60 COliYID^E. 



In the Jays the bill is strong, about three-quarters the length 

 of the head and the commissure is straight. The nasal bristles 

 are short and numerous, completely covering the nostrils. The 

 tail is of medium length and slightly graduated. 



G. lanceolatus has been separated generically under the name 

 Laletris on arcouut of its crested crown and more stiffened 

 feathers of the throat. These characters are, however, only 

 questions of degree and I see no reason to accept them as generic 

 in the Jays when we discard far greater differences as of no value 

 specifically in other birds. 



Key to Species. 



A. Tail blue barred with black . G. lanceolatus, p. 60. 



B. Tail all black. 



. Forehead white, crown black or black and 



white ... G. leucotis, p. 61. 



b. Forehead and crown vinaceous like the back G. bispecularis, p. 62. 



(39) G-arrulus lanceolatus. 

 THE BLACK-THKOATED JAY. 



Garrulus lanceolatus Vigors, P. Z. S., 1830, p. 7 (Himalayas) ; 

 Blanf. & Gates, i, p. 38. 



Vernacular names. Ban-sarrah (of the Simla hill men). 



Description. Forehead, crown, nape, crest and sides of the head 

 black ; remainder of upper plumage vinous grey, brighter on the 

 rump arid upper tail-coverts ; tail blue, barred with black, tipped 

 with white and with a broad subterminal band of black; primaries 

 and secondaries black, barred with blue on the outer web ; the 

 primaries narrowly, the outer secondaries broadly tipped white ; 

 the inner secondaries grey, with a subterminal black band and a 

 white tip ; lesser coverts vinous, the median and greater black ; 

 primary coverts almost entirely white ; winglet barred with blue 

 and tipped with white. 



Chin, throat and foreneck black with white shaft-streaks, the 

 black terminating in a patch of iron grey on the upper breast ; 

 remainder of the lower plumage and sides of the neck vinous 

 grey, brighter than the back. 



Colours of soft parts. Legs and feet livid flesh or slaty pink ; 

 claws more horny ; bill slaty pink at base, yellowish at tip ; iris 

 red-brown, red or deep red-lake. The colour of the iris probably 

 changes with age. 



Measurements. Length about 225 to 235 mm. ; wing 150 to 

 155 mm. ; tail about 160 to 175 mm.; tarsus 32 to 34 mm.; 

 culmen about 27 mm. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from Ohitral aud Hazara to JNepal 

 and the whole of Garhwal and Kashmir up to some 8,000 feet. 



