I shot these two specimens in the low shrubby jungle outside the town of
Bham6. The male is not fully grown, and the blue feathers of the head, chin, and
neck are tipped with pale rufous. The blue is duller than in a full-grown example
of this species from Italy. In another and adult male from Cachar, with a slightly
shorter bill than the European bird, there is hardly any perceptible difference of
colour between them, but if anything, the blue of the Cachar bird is slightly
deeper than that of the European bird. In another young male from Cachar the blue
is decidedly duller than in the adult, and the tips of the feathers of the under-surface
and back are faintly banded dark-brown and pale-grey, or even white on the under tail
coverts; and, in another and still younger male from the same locality, the black
bands on the forehead and lores are rounded spots, with rufous margins, occupying
the whole of the exposed portion of the feather. On drawing the feathers aside they
are seen to be quite as blue as in the adult male, but without the iridescence. On
the chin and throat the exposed portions of the feathers are finely banded pale
rufous, tipped with dark-brown. There is a faint indication of a pale mesial line on
the chin and upper part of the throat, which is well defined in the female. The bills
of these two are shorter than the bill of the European bird. In a male from N&gpur,
Central Provinces of India, the bill is the same length as in Cachar birds, and the
feathers of the under-surface are banded dark-brown and white at their tips, and
faintly so on the middle of the back; the feathers of the forehead and crown are
broadly tipped with brown,.
In an adult male from Leh, the bill is long, like the European bird, but
hardly perceptibly longer than that of a female from Ndgpur, the bill of which
is longer than that of a male from the same locality. The blue pf the Leh
bird is quite as pale as the European one. ’ The colors of the female are as
variable as those of the male. All the "Western Himalayan birds I have seen are
lighter coloured and longer billed than the eastern forms, but I have pointed out
the existence of long-billed birds as far south as NAgpur. The birds from Bengal
to the Irawady are short-billed, and, as a rule, duller than those to the west, although
I have indicated that light-coloured birds also occur in Cachar. Blyth’s
M. longirostris, which he now regards as merely a variety of M. cycmem, has a very
long, but not a deep, bill. I t seems to me that M. mamllensis is distinct from
M. cycmeus, although Blyth regarded them as the same. The former is paler than
the latter, and, in young birds, the terminal three banding of the feathers is very
marked both dorsally and ventrally, and the head and neck to the shoulders are so
broadly banded that nearly all the blue is hidden. On the breast, there are only two
bands, a white and a terminal brown one, the former being the most prominent.
There is a slight intermixture of blue. On the abdomen, the blue is replaced by
rich chestnut, banded at the tip with a broad band of white, succeeded by a narrower
brown line, The under tail coverts are rich chestnut, tipped narrowly with
white,
Genus C o p s y c h u s , Wagler.
11. Co p s y c h u s s a u l a r i s , Wagler.
Dial Bird, Albin, N. H. Birds, vol. iii, pi. xvii, 1740.
I/iUle Indian Bye, Edwards, N. H. Birds, vol. iv, pi. 181,1751.
Gracula saularis, Linn., Syst. Nat., t. i, p. 165, 1766.
Le Cadrau, Levaill., Ois. d'Afr., t. iii, p. 50, pi. 109, 1800; Sundev., Cirt. Om. Levaill., p. 86, 1856.
Copsychu8 saularis, Wagler, Syst. Av. nov. gen. Gracula, 1827 ; Blyth, Journ. As. Soe., Bengal,
vol. xi, p. 889, 1842; Gray, Gen. B., vol. i, p. 177, 1846; Blyth, Cat. Brit. Mus., As. Soc.,
Bengal, p. 166, 1849 ; Bonap. Consp., t. i, p. 267, 1850 ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus.
E. Ind. Co., vol. i, p. 275, 1854; Selby, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1861, p. 186; Jerdon, B. Ind.,
vol. ii, p. 1Ï4, 1863; Gould, B. Asia, pt. xvii, 1868; Stoliczka, Journ. As. Soc., ' Bengal,
vol. xxxvii, 1868, p. 40; King, i.e ., p. 215; Gray, Handl. B., i, p. 266, 1869; Swinhoe,
Proc. Zool. Soc., 1871, p. 859 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B., p. 808, 1874; id., Stray
Feathers, 1874, pp. 280,477 ; 1875, p. 133 ; Butler, t. c., 1876, p. 38 ; Fairbank, t. c., p. 259 ;
Armstrong, t. c., p. 827 ; Hume, op. cit., 1877, pp. 415, 458, p. 35 ; Oates, t. c., p. 157 ; Butler,
p. 229; i. c., p. 822; Hume, t. c., p. 829; Fairbank, i.e ., p. 406; David, Joum. Yoy. en
Chin., t. ii, 1875, p. 143.
Turdus saularis, Sykes, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1832, p. 87.
GrylHvora saularis, Swains., Zool. Illustr., vol. ii, pi. lxi.
Gryllivora intermedia, Swains., Ann. in Menag., p. 291, 1887 ; Jerdon, Madr. Joum., vol. x,
p. 268,1839.
Gryllivora magnirostris, Swains., I. c., p. 291, 1887.
Gryllivora rosea, Swains, I. c., p. 342.
Dahila docilis, Hodgs., As. Res., xix, p. 186, 1886.
Kittacincla melanoleuca, Less., Rev. ZoolS3840, p. 854.
Polypeira docilis, Hodgs., Joum. As. Soc., Bengal, vol. x, p. 28, 1841.
Copsychus mindanensis (nec. Gm.), Blyth, Journ. As. Soc., Bengal, vol. xvi, p. 139, 1843 ; id., Cat.
B, Mus., As. Soc., Bengal, p. 166, 1849; Bonap. Consp., t. i, p. 267, 1850; Horsf. &
Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. Ind. Co., vol. i, p. 278, 1854; Gould, B. Asia, pi. xvii;-Selby,
Proc. Zool. Soc., 1861, p. 186 ; G ^ y , Handl. B., vol. i, p. 265, 1869 ; Hume, Stray Feathers,
1873, p. 459.
Copsychus ceylonensis, Selby, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1861, p. 186; Gray, Handl. B., vol. i, p. 266, 1869;
Holdsw., Proc. Zool. Soc., 1872, p. >.
Copsychus roseus, Gray, Handl. B., vol. i, p. 177, 1869.
a. $ Upper Burma, 21st January 1868.
b. S Muangla, Sanda Valley, 18th May 1868.
This is not a very common bird, although by no means rare. I observed it in
the Kakhyen hills and to the eastward, as far as Sanda.
Genus C h i m a r r h o r n i s , Agassiz.
78. C h im a r r h o r n i s l e t jc o c e p h a l a , Vigors.
Phanicura leucocephala, Vigors, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1830, p. 85; Gould, Cent. Himal. B., pi. xxvi,
fig. 1, 1832.
Buticilla leucocephala, Less., Rev. Zool., 1840, p. 265; Gray, Cat. Mamm., &c., Nepal, Hodgs.,
p. 84, 1846; id., Gen. B., vol. i, p. 180, 1846; Blyth, Joum. As. Soc., Bengal, vol. xvi,. p. 134,