1870.] A Contribution to Malayan Ornithology. 295 



mon, and was described by E y t o n from that locality. S c 1 a t e r 

 (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863, p. 210) quotes it from Borneo. 



Male and female do not differ in colouring, except that the lat- 

 ter has no mustachial streaks. Total length about 7|" ; wing 4£" ; 

 tail 2-f ; bill at front f to nearly £", from gape V— 1 ff ; tarsus \\ n . 

 All the tail feathers are pointed, while in the preceding species the 

 outer tail feathers are obtuse and the last ones rounded. 



B 1 y t h identified E y t o n 's species with P. pectoralis, Latham. 

 I do not know whether B 1 y t h refers to any other of Latham's 

 species than the one noticed in Suppl. Indicis Ornith., 1801, p. 

 xxxii, App. to vol. VIII of Synops,, and Add. p. 372, which is 

 certainly quite a different bird, stated to inhabit Queen Charlotte's 

 Sound. Latham says : " About 9 inches, head, neck and upper 

 parts, deep cinnamon or chesnut — across the breast a large black 

 crescent — tail black" &c. &c. Malherbe (Mon. Picidse, II, p. 8) 

 from whom we should have expected an explanation of the difficulty, 

 does not solve it. He describes the Malayan species as Phaiopicus 

 pectoralis, (L i cht.), and gives as the first synonym P. pectoralis^ 

 L a t h., but without further reference. Whether Latham des- 

 scribed the present species as P. pectoralis prior to 1801, 1 have not 

 been able to ascertain ; I believe there is no other species of his 

 under the same name ; and presuming that Malherbe's identifi- 

 cation of Eeinwardt's marginatum is correct, I adopt the 

 next oldest name for the Malayan species. 



Fam. ALCEDINIDJE. 



30. Ceyx tridactyla, Pall. 



J e r d o n, B. India, I, p. 229. 



I have obtained only one specimen from the Wellesley Province, 

 and the bird was pointed out by my collector as rare. I have my- 

 self barely seen a single specimen along the Malayan coast, though 

 it may be common in some other districts of the Malayan Peninsu- 

 la. Sharp e calls it the " Penang king-fisher." One would 

 have, I believe, some difficulty in procuring a specimen in Penang. 

 In addition to Jerdon's description, it should be stated that a 

 patch in front of the eye, and the greater part of the eye-brows are 



