Imperfectly Described, Species of Birds. 



151 



Dimensions. 



Total length 44 inches, 



Wing 14 



Tarsus... 2 T 5 7 „ 



Hallux 1 T % „ 



Bill from gape, 6 T a 7 „ 



Bill Nostril in aU . , 



straight line... . J To 

 Culmenoid ridge. . . .4 



True culmen 2y\ 



Gonys 3 X \ „ 



Buceros Malay anus, Raffles. Adult ? 



The whole of the plumage glossy black, (appearing 

 slightly green in certain lights) with the exception of the 

 lower ends of the four outermost tail feathers, and the coro- 

 nal circle, which are white — bill and feet black. Three speci- 

 mens are before me, two agreeing entirely in their plumage, 

 structure, and colouring of the bill, the other differing from 

 them by having the bill perfectly white, and its protuberance 

 differently shaped, as if not fully developed, and in having 

 the white of the tips of the outer rectrices more developed ; 

 the crest also in this supposed young bird is not so large, 

 as if it also had not arrived at maturity. 



The bill without the casque in the adult bird is very simi- 

 lar to that of B. carinatus, Blyth, while that of the young bird 

 resembles it closely, the casque not being fully developed in 

 front, its superior margin hardly breaking the true culmen ; 

 the anterior edge of the casque in my adult bird, on the con- 

 trary, is almost perpendicular to the occipital plane of the 

 head, while its posterior portion divides the feathers of the 

 head, as it also does in the young bird ; this posterior portion 

 is bulged and rounded ; as the casque advances on the beak, 

 it becomes compressed, and its culmenoid ridge is so rendered 

 quite sharp ; the commissure in the old bird is toothed, as 

 in the Pteroglossi, this is not so distinctly visible in the 

 young bird ; the gular region is clothed with feathers, though 

 the parts near the edges and angles of the lower mandible are 

 bare ; this nakedness is more marked in the young bird than 

 in the old ones. The crest has its mesial portion quite blacky 

 and the rest white ; the black not being so extended poste- 

 riorly as the white. 



