644 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 48. 



Geographical distribution. — Permanently resident and breeding from 

 sea level up to an altitude of about 5,000 feet in southeastern Asia, 

 north to Amoy in southeastern China, Assam, Sikkim, and eastern 

 Nepal; west to eastern Nepal, the Sundarbans, Burma, Tenasserim, 

 and the Malay Peninsula; south to Malacca, southern Malay Penin- 

 sula; east to the eastern coast of the Malay Peninsula, to French 

 Indo-China, and southeastern China. 



Remarks. — This is the lightest-colored of the races of Entomothera 

 coromanda, with the exception of Entomothera coromanda ochrotho- 

 rectis, 1 though it is not much lighter than the Japan bird, Entomothera 

 coromanda major. 



It seems to have a wider geographical range than any other form 

 of the species, and exhibits but little variation due to locality. With 

 proper allowance for differences of age and sex, there is not a great 

 amount of individual variation in this subspecies. A single adult 

 from Amoy, China (No. 85712, U.S.N.M.), without doubt belongs 

 here. Birds from Malacca are, as careful comparison shows, clearly 

 referable to the present race, not to Entomothera coromanda minor, 

 which, curiously enough, is the form of Singapore. 



The earliest name for this species, and consequently for its typical 

 subspecies, is Alcedo coromanda Latham, 2 based on "Le Martin 

 P6cheur violet de la c6te de Coromandel " of Sonnerat, 3 supposedly 

 from the Coromandel coast of southern India. The species, however, 

 does not, so far as known, occur anywhere in the southern part of the 

 peninsula of India, hence Sonnerat's locality is evidently wrong. In 

 all probability the bird described and figured by Sonnerat really came 

 from some other part of India, as already asserted by Dr. Ernst 

 Hartert, 4 though Dr. R. B. Sharpe thinks that it "most likely" came 

 from Malacca. 5 I do not, however, consider that the latter expres- 

 sion of opinion is definite enough to be regarded as fixation of the 

 type locality. In making the present division of the species into 

 races it is of considerable importance to have a definite type locality 

 for the typical subspecies, Entomothera coromanda coromanda. Son- 

 nerat's description 3 of his " Martin P^cheur violet de la cote de Coro- 

 mandel " is so worded that it furnishes no means of determining to 

 which of the several races it applies; and in view of this Doctor 

 Hartert was justified in restricting it to the bird of the Indian main- 

 land. Furthermore, in order to make this restriction as definite as 

 possible, we select as the type locality Rangoon, in Pegu, a place 

 which Sonnerat visited. 



i See p. 652. 



2 Index Ornith., vol. 1, 1790, p. 252. 



3 Voyage Indes Orient., vol. 2, 1782, p. 212, pi. 118. 



* Vogel pal. Fauna, vol. 2, pt. 1 , February, 1912, p. 886. 

 6 Mon. Alcedinidae, vol. 2, 1870, p. 156. 



