232 Mr. R. Swinhoe on the Ornitholugij of Hainan, 



of the Himalayas, Java, &c. [cf. Ibis, 18G9, p. 340). I will 

 here give a list of measurements of my birds, together with those 

 of three Himalayan specimens received from Dr. Squire : — 



Males. 



adult 



Hainan 



Himalaya 



immature 

 r adult .... 

 ^ )■) • ■ • • 



L 



Hainan 



Canton „ 



Swatow spotted 7-6 7-875. 



Females. 



"adult 8-25 7-875. 



„ 8-418 



„ 8-375 



_^melanoid 8-125 7-5. 



Canton adult 7-5 7-5. 



Lord Walden showed me a male Koel from Java, which 

 agrees with the Hainan bird ; but a male specimen from 

 Manilla, kindly lent me by Mr. Gould, has a shorter and deeper 

 bill. The males of the Hainan and Canton Koels are similar in 

 colour ; but my single Canton female is much brighter than the 

 Hainan ones. The plumage of female Koels, however, follows 

 no constant rule : one of my four from Hainan has the throat 

 and breast closely banded with black, the bars fusing into one 

 another; the under parts much more narrowly waved with black 

 tban ordinarily ; the streaks on the head reduced almost to lines ; 

 and the spots on the upper parts small and indistijict, with 

 scarcely any green gloss on the brown ground-colour. Had this 

 specimen been the only one procured, I should have felt no 

 hesitation in considering the Hainan Koel a species quite 

 distinct from the Canton bird. But as it is, we learn that the 

 Hainan bird is a distinct larger-billed race, and is not the Koel 

 that summers in Canton. The winter-quarters of the latter will 

 probably lie more directly westward of Canton. I think we 



