1882.] DR. W. BLASIUS ON BIRDS FROM CERAM. 703 



The females of Rh. undulatus sent from Borneo by Dr. Platen 

 strikingly resemble the females of Rh. plicatus. I have already 

 drawn attention to the fact that the ridges on the sides of the 

 base of the bill are very little or even not at all marked in young 

 specimens of Rh. undulatus; so that the characteristic features on 

 which Salvadori (i. p. 398) chiefly founds his belief in the possibility 

 of distinguishing the females of the two species may be entirely 

 obliterated. Under these circumstances it appears to me not super- 

 fluous to point out some differences in the colouring of the iris and 

 the naked parts, which are founded on Dr. Platen's careful obser- 

 vations. 



Rh. undulatus. Female : " iris (like that of the male) orange. 

 Naked skin of the throat — front third light blue, back third dark 

 blue, separated by a black band ; while the old male has the back 

 third of the throat-skin light green, the frout one yellow, divided 

 by a dark green stripe ; and the young male has a uniform lemon- 

 coloured throat-skin, or a lemon-coloured one divided by a yellowish- 

 green stripe." 



Rh. plicatus. Female : " iris grey-brown (of the male orange). 

 Naked skin of the throat (like that of the male) bluish white." 



The difficulty of the distinction exists only for the female, which 

 is in both species entirely black with the exception of the white tail ; 

 while the male of Rh. plicatus is easily to be distinguished from 

 Rh. undulatus by the completely brown-red neck (the present speci- 

 mens from Ceram have a dark chestnut-brown colouring towards the 

 back, lighter towards the front, and lightest on the chin). The female 

 of the present species is much smaller than the male, as is already 

 proved by the measurements taken by Dr. Platen while the birds were 

 fresh. To render these differences more obvious, as well as to give 

 the possibility of comparison with some measurements of Rh. undu- 

 latus, I add the following dimensions : — 



Nos. 4 and 8 are in the Brunswick Museum ; Nos. 1 and 7 in the 

 Museum Heineanum ; No. 2 in the collection of Mr. Nehrkorn. 



9. Alcedo ispidoides. Less., Salvad. i. p. 408. 



"Male. Iris browsi. L. 15-5 cm., D. 2 cm. Bill black, feet 

 red-brown. Lokki, Ceram, 20 November 1881." 



The specimen exactly agrees with the description of Salvadori, and 

 Proc. Zool. Soc— 1882, No. XLVII. 47 



