1S6G.] ON BIRDS FROM TENASSERIM, 17 



3. LORICULUS VERNALIS (SpaiTm.). 



Psittacus vernalis, Sparrman, Mus. Carls., pi. 24 (1787). 



Nos. 23, 24, 25, ? . Salween River. 



"Irides white in some, light brown in others, the latter probably young birds; bill r. z. s. isoo, 

 orange ; legs yellow." Malabar, Sub-himalayan, and Burmese individuals are regarded as identical 1'" "^'^'"*" 

 by Messrs. Blyth and Jerdon. Mr. Blyth also, in his catalogue, identified Indian with Javan 

 specimens preserved in the Calcutta Museum — an interesting fact ; for the intermediate countries 

 of the Malay peninsula are inhabited by a distinct species, L. gah/iilus (Linn.). The line of con- 

 tact between the tvi'o species has yet to be recorded. An analogous fact is the existence of 

 a third distinct species (L. asiaticus) in Ceylon, to which small area it is confined ; while north 

 of the Straits of Manaar the country of L. vernalis commences. 



4. Gecinus vmiDANUS (Blyth). 



Pimis viridanm, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1843, p. 1000, 6; 1844, p. 394, $. 



No. 20. Schouay Goon, Salween River. 



" Irides dark purple ; bill dark horny above, greenish yellow beneath, except tip, which is 

 darker; legs and claws dull greenish yellow." A male in full plumage with scarlet crest. 

 Mr. Blyth (Cat. Calc. Mus.) subsequently identified his G. viridanus, which was founded on 

 Arakan specimens, with the Javan dimidiatus, Temra. But I cannot find any note of his having 

 compared specimens from the two localities, and Javan specimens did not exist in the Calcutta 

 Museum when the catalogue was framed. Malherbe has followed Mr. Blyth, but without 

 assigning a reason ; and Sundevall (Consp. Av. Picinarum) has adopted the same view. In the 

 India Museum, however, both Mr. Blyth's type and the Javan bird are preserved ; and in their 

 catalogue of that collection Messrs. Horsfield and Moore enumerate them as distinct, an opinion 

 in which I concur. Pegu specimens of the nearly allied G. striolatiis, Blyth, are preserved in 

 the British Museum. 



5. YUNGIPICUS CANICAPILLUS (Blyth). 



Picxis canicapillus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1845, p. 197. 



No. 29, S . Schouay Goon, Salween River. 



" Bill horny ; legs greenish." The presence of a red streak on each side of the head of 

 the specimen sent inclines me to regard Captain Beavan's determination of the sex as erroneous. 

 This bird is nearly related to the Javan form, the moluccensis of Blyth and of Horsfield and 

 Moore, but not of Malherbe, which is, according to that author, from the Philippines and 

 Moluccas. According to Mr. Blyth, the form which inhabits the peninsula of Malacca is identical 

 with the Javan bird ; and specimens from both regions existed in the Calcutta Museum. In the 

 specimen sent the crown is of a light greyish brown, readily distinguishable from the dark-rufous- 

 brown occiput of a Javan male in my collection. The bill is equal in length, but much stouter ; 

 the wings are perceptibly longer ; the longitudinal streak on the breast-feathers is broader and 

 of a darker brown ; and the general shade of the brown plumage is deeper than in my Javan 

 specimen. Malherbe has omitted to notice the Javan form ; but, on Mr. Blyth's assertion of its 

 identity with the Malaccan bird (an opinion shared by Horsfield and Moore), it will probably ' j^q ' 



