BIRDS OF TBNASSBRIM. 221 



Out of our large Burmese series we can match every single 

 Malabar and Southern Indian specimen, as to size, size of crest 

 of bill, and size and shape of racket. 



Mr. Sharpe unites all the species of Dissemurus, but recog- 

 nizes certain difference of race. 



I notice that he lays some stress upon the flatness, or twisted 

 character of the racket. I believe this character to be perfectly 

 worthless, and to depend to a great extent upon the mode in 

 which the skin has been put up. I observe from every locality, 

 whence I have large series, some specimens with twisted, and 

 others with flat rackets. Perhaps the most curious instance of 

 this is a specimen from Pahpoon, of which one racket is per- 

 fectly flat, as figured by Mr. Sharpe (Cat. III., 262 fig. 5) for 

 formosus, and the other twisted exactly as figured (loc. cit, fig. 4) 

 as characteristic of platurus. 



We have been collecting birds of this species vigorously for 

 some years, and have over two hundred specimens from all parts 

 of India, Burma, the Malay Peninsula, the Andamans and 

 Nicobars, and I am quite convinced that, as regai'ds individual 

 specimens, neither the size nor the amount of the curve in the 

 racket is of any value as a diagnosis. It may be that in parti- 

 cular races, as in brachyphorus from Borneo, the rackets are 

 invariably small, and that this may afford grounds for the separa- 

 tion of this race ; but I can show individuals apparently adult 

 too, from India north to south, from Burma, and from the An- 

 damans and Nicobars, with rackets quite as small as that 

 figured by Mr. Sharpe (op. cit., 263, fig. 8) for brachyphorus. 



The Andaman and Nicobar birds (c. f. S. F., II, 212) as 

 a body no doubt have larger bills and smaller crests than mala- 

 baricus from Southern India, and paradiseus from Tenasserim ; 

 but putting huge series from these three localities side by side, 

 it is quite clear that the birds cannot be specifically separated, as a 

 good many birds in each can be absolutely matched by others 

 from the two other localities. 



In this genus nothing can be made out of a few isolated 

 specimens from each locality, such as Mr. Sharpe had to deal 

 with ; and, as it is only from India, Burma, the Malay Peninsula, 

 the Andamans and Nicobars that I possess really large series, 

 it is only with the races inhabiting these divisions that I can 

 pretend to deal, and in regard to these my conclusions differ 

 from Mr. Sharpe's. 



I consider that there are three fairly recognizable species 

 within the limits above indicated, viz. : — 



1st. — D. malabaroides, Hodgs., with a very large crest, and 

 wing from 6"75 to 7, from the Himalayas, Assam, Lower Bengal, 

 Chota Nagpur, the Tributary Mehals, Sumbulpore, and the 

 extreme north of Pegu and Tenasserim. 



