills are equal and 

 longest, the second and fifth are equal, and the first is shorter than any ; the upper surface 

 being but faintly barred and hair-brown. 



The upper mandible of the bill is black, the under dirty yellow ; in shape it closely resembles 

 S. aldrovandi, but is neither so high nor so strong. The tarsus is not feathered as far down as 

 in the European bird ; the whole leg and foot is weaker, and the entire bird is smaller. 



Dimensions. ^^^^^^ 



Wing 5^^ 



Tarsus -j^q- 



Tail 2-1% 



BucEROS vioLACEus*, Wagler. 



Lower portion of the breast, belly, vent, thigh-coverts, tips of the quills, and tail, excepting 



the two middle feathers, white, the rest of the plumage glossy green-black ; first and second Madr. Journ. 



primaries uniform black, short, narrow, and attenuated at the ends, in a somewhat similar ^}h ^ ^'^■' 



siii. p. 149. 

 * [=Hydrocissa convexa (Tcmm.). — E».] 



b2 



