to ' The Birds of India.' 3 



Merops daudini, Cuvier, according to Gray and Swinhoe, the 

 bird from the Philippines being distinct*. 



119. Merops quinticolor. 



I have recently procured this species at Gowhatty, in Assam. 

 It also occurs in Dehra Doon, and therefore is probably to be 

 found, though sparingly, all along the foot of the Himalayas. 

 A female killed at Gowhatty measured 8 inches, wing 4g, extent 

 12i, tail 3^, bill at front If^f. 



121. Merops apiaster. 



I did not find this so generally spread in Kashmir as I ex- 

 pected ; but I saw one immense flock on the WuUur lake in the 

 month of August, evidently about to migrate. One I shot at 

 Srinaggur measured 11 ^ inches in length ; extent 19 ; wing 6g ; 

 tail, outer feathers 4, centre feathers nearly 5 ; bill at front 1|. 



125. CoRACIAS GARRULA. 



This is the " Nila Kras " of Kashmir. It breeds in holes on 

 river-banks, ravines, &c. 



One measured fresh 13g inches, extent 26, wing 8, tail 5|. 

 Orbits greenish yellow ; irides hazel-brown ; legs oil-yellow. 



126. EURYSTOMUS ORIENTALIS. 



This is the " Phoyiong-pho " of the Lepchas of Darjeeling, 

 and is by no means rare in the warmer valleys of the Sikkim 

 Himalayas. 



127. Halcyon leucocephalus. 



This should stand as Halcyon gurial, Pearson. 



The true leucocephalus appears to be the race from Borneo. 

 Four other races have been noted — one from Burmah and the 

 Andaman Islands [Pelargopsis burmanica, Sharpe), one from the 

 Malayan peninsula (P. malaccensis, Sharpe), one from Java and 

 Sumatra (P. fraseri, Sharpe), and one from Flores {P.flore- 

 siana, Sharpe). The feet of our Indian form should be described 

 as coral-red rather than scarlet. 



* Hand-1. i. p. 99. 



t Swinhoe asserts the distinctness of the Java bird from ours, which, 

 he says, should in that case bear the name of Merops eeythrocephalus, 

 Brisson. (P. Z. S. 1871, p. 348.) 



B 2 



