224 PET BIRDS OF BENGAL 



expansion. Its dense black colour with 

 dark steel-blue sheen makes it a very 

 handsome bird. 



A bird of many qualities, can scarce- 

 ly fail to attract notice. The Bhimra-j's 

 fame has crossed the seas, and foreign 

 writers have spoken of it in superlative 

 terms. 



To the scientist, the Bhiniraj is known 

 as Dissemurus paradiseus. On the main- 

 land of India, two types of the Bhimraj 

 are seen, — the continental and the peninsu- 

 lar, the latter having the crest and tail 

 shorter. Scientists had a controversy over 

 its division into more species than one. 

 But Oates, in the Fmma of British India^ 

 rather arbitrarily included both the types 

 into one single species under the genus 

 Dissemurus. Mr. Stuart-Baker, who is at 

 present editing the second edition of the 

 Avifauna of British India, in his Haiid- 

 list of liidiaii Birds, published recently 

 in the Journal of the Bombay Natural 

 History Society, has split up the genus 



