330 MR. R. B. SHARPE ON THE BIRDS OF LABUAN. [Apr. I, 



bird, Mr. Low sent an old female caught on the nest with two eggs : 

 the latter are large and white, axis 1*5, diam. 125. The native 

 name is " Bukaka," according to Mr. Treacher. Governor Ussher's 

 note is as follows : — " Decidedly not common. I observed one at 

 Tanjong Kubong, but could not get near it. One was given to me 

 by Mr. Low, the others being shot by Biiak." 



35. Ceyx dillwynni, 



Ceyx dillwynni, Sharpe, Monogr. Alced. pi. 43, ; Salvad. t. c. 

 p. 99. 



C. tridactyla (nee Linn.), Motl. & Dillw. t. c. p. 13. 



C. innominata, Salvad. t. c. p. 97. 



C. sharpii, Salvad. t. c. p. 98. 



Native name " Mantis merah " {Treacher). 



This species was described by me from Labuan in the year 1868. 

 It has since been plentifully forwarded from that island, and from 

 other parts of Borneo, and from Sarawak. Count Salvadori de- 

 scribed a second species in 1869, which he called Ceyx sharpii; and 

 again in the same paper he described the red Three-toed Kingfisher 

 (C. rufidorsa, Strickl.) as C. innominata. This latter name was not 

 adopted by me in my ' Monograph,' as an examination of the type 

 showed that it was the true Ceyx rufidorsa of Strickland. Since the 

 time when Mr. Low sent his first collections, the British Museum has 

 carefully secured all the specimens which have been offered to it of 

 these little rufous Ceyces, whose plumages are so difficult to under- 

 stand : there is therefore a very fine series of C. dillwynni now in the 

 national collection. Added to the large number of skins in different 

 plumages now sent by Mr. Treacher, I can affirm that the supposition 

 propounded by me in 1875, that Ceyx sharpii is only a stage of 

 plumage of C. dillwynni, is now placed beyond all doubt as a fact. 

 Dr. Briiggemann, in his paper on Dr. Fischer's collections from Cen- 

 tral Borneo (Abhandl. Nat. Ver. Bremen, v. p. 532), has also given 

 his attention to the species, with a similar result. At the same time 

 the plumages of the species are not easy to follow when the speci- 

 mens are unsexed, as is unfortunately the case with the entire series 

 in the Museum and in Mr. Treacher's collection. Dr. Fischer 

 believes that there is no difference in the sexes, when the birds are 

 adult, beyond a little greater brilliancy of colouring on the part of 

 the male. 



There is no difficulty in believing this to be true, as far as I can 

 see ; and all the specimens with varying degrees of blue on the wing- 

 coverts would be individuals in various stages of immaturity, while 

 the red birds (C rufidorsa), as far as Borneo is coucerned, would be 

 still more immature. I fancy that this determination of the progress 

 to maturity is true of the female only ; for I think it probable that 

 the latter sex takes longer to effect her progress to the adult plumage 

 than does the male ; this is the case in other birds. That the males 

 take less time to gain the full plumage is shown by four specimens 

 in the Museum which have blackish bills (showing that they are 

 young), and which yet have the colours of an adult male, excepting 



