204 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



band appearing nearly black in some specimens ; in others, scarcely to 

 be distinguished from the similar blue of the head. 



Head above and superior surface of the body, prussian-green, chang- 

 ing to cobalt-blue on the rump, and ultramarine on the wings and 

 tail. 



Entire inferior surfiice and broad ring around the neck, pure white. 



The white spot between the eye and the bill, slightly tinged with 

 fulvous in some specimens, and the inferior surface of the body also 

 very slightly so tinged occasionally, but no trace of fulvous on the 

 occiput, nor of any decided or strong shade of this color on any part. 



Bill, with the upper mandible and tip and edges of the under man- 

 dible, dark brownish-black, other portion of the under mandible white. 

 Tibia brown, with some bluish feathers. 



Young male? Similar to the adult, but with the white stripe from 

 the nostril to the occiput well defined ; plumage of the breast narrowly 

 tipped and edged with black; wing-coverts edged with yellowish-white. 

 In another nearly adult specimen from Timor, the superciliary stripe 

 does not exist, and in other respects also it is precisely identical with 

 specimens from Java. This stage of plumage appears to be the bird 

 figured by Reichenbach (PI. CCCCXVIII, tigs. 3134, 35), as T. super- 

 ciliosa, Gray. 



Ten specimens of this well-known species are before us, four of 

 which are from the Island of Java, two from Borneo, three from un- 

 known localities, and one represented to be from Abyssinia. 



This species appears to be widely distributed throughout the islands 

 of the Malay Archipelago, and the Philippines. We cannot see that 

 there are any differences in the descriptions or figures which we have 

 cited, sufficient to raise a presumption that they apply to distinct 

 species. Gmelin's name is given on the faith of Buffon's descrip- 

 tion and figure, who, although he first describes the bird as from 

 the Cape of Good Hope, subsequently in the same article states that 

 it inhabits the Island of Bouro. 



Scopoli's name is given to a bird described and figured by Sonnerat, 

 in "Voyage a la Nouvelle Guinee," HI, p. G7, PL XXXIII (Quarto, 

 Paris, 177G). Sonnerat's figure is scarcely recognizable, which is the 

 case with many others in his plates, but it and his description appear 

 to be applicable to the same species described by Gmelin. 



There are very slight traces in any of the specimens that we have 



