﻿CLASSIFICATION. 



xv 



a". Scapularibus nigerrimis 19. nigrocyanea. 



b". Scapularibus laete cyaneis. 



a"'. Abdomine imo cyaneo 20. lazuli. 



b'". Abdomine imo albo. 



a"". Rostro nigro, basin versus fulvescente : fern, torque pec- 



toraU nullo 21. macleayi. 



b"". Rostro toto nigro : fern, torque pectorali cyaneo . . . 22. diops. 

 c. Pileo laete vel sordide viridi, cyaneo vel viridi- cyaneo, interdum 

 sed rarius albo, viridi medio notato. 



a'. Uropygio rufo 23. pyrrhopygia. 



b'. Uropygio laete vel viridi-cyaneo. 

 a". Collo postico cinnamomeo. 

 a" 1 . Uropygio sordide viridi. 



a"". Major : subtus pallide cinnamomina 24. cinnamomina. 



b"". Minor : subtus intense cinnamomina 25. australasice. 



b 1 ". Uropygio bete cyaneo. 



a"". Subtus squamata, plumis albis, viridi marginatis . . 26. lindsayi. 

 b"". Subtus intense fulva. 



aa. Pileo sordide olivaceo-viridi 27. concreta. 



bb. Pileo saturate cyaneo 28. hombroni. 



b". Collo postico albo, vel albo nigricante notato. 

 a" 1 . Capitis lateribus albis. 



a 



mi 



Laete viridis 29. sacra. 



b"". Sordide viridis ZQ.julice. 



b'". Capitis lateribus viridibus, pileo concoloribus. 

 a"". Subtus alba;. 



aa. Pileo et dorso superiore laete viridibus 31. chloris. 



bb. Pileo et dorso superiore sordide viridibus .... 32. sordida. 



b"". Subtus alba, viridi-nigro maculato 33. forsteni. 



c"". Subtus fulvesccntes. 



cc. Major: supra sordide viridis 34. vagans. 



dd. Minor: supra laete viridis 35. sancta. 



d. Pileo dorsoque superiore cum scapularibus saturate brunneo-nigris : 



cinctu capitali albo 36. funebris. 



Now, although so many different styles of plumage are exhibited in the above tabular dia- 

 gram, yet in form the birds are nearly identical, and certainly belong to one genus. The first 

 section, with the head lilac, contains only one species, of which, however, there are several 

 subspecies. Next we have three species whose predominant colour is chestnut, though the 

 tinge of this colour differs in each of the three, while the white, which is confined to the 

 throat in H. gularis, extends on to the breast in //. smyrnensis, and over the whole under- 

 surface in //. badia. Only two species have the head black ; and these are very distinct and 

 different from all other members of the genus. Of all the above-mentioned birds Halcyon 

 badia, which is a representative in Western Africa of a thoroughly Indian type of Halcyon, 

 is the only Ethiopian species, the others being every one Asiatic. The presence in West 



