Birds front, the Malayan Peninsula. 101 



Males. Length 5, 57 inches; wing 2"7 ; tail 2'2, 23; 

 tarsus 0*95 ; bill from gape 0"71. 



Females. Length 4"9, 5*2 inches; wing 2*55, 2*7 ; tail 2, 

 2-2; tarsus 091, 0-94; bill from gape 07, 0-71. 



The upper mandible dark brown, lower yellow tipped 

 dusky ; irides red-brown ; legs, feet, and claws yellowish 

 fleshy, claws shaded with dusky. 



Lores whitish ; forehead, crown, and occiput brown, slightly 

 suffused on the forehead with rusty ; rest of the upper parts 

 browu, strongly suffused with rusty, more pronounced on the 

 lower back and upper tail-coverts. Tail-feathers rufous on 

 the outer webs, rusty brown on the inner. The dorsal plumes, 

 Avhich are soft, fluffy, and moderately long, are white on the 

 basal two thirds; tliis is succeeded by a faint dusky line, the 

 remaining portion being rusty brown ; the white is lanceolate 

 in shape, and does not show unless the feathers are lifted. 

 Primaries, secondaries, and all but the last two tertiarics 

 (which are entirely rusty brown like the back) rusty brown 

 on the outer webs, and hair- brown (without a rusty tinge) 

 on the inner webs. All tiie wing-coverts coloured like the 

 back. Cheeks and ear-coverts pale brown, feathers of ear- 

 coverts with ]3aler shafts. Lower parts white, tinged on the 

 sides and flanks with ashy. Axillaries, wing-linings, and 

 thighs pale rufous. 



All the four specimens exhibit a bufly-grey line separating 

 the throat from the chest. 



4. Malacopterum melanocephalum, sp. nov. 



Only one specimen, a female, of this species was obtained ; 

 it was shot at the mouth of the Temeliug river. 



It appears to be most closely allied to M. albiyulare, Blyth 

 {cf. Sharpe, Brit. Mus. Cat. Birds, vol. vii. p. 568), but differs 

 from that species in many particulars. 



Dimensions, taken from the dried skin — Length 6*45 inches, 

 wing 3-0, tail 3-1, tarsus 0*9, bill from gape 0*8. 



Upper mandible as far as the nostrils and along the ridge 

 of the culmen blackish, rest of upper and lower mandibles, 

 legs, feet, and claws plumbeous, claws darker ; irides red- 

 brown. 



