41 S ON BIEDS FROM BUEMA. [1875. 



PS.VBISOIIUS DALHOUSLE. 



On two examples of this Broad-bill, obtained by Mr. Gates near Thyet-myo, Mr. Hume 

 has based a new title, P. assimilis (Str. Feath. iii. p. 53). The characters relied on are trifling 

 differences of extent and of shade in the colour of some of the head- and neck-markings 

 Lieutenant W. Ramsay procured many examples of the bird in the Tonghoo and Karen hills. 

 The greatest care has been taken by him in the preparation of the skins, which are excellent 

 specimens of skilful taxidermy. Several of these examples arc absolutely identical with others 

 from Nepal, Darjeeling, North Cachar, Assam, &c. The broad yellow band edged with silvery 

 white is most conspicuous in a Karen individual. A Nepal bird has the patch behind the eye 

 Ibis, 1S75, of the same hue as another from the Karen hills. And in a bird from Asalu the white pearly 

 P' '^ ^' band separates the whole of the golden-yellow throat from the green breast. 



The markings and shades of colour vary considerably in this handsome Broad-bill. In some 

 the broad yellow band on the sides of the neck is interrupted on the nape by a patch of blue ; 

 in others this patch of blue has a yellow patch above it. When the patch behind the eye is not 

 pure yellow, but greenish or bluish yellow, the yellow plumes of the chin, and of the lores, and 

 those which form the narrow frontal band, are generally more or less tinged with green. In the 

 young bird the whole throat and the space before the eye is light green. The crown is dark 

 green, uniform with the back, w^iile those markings which eventually become golden, are 

 sketched-in in pale yellow. No blue, excepting on the quills, and a tinge on the middle 

 rectrices, is developed; nor is there a trace of silvery white. On the whole we may safely 

 relegate P. assimilis to the limbo of unnecessary synonyms. 



Caloenis affinis. 



Another title, Calornis irwini, Hume (Str. Feath. i. p. 481), falls within the same category 

 of useless synonyms. Mr. Hume asks (/. c), Was C. affinis described from Malacca'? It was 

 described (J. A. S. B. xv. p. 36) as a species distinct from the Malaccan C. cantor=C. insidiator, 

 and was stated to inhabit Tipperah, Arracan, Tenasserim {V), and the Nicobars. Mr. Blyth, who 

 did not admit the distinctness of the Nicobar Calornis, recently, with the Andaman entitled 

 C. tytleri, Hume (/. c), added that locality to those of Tipperah and Arracan. Tenasserim he 

 noted with doubt, because Mr. Barbe had informed him that the Tenasserim species was the 

 same as the Malaccan {torn. cit. p. 375, note). Notwithstanding, the Tipperah bird has again 

 received a title from Mr. Hume. 



Alcedo beavani. 



Alcedo rufgastra, Walden, Ann. Mag. N. H. (4) xii. p. 487 \_antea, p. 252]. 



Alcedo beavani, Waldep, ojh cit. (4) xiv. p. 158 [aiitea, p. 289]. 



A single example of this Kingfisher was obtained by Lieutenant W. Ramsay at Tonghoo. 



Probably it is the species catalogued by Mr. Blyth in his list under the title of A. asiatica ; for 



■^^"'if-o"^' there is no trustworthy evidence in favour of Javan A. meningtiiig, IIorsf.,=^. asiatica. Swains., 



occurring nortli of the Malaccan peninsula. Since Captain Beavan first obtamed A. heavaid 



