APPENDIX I. 



505 



And here I must note that I am utterly unable to mate out 

 the two species that in his Hand-Book of the Birds of Australia, 

 Vol. I., pp. 623, 626, Mr. Gould makes out of his original 

 hccidus, B. of Aust., fol. Vol. IV, pi. 89, viz. plagosus, Latham, 

 and basalis, Horsf. One of my two Australian specimens with 

 a rather broader bill, which should, according to him, be plagosus, 

 has the tail most like what he describes as that of basalis ; 

 while the one, which has the somewhat narrower bill, and which 

 should, according to him, be basalis, has the tail decidedly more 

 of the type which he refers to as characteristic of plagosus. 



The fact is that, at any rate, in the case of maculatus and 

 xantliorhynchis, the width of the bill varies very much in 

 different individuals, and the markings on the tail feathers in 

 all, but perfect adults, to such an extent that these appear to me 

 perfectly valueless for any purposes of diagnosis, and I confess 

 that at present I feel extremely doubtful as to the distinctness 

 of the two species, plagosus and basalis, apud Gould. 



I may here note that in his text to the plate already referred to 

 (B. of A. pt. XXX, pi. 3), referring to his L. sclwmburgki, P. Z. S., 

 1864, p. 73, Mr. Gould alludes in the diagnosis to the lower 

 surface being barred with green right up to the chin, whereas 

 he says that in hodgsoni (maculatus) the chin and throat are green 

 like the back. Now it is quite true that in some specimens of 

 maculatus patches of green begin to appear ou the chin and 

 throat as soon as they do on the red head ; but this is by no 

 means the invariable rule, as I have now before me Himalayan 

 specimens in which the entire upper parts have become emerald 

 green, whilst the entire lower parts from chin downwards are 

 still simply barred. 



To return now to our present species malayanus, I note that 

 in the young the barrings of the chin and throat appear to be 

 always finer and narrower than in either of the two other 

 species, maculatus and xantlwrhynchus, but I cannot feel certain 

 that this is invariably the case. 



The following are the dimensions of the wings of the speci- 

 mens of each species now before me : — 



Sex. 



Wing. 



64 



