1180 Report of Curator, Zoological Department. [Nov. 



peninsula; where the beautiful B. seloputa, (Ilorsf., v. pagodarum, Tern.), 

 was procured by Dr. Cantor. The following Kingfisher is new. 



Alcedo nigricans, nobis. This approaches A. grandis, nobis, in size, having 

 the wing 3| in., and bill from gape 2f in. Colour much as in the allied 

 species, as A. ispida, &c. ; but the blue reduced to a few not very bright 

 spots upon the crown and wings only, upon a fuscous ground ; the scapularics 

 being wholly fuscous, without a tinge of blue or green : but the middle of the 

 back and rump are bright verditer, as usual; and the upper tail-coverts 

 incline to indigo : loral spot, patch on side of neck, breast, flanks, and lower 

 tail-coverts, deep ferruginous ; the throat, front of neck, and middle of belly, 

 rufescent-white : ear-coverts dull rufous, each feather tipped with dingy 

 blue ; and the moustaches fuscous, similarly tipped with dingy blue. Upper 

 mandible black, and the lower coral-red, in the specimen.* 



Batrachostomus affinis, nobis, n, s. Very similar to B. javensis, in the 

 plumage figured by Dr. Horsfield (and which is considered to be the young 

 dress of Podargus auritus, Tem.),f but smaller, w r ith no white spots on the 

 wing, nor pale spot-like bands on the tertiaries and caudal feathers ; but the 

 former are uniformly freckled over with dusky specks, and the latter present 

 a series of obscure freckled bands, seen best at a little distance : throat and 

 breast plain rufous, with a few white feathers having a subterminal dusky 

 border on the fore-neck and sides of the breast only. Rest as in B. javensis, 

 juv. Length about 9 in., of wing A\ in., and middle tail-feathers the same. 

 This is the small Malayan species which I formerly considered might be 



* I have now before me the following Asiatic species of restricted Alcedo. 



1. A. grandis, nobis. Wing 3| in. ; bill to forehead 2 in. Like A. ispida, but the 

 coronal spots of a paler and different blue, and no rufous on the ear-coverts. From 

 Darjeeling. 



2. A. nigricans, nobis. Malacca. 



3. A. ispida, Lin. Affghanistan. 



4. A. bengalensis, Gm. India generally, Malayan peninsula. 



5. A. moluccensis, nobis. Ear-coverts dark, blue, and bill much deeper than in the 

 last ; the blue of the upper-parts very splendid, and of quite a different tint from that of 

 either of the other species. 



6. A. meningting, Horsfield : A. asiatica, Swainson. Malacca, Java. 



7. A. hiru, Horsfield. Java. 



Among all these species, the nearest approximation exists in the case of A. ispida and 

 A. bengalensis, which differ only in A. ispida being rather larger. The rest are well 

 distinguished one from another. 



t A specimen in the auritus plumage, from Java, was presented to the Society by 

 thai of Batavia; and we have one in the dress figured by Dr. Horsfield, from the 

 Malayan Peninsula, presented by F. Russell, Esq. 



