132 ON THE GENUS CITTURA. 



There is nothing more unsatisfactory to an ornithologist than to have to 

 describe and figure a bird of unknown sex ; yet in many cases, as in unique 

 specimens quite new, it is impossible to do otherwise. 



In my opinion Mr. Sharpe did good work in his ' Monograph of the 

 AlcedinidcE.' To bring together so large and beautiful a group, and not 

 only put them before us by description, but also by portraiture, was a very 

 meritorious undei'taking. Of necessity, with some of the birds, the facts 

 which the monographer could state were few, little being known ; and so 

 it was with the genus Cittitra, with its two species. It struck me, there- 

 fore, that Dr. Meyer's experience might aid in an attempt to glean some- 

 what closer as regards these two interesting forms. 



I have here figured two females, both in my collection — one of Cittura 

 cyanotis, and the other of C. sanghirensis. To figure the males would be a 

 work of supererogation, as it would only be repeating Mr. Sharpe's two 

 fine illustrations. The sexes, however, were not differentiated by that 

 Alcedinidist ; they are now. 



Mr. Wallace puts the metropolis of the Alced'midce in the eastern 

 half of the Malay archipelago, from Celebes to New Guinea (cf. ' Geogra- 

 phical Distribution of Animals,' vol. ii. p. 315). 



CITTURA CYANOTIS (Temm.). 



Cittura cyanotis, Sharpe, Monogr. Ale. pi. 119, p. 301 (1868-1871). 

 Cittura cyanotis, Walden, B. of Celeb. Tr. Z. S. viii. p. 4.4 (1872). 

 Dacelo cyanotis, Schlegel, Mus. P.-B. Ale. p. 14 (1871). 

 Cittura cyanotis, Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. vii. p. 654 (1875). 

 Cyanotis cyanotis, Briiggemann, Beitr. Abli. N. v. Bremen, v. p. 54 (1876). 



CITTURA SANGHIRENSIS (Sharpe). 



Cittura sanghirensis, Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1868, pi. xxdi. p. 270, and Monog. Ale. pi. 118, p. 299 



(1868-71). 

 Dacelo sanghirensis, Schlegel, Mus. P.-B. Ale. p. 14 (1874). 

 Cittura sanghirensis, Salvador!, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. ix. p. 53 (1876). 



