1842.] Asiatic Society. 105 



gularis, Jerdon;* genus Alcemerops, Is. Geoff. (1832), apud G.Gray; of these 

 various names, I could wish to adopt the more recent generic appellation bestowed bv 

 Mr. Hodgson, but his specific term, independently of its lack of priority, is objectiona- 

 ble, insomuch as that the bird is found both on the Neilghierries and in the Malay penin- 

 sula, whence it extends northward through Tenasserim to Assam and Nepal. Nyctior- 

 nis, Sw. is inapplicable, for, according to Mr. Hodgson, "the bird is in no way or 

 degree a night bird" (Jour. As. Soc, 1841, 29), f while Napophila is expressive of 

 its haunts, and Alcemerops (implying an intermediateness to Merops and Alcedo, 

 which I am quite unable to discern,) is certainly not a felicitous compound. Both in 

 habits and internal structure, to judge from Mr. Hodgson's description (Jour. As. Soc. 

 1836, 362), these birds are intermediate rather to the Bee-eaters on the one hand, and 

 on the other the Jacamars and true Todies of South America; they have much the 

 same puffy plumage, also, as the latter; and whereas the true Bee-eaters (Merops), 

 Rollers (Coracias and Eurystomus), and Kingfishers (Halcyon, Alcedo, &c), which, 

 with the exception of a few large species of the last, are peculiar to the eastern hemis- 

 phere, have the intestinal canal devoid of ccecal appendages, Mr. Hodgson describes the 

 present bird to have coeca of an inch or more in length, in which particular it accords 

 with the Jacamars (Galbula), Todies (Todus) and Motmots (Prionites), of South 

 America. Mr. Hodgson adds, that the stomach and intestines of Merops are similar to 

 those of Napophila, but this is at variance with my own observations of the former, 

 wherein I could never detect any trace of cceca. 



Picus Sultaneus, Hodgson (Jour. As. Soc, vi. 105) ; agreeing, at least (as does 

 also another specimen in our collection), in every particular except size with Mr. 

 Hodgson's description. This naturalist, indeed, remarks that " there is another 

 Nepalese species scarcely distinguishable from this by colours, and which has been 

 confounded with it by those who venture to describe from one or two dried specimens. 

 The two species differ, however, totoccelo in all typical and characteristic respects." 

 Hence it is clear that our present bird cannot be here referred to, and little less 

 so that the Indian three-toed Woodpecker (P. tiga, Horsfield,) is intended, 

 for this species scarcely differs in colouring, except in having the back of the neck 

 black instead of white, and in the relative breadth of certain markings on the sides of the 

 neck. The dimensions which Mr. Hodgson assigns to both sexes of P. Sultaneus, 

 are 15 inches long by 23 inches across; bill 2\ inches long; 1st quill feather 3 inches 

 shorter, and 2d 1 inch shorter, than the 5th. In the larger specimen now before me, the 

 entire length could scarcely have exceeded 13 inches (may not 15 have been a mis- 

 print?) ; bill from forehead barely 2 inches, and in the other not 1| inch ; from gape 2± 

 inches and 2| inches ; wing from bend 7 inches and 6| inches ; the first primary res- 

 pectively 2| and 3 inches shorter, and the second nearly | in. and f in. shorter, than 

 the fifth. Both are males, and in all other respects precisely accord with Mr. 

 Hodgson's description. />*^<*-x« 



Cuculus (subgenus Chalcites, Swttm&on, Lampromorpha, Vigors,) lucidus, Gmelin: 

 a splendid male. The female of this species is described as C. Malayanus, Raffles 



* Also, I much suspect, Nyctiornis Amherstiana of the catalogue of birds in Dr. 

 Royle's Illustrations of the Botany, %c.ofthe Himalayas. — E. B. 



f Mr. Jerdon has since remarked the same, in the Supplement to his valuable cata- 

 logue of the birds of Peninsular India. 



