NOTE ON PELAKGOPSIS INTERMEDIA, Hume. 489 



No European, I believe, has ever shot this Moonal ; the few 

 specimens hitherto procured have been brought in by the Arbors, 

 Mishmees, or other aboriginal tribes from the hills on the 

 extreme eastern limits of the valley of Assam. 



Stole 011 gelarpprs intcrmeMa, fume. 



By R. Bowdler Sharpe, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c, of the 



Zoological Department, British Museum. 



Mr. Hume having kindly sent over for my inspection a 

 specimen of his new Pelargopsis from the Nicobars, I have com- 

 pared it with P. leucocephala, to which, as he surmises, it is nearly 

 akin. I very much doubt if the Kingfisher from Sumatra, 

 which Mr. Davison (Stray Feathers, I., p. 449) saw but did not 

 obtain, would be the same as the Nicobar bird, i.e., P. interme- 

 dia ; it would be probably the small Sumatran race of P. Fraseri, 

 mentioned by me (P. Z. S., 1870, p. 65) and figured in my 

 'monograph' (pi. 33). This identical specimen passed last 

 year with the rest of Mr. Wallace's collection into the British 

 Museum, and is now before me. I do not see any reason to 

 modify my conclusion that it is a small race of P. Fraseri ; and 

 I shall not give it a name, because it seems to me probable 

 that a reconsideration of the whole genus will shortly become 

 necessary, as the different Malayan and Indian islands bring 

 new species before our notice, and it will require much care and 

 no small amount of patience to distinguish some of them in a 

 patent and recognisable manner. After all, the differences which 

 separate them may ultimately turn out to be of less value than 

 I have been used to consider them, and they may be considered 

 as races or rather sub-species of one prevalent form. As the 

 genus now stands, however, P. intermedia is entitled to the same 

 rank as P. Fraseri and P. leucocephala. Being much more blue 

 than the two last-named birds, it is more nearly allied to the 

 Bornean P. leucocephala, but it differs in two important particu- 

 lars, viz., in the deep colored under parts and in the color of the 

 blue of the back. I do not think much of the depth or paleness 

 of the ochre on the breast, as it seems to bleach, nor do I attach 

 much importance to the crown, as Mr. Hume (Stray Feathers, 

 II., p. 166) seems to do, for it is certain that the uncapped 

 species of Pelargopsis have occasionally a strong inclination 

 towards a cap, and these, I fancy, are young birds ; for I generally 



