1870.] A Contribution to Malayan Ornithology. 331 



A specimen from the Wellesley Province has the wing only 5£", 

 (Malacca specimens have it 5 \") ; tail 3%" ; bill at front %" ; tarsus §". 



87. Chalcophaps indicus, Linn. 

 Jerdon, B. Ind., Ill, p. 484. 



The two dark bars on the rump are in Assam and Oachar 

 specimens, as well as in the Malayan bird, always very con- 

 spicuously greenish golden in both sexes, the feathers being grey at 

 the base and of a deep greenish brown at the tips, the bars between 

 them are light grey. In specimens from the Wellesley Province, 

 the wing is in the old $ 5^" ; tail 3% rf ; bill at front very nearly f" ; 

 tarsus Af" ; the corresponding measurements in an old S are : 5^" ; 

 3i" ; f " and -*-f". In the male the occiput and anterior neck above is 

 ashy, this color being almost interrupted in the middle of the 

 neck by the vinaceous brown color at the sides, but it becomes 

 again very conspicuous at the posterior neck, spreading out on the 

 shoulders. This is thought characteristic ofjavensis, and P a f f 1 e s 

 mentions this state of coloration in the Sumatrean bird, which 

 cannot differ from indica. The ashy on the posterior neck and be- 

 tween the scapulars is usually not so well developed in Indian 

 specimens, as in the Malayan, but it is always indicated, especially 

 in specimens from Assam and Burma. 



If no other distinction exists between javensis and indica, than 

 the one alluded to, I should certainly consider both as identical. 

 There would seem to be no constant difference between them j 

 the size is certainly not one of the differences recorded. 



88. Macropygia puficeps, T e m m. 



B 1 y t h (in Catalogue, p. 234, No. 1423) appears to refer to this 

 species under the name of Amboinensis, Lin n., which seems to 

 be a considerably larger bird. Latham giyes the total length 

 of this 14 inches, while that of the Malayan bird is barely 11". A 

 specimen from the Wellesley Province measures : wing 5J" ; tail 5§" ; 

 bill at front %" ; from gape nearly £ " ; tarsus §". 



Horsfield (Trans. Linn. Soc. XIII, pt. I, p. 184) mentions 

 that the Javanese bird has the upper part of the neck covered with a 

 purple gloss. Temminck's figure represents it strongly metallic 

 green, and the breast not spotted ; this must apply to the plumage of 



