-MEROPID&. 93 
hair-like feathers; tarsus half feathered ; anterior toes of equal 
length, barely joined at the base ; a naked skin round the eyes. 
Harpactes fasciatus, ort. 
115.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 201; Butler, Deccan ; 
- Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 381. 
THE MALABAR TROGON. 
‘Length, 12; expanse, 16; wing, 5; tail, 6; bill at front, 0-5; 
bill at gape, 1. 
- Bill deep blue; orbital skin smalt-blue ; irides dark-brown ; 
feet light lavender-blue. 
Male, entire head and neck black; the rest of the upper 
plumage castaneous olive-brown; the lesser wing-coverts, ter- 
tiaries, and some of the secondaries finely streaked with black 
and white; breast, belly and lower parts fine crimson red; the 
tail with the centre feathers the same color as the back but 
more chesnut; the lateral feathers black and white. 
The female wants the black head and neck, which are con- 
colorous with the body; the tertiaries and coverts are finely 
banded black and brown, and the lower plumage is ochreous- 
yellow instead of red. 
The Malabar Trogon occurs sparingly in the forest tracts of 
the Deccan and South Mahratta country, but does not occur in 
any other portion of the district. 
- Famity, Meropide. 
Bill lengthened, rather slender, slightly curved throughout, 
sharp pointed; wings long and pointed; tail generally even, 
moderate or long, with the central-feathers frequently elongated. 
Genus, Merops, Lin. 
Bill very long, slender, slightly curved, depressed at base, 
somewhat compressed for the rest of itslength; culmen keeled ; 
tip entire, sharp, not bent down; nostrils partially covered 
by a tuft of bristles; some small rictal bristles at the base of 
the bill; wings long and pointed ; first quill longest; tips of the 
lesser quills emarginate; tail somewhat lengthened, nearly even, 
the two centre feathers occasionally lengthened ; tarsus very 
short ; feet short with the two lateral toes much syndactyle ; 
outer-toe much longer than the inner one; claws acute, strong, 
well-curved. 
Merops viridis, Zin. 
117.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 205; Butler, Guzerat ; 
Stray Feathers, Vol. III, p. 455; Deccan, Stray Feathers, 
- Vol. IX, p. 381; Murray’s Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 107 ; 
Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India; Ibis, 1885, p. 60, 
