Birds of Celebes: Aloedinidae. 
299 
known female of M. capucinus, to Dresden at the meeting of the G-erman Orni- 
thologists’ Union 1897, and he agi-ees with ns that, while M. capucinus may he allowed 
to stand as a good species, easily distinguishahle 1)y its greenish hlack head, the form 
intermedius should rank only as a race of M. mmiachus typical. 
As Wallace and Meyer remark (b4, d3) M. monachus lives, not near 
river-banks, but in the forest, and Wallace noted that it is insectivorous in 
its habits, feeding on coleoptera^ gryllae, etc. (I). The bird appears to moult 
about August, as shown by a specimen in the Dresden Museum (C 10860). 
Touching its relationship with other genera Sharpe considers 'Monogr. 
p. XLV) that Monachalcyon “shows no direct affinity to any existing genus, and 
the only place I can assign to it is in the vicinity of Tanysiptera ... It is 
verv probably derived from the same parent-stock, and, being isolated in the 
island of Celebes, has been modified into its present form”. T’he author also 
remarks (p. XVIII) that in form of bill Monachalcyon seems intermediate between 
Tanysiptera and Halcyon, being in general plumage not far removed from the 
cinnamon group of Ilalcyones. We differ in so far from Dr. Sharpe as to 
think that Monachalcyon may be described as a small-billed and long-tailed 
Halcyon, and that its nearest existing allies are the long-tailed Halcyones of the 
Philippines, H. homhroni of Mindanao and H. Imdsayi and moseleyi of Luzon and 
Negros. The first-named species has indeed been confounded with M. monachus 
by so experienced an ornithologist as Prof. Reichenow (3). In his recent 
Catalogue of the Kingfishers (Cat. B. XVII, 1892, 296) Dr. Sharpe includes 
Caridonax fulgidm of Flores and Lombok in the genus Monachalcyon, and, like 
Hartert, we acquiesce in this view, though this species has a rounded culmen 
(in M. monachus the ridge is rather sharp), and the tail much more graduated, 
the outermost feather being only Yb the length of the tail instead of about Ye as 
in M. monachus, and it is said to haunt low woods and thickets, while M. monachus 
is a forest bird. It differs moreover so greatly in coloration that it may prove 
to be less nearly related to Monachalcyon than are the nearest members of Hal- 
cyon, H. homhroni and its allies. 
* 93. MONACHALCYON CAPUCINUS M.&Wg. 
Black-cowled Kingfisher. 
Plate IX. 
Monachalcyon capucinus (1) M. & Wg., Abh. und Ber. Mus. Dresden 1896, Nr. 2, p. 12; (2) 
Hart., Nov. Zool. 1897, 160. 
a. Monachalcyon monachus capucinus (1) Hart., Nov. Zool. 1897, 163. 
“Bukaka daka daka”, Tonkean, E. Celebes (Nat. Coll.). 
Diagnosis. Differs from M. monachus of North Celebes by having the head and face black 
(instead of China-blue), the tail olive-green (not washed with blue), tbe remiges dusky 
olive-green (not washed with blue), the remaining upper parts clearer olive-green, the 
38 * 
