278 V. Ball — Notes on Andaman Birds. [No. 4, 



10. Halcyon Smyenensis, Linn. 



This resembles specimens from Southern India and Ceylon in the bril- 

 liancy of the coloration. Length 10 - 8, wing 5, bill at front 2 - 4 inches. 



11. Halcyon chloeis, Bodd. Sharpe, Monograph of Alcedinidaa, 

 p. 229. Todiramplms collaris, Scop. 



The collection contains several specimens of this bird which is said to 

 be one of the commonest on the Islands. 



Fam. PsiTTACIDiE. 



12. Pal^oenis Alexandei, Linn. ? 



"While aware of the considerable amount of variation which Palceornis 

 Alexandri is subject to, I should be disposed to claim for the Andaman bird 

 now before me a position as a distinct species, were I able to affirm that the 

 characters which it exhibits are constant ; but on this point I have no in- 

 formation at present. The specimen, a male, at once attracted notice by 

 the enormous size of its bill ; and on closer examination and comparison 

 with a good series of Indian specimens, I found that it possesses other 

 characters which distinguish it from the Indian bird of normal plumage. 



The black stripe from the lower mandible to the demicollar of peach- 

 rose, so marked in ordinary specimens, is in this reduced to a narrow line 

 which commences half an inch from the mandible and terminates at the first 

 point of contact with the peach-rose, not being continued as a border to it, 

 as it commonly is for three-fourths of an inch or so in Indian specimens. 

 The head and cheeks, down to the collar, are of a vivid emerald green 

 without a trace of the purplish grey or hoary bloom which is present in 

 all Indian birds which I have examined. The dark red spot on the 

 shoulders is smaller than usual ? and the blue of the central tail feathers 

 of a much more decided hue. The wing is somewhat shorter than in any of 

 the Indian specimens with which I have compared it. 



Dimensions of bill. Gape to point. Width at gape. 



A. B. A. B. 



Up. mandible, 1 15 inch. 1"15 inch. *95 inch. 85 inch. 



Lr. mandible, -75 „ -65 „ *9 „ -8 „ 



Depth of both mandibles closed A. 1'7,~B. 15. 



A is the Andaman bird, B a specimen of ordinary dimensions from 

 the Bajmahal Hills. Should all the Andaman birds prove to have the 

 above characters I would propose the name P. magnirostris for the 

 species. 



If the characters be constant, they are as sufficient to distinguish the 

 two races as are those which distinguish the two races of P. rosa. I may 

 perhaps mention that in looking through a drawer full of these latter, I found 



