Mr. E. Blyth's Drafts for a Fauna Indica. 45 



tinge on the forehead ; shoulder of the wing lilac in the male, 

 and a trace of the same in the female; greater wing-coverts 

 margined with pale yellow, forming an oblique bar across the 

 wing; terminal two-fifths of the tail ash-gray above, albescent 

 underneath, and its medial portion blackish underneath, and 

 deeply tinged with green above ; tibial plumes (extending partly 

 down the tarse) and central abdominal feathers between the 

 tibiae bright yellow ; vent mingled white and green ; and lower 

 tail -coverts maroon, with white tips. Beak whitish ; the feet 

 deep yellow. Length 12| by 22 inches, and of closed wing 

 7 to 7| inches. 



This is one of three closely-allied species, each having its pecu- 

 liar habitat ; and it is intermediate in its colouring to the two 

 others, namely Tr. viridifrons, nobis, of the Tenasserim provinces, 

 and Tr, chlorigaster, nobis, of Peninsular India. Tr. viridifrons 

 is distinguished by having the anterior half of the head and the 

 medial portion of the tail of the same (and as bright) yellowish- 

 green as the breast, though somewhat less fulvescent ; that of 

 the tail being well'defined, and contrasting strongly both with 

 the gray tip and also with the gray coverts impending the tail, 

 so that this green appears as a very conspicuous broad caudal 

 band : the throat also is not weaker-coloured, as in Tr. phceni- 

 copter a. Tr. chlorig aster, on the other hand, has the whole 

 under parts green ; no trace of green upon the tail, except at its 

 extreme base, and the whole cap and ear-coverts are ashy, devoid 

 (in fine males at least) of the slightest tinge of green on the 

 forehead. These are, in fact, three osculant races, which, if com- 

 monly inhabiting the same districts, would doubtless intermix 

 and blend, Uke Coracias indica and C. affinis, and likemse cer- 

 tain of the Kalidge pheasants [Gallophasis) ; but within their 

 own proper range of distribution, each continues true to the co- 

 louring which distinguishes it from the others. To term them local 

 varieties of the same species, would not merely imply that the three 

 are descended from a common origin, but also that such changes 

 of colouring are brought about by diiference of locality ; a notion 

 which is inconsistent with the fixity and regularity of markings 

 we observe in either race, over an extensive and divereified range 

 of country. Tr. phomicoptera is a very abundant species in 

 Bengal, Assam, Sylhet, Nepal, and all Upper India, its range 

 extending southward at least to the foot of the mountains of Cen- 

 tral India, where it would seem to be equally common with the 

 next, and intermediate specimens are met with even in Lower 

 Bengal. In Arracan it does not appear to have been met with, 

 but further southward, in the Tenasserim provinces, it is repre- 

 sented by its other near affine, Tr. viridifrons^. 



* Capt. Hutton wiites me word froiii Mussooree, that Tverofi phoenico- 



