210 Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant on Birds 



Sharpe, in the Catalogue o£ Birds (xvii= p. 197) distin- 

 guishes S.torotoro from S.Jlavirostris Gould from Australia 

 bj the coloration of the bill, which he incorrectly says is 

 "yellow with a black mark near the end of the culmen^' in 

 S. torotoro, while in S. flavirostris the bill is uniform yellow. 

 The reverse is really the case, the Australian birds always 

 having a black tip to the culm en. This is correctly stated 

 and figured in the ' Monograph of the Alcedinidse ' [pp, 151- 

 154, pis. 55 & 56 (1869)]. 



None of the seven specimens from New Guinea in the 

 British Museum Collection at the time the Catalogue was 

 written shows any trace of a black mark on the culmen, all 

 being fully adult birds. The presence of black on the 

 culmen in New Guinea birds denotes immaturity. A young 

 male from Parimau (No. 856), as described above, has the 

 culmen mostly black and has a large patch of black feathers 

 on the middle of the crown, much the same as in the adidt 

 female. >:-../ 



I am unable to distinguish S. t. fiavirostris except by the 

 colour of the back, which is brownish- olive, usually without 

 any trace of blue in it, while in S. torotoro the back is 

 always distinctly greenish-blue. 



In twelve male and female examples of S. t. flavirostris 

 the wing-measurement varies from 74-76 mm. 



W ing-measurements. 

 Syma torotoro. British Museum Collection, 



Males. !n .Females, 



mm. 



I-luniboldt Bay. W. Goodfellow . 85 



Dorei. A. R. Wallace 80 



Arfak. „ 81 



80-5 



„ A. A. Bruijn 80 



Mimika River. B. O. U. Exped. . . 72 



„ „ .. 76 



•• 77 



,, „ . . 79 



Setakwa River. Wollaston Exped. 76'5 



~ 



mm 



Waigiu. A. R. ^^''allace 



. 80 



» ;> 



. 78 



Misol. von Rosenberg' , 



. 82 



Mimika Riyer. B. 0. U. Exped. . 



. 72 



>j j; 



. 73 



j> j> 



. 75 



n J> 



. 75 



>f )) 



. 76 



