MORGAN — Notes on the Genus EptManura. 205 



3. E. aurifrons has a more curved bill, shorter and more 

 rounded wings, with comparatively longer first primaries, 

 and more slender legs. 



He includes in the last group E. lovensis (Ashby) and 

 E. crocea (Gould), though agreeing with Mr. North in the sepa- 

 ration of E. lovensis as . ishbia, with this last I also agree, on 

 structural grounds. With E. crocea I have no field, and very 

 little cabinet experience, so I offer no opinion as to its posi- 

 tion. Mr. Mathews' observations are .somewhat difficult to 

 criticise as he, as usual, neither gives measurements, nor 

 states number of specimens examined. To take Mr. Mill hews' 

 first reason for separation, viz.— colour. It is quite true that 

 the colours are different, but the colour pattern is not, with 

 the exception of the black pectoral band in E. albifrons it is 

 almost identical. Curiously enough, this black band is pre- 

 sent, in a modified form, in E. crocea, the colour pattern of 

 which is otherwise markedly different. As Mr. Mathews has 

 abandoned colour per se as of generic taxonomic value, in 

 favour of colour pattern, I presume he will not himself insist 

 upon this reason for separation. 



To find out how far his alleged structural differences, 

 trivial as they are, existed I measured nine specimens of 

 E. albifrons, and fifteen each of E. tricolor, and E. aurifrons, 

 with the following results :—E. tricolor has a longer bill. 

 This is correct; The measurements were taken from the junc- 

 tion of the feathers and horny bill to the tip. The average 

 length of the bill of E. albifrons is 10.32 m.m., and that of 

 E tricolor, 11.41 m.m.— there is therefore a difference of 1.09 

 m.m. in favour of E. tricolor. The individual variation in 

 E albifrons is 10 to 11 nun., and ,in E. tricolor, 11 to 13 m.m. 

 E. tricolor has a more slender bill. This is wrong. The ave- 

 rage width of the horny bill in E. albifrons is 3.75 m.m., and in 

 E.tricolor it is 3.80 m.m., so that the bill in the latter is some- 

 what broader. If Mr. Mathews means relatively more slen- 

 der, though he does not say so, he is right to a limited extent, 

 the proportion of width to length in E. albifrons is 1 to 2.75, 

 and in E. tricolor, 1 to 3. This is less than the individual varia- 

 tion which in each species is 1 to 2.50 to 1 to 4. The bill of 

 E. tricolor is in fact, slightly larger in all dimensions than 

 that of E. albifrons. 



E. tricolor has shorter claws. This is wrong. The ave- 

 rage length of the middle claw of E. albifrons is 4.28 m.m., 

 and that of E. tricolor, 4.42 m.m., or 0.14 m.m. longer. The 



