CYMBIRHYNCHUS AFFIN IS, Blyth.
Allied Eurylaime.
Cymbirhynchus aßnis, Blyth, Joum. Asiat.. Soc., vol. xv. p. 312.—lb. Cat. of Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta,
p. 195.
T he discovery o f a second species of a form only one of which had been previously known is always
interesting; hitherto the Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchus stood alone, and it is to Mr. Blyth that we are
indebted for the description, if not for the discovery, of another species of this singular form.
The example from which my figure was taken was obligingly lent to me by H. E. Strickland, Esq., to whom
it bad been presented by Mr. Blyth. This latter naturalist has so ably pointed out the characters distinguishing
the C. afinis from the C. macrorhynchus, that I cannot perhaps do better than transcribe the entire
passage from one of the many valuable papers communicated by him to the Journal of the Asiatic Society
of Bengal, with the trifling alteration of substituting the original appellation of macrorhynchus for the more
recent one of nasutus employed by him.
1 jn (his, while the general character and colouring are the same as in C. macrorhynchus, the bill is
invariably much smaller and flatter, as in the restricted Eurylami, but the nostrils are placed forward as in
the other. The general dimensions are also less, the usual length of wing in C. affmis being three inches
and a half, rarely three and five-eighths, and the middle tail-feathers three inches; iu C. macrorhynchus the
wing measures three and seven-eighths to four inches, and the tail three and five-eighths to three and three-
quarters. C. a finis has also, constantly, an oblong red spot margining the tip of the outer web of two of
its tertiaries, and a third margining the inner web of the uppermost tertiary; in what appear to be the
females the latter spot is red, as in the supposed males, while the former are white; these spots do not
occur in C. macrorhynchus. Lastly, the white upon the tail is more developed in C. qfinis, and placed
nearer the tips of the feathers: a white spot at the base of the inner primaries is also larger and more
conspicuously shown.”
At present Mr. Strickland’s specimen is the only one in this country, consequently examples would be
most welcome to the Collection at the East India House from any of the Company’s officers who may have
an opportunity of procuring them. According to Mr. Blyth, Aracan is the natural habitat of the species.
The figures are of the natural size.