426 CAPITONID/E. 



Above dusky brown, washed with green, the feathers black-shafted ; beneath 

 paler, slightly ferruginous on the neck and breast ; abdomen and tibial plumes 

 deep ferruginous. Bill cherry red, yellowish at tip; feet plumbeous; irides 

 reddish brown. 



Length. 19 inches; tail IO; wings 6*5 ; tarsus 1*6. 



Hab. Lower regions of the Himalayas, Nepal and Sikkim. Habits similar 

 to the other members. 



Family CAPITONID^. BARBETS/ 



Bill stout, somewhat conic, inflated at the sides, moderately long or short, 

 wide at the base and more or less compressed at the tip ; base of upper man- 

 dible continued backward to the gape and furnished at base with numerous stiff 

 bristles, which project forward. Some African species have the mandibles 

 denticulated and grooved at the sides ; wings and tail short, the latter even, or 

 nearly so ; tail feathers 10 in number ; toes in pairs. Plumage gay, and in 

 nearly all the species green is the predominant colour. They breed in holes of 

 trees, and lay from two to four white eggs. Food, fruits and berries. (Jerd.) 



Gen. MegalSDina, G. R. Gray. 



Bill nearly as long or slightly longer than the head, more or less wide at the 

 base and compressed at the tip ; culmen slightly arched ; upper mandible 

 somewhat overlapping the lower one ; gape wide ; feet zygodactyle. Habits 

 arboreal, frequenting forests, groves, and tree jungle. 



1020. Megalsema marshallorum, Swinhoe, Ann. Nat. Hist. Ser. 



4 ; vi. p. 348 ; JBlyth and Wald., B. Burn. p. 73 ; Wardlaw- Ramsay, Ibis, 

 1877, p. 457; Hume, Str. F. viii. p, 88; Scully, Sir. F. viii. p. 250; Oates, 

 B. Br. Burm. ii. p. 129. Bucco grandis, Gould, Cent. Him. Birds pi. 41. 

 Megalaima grandis, Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. p. 128 ; Hume and Dav., 

 Str. F.vi. p. 150. Megalaema virens (Bodd), apud. Jerd., B. Ind. \. p. 309; 

 Marsh., Mon. Capit. pi. xvi. (part). The GREAT INDIAN BARBET. 



Whole head, neck all round, including chin and throat, violet blue ; a 

 yellow collar on the hind neck immediately following the violet blue ; back, 

 scapular, median and lesser wing coverts and breast coppery or bronze brown ; 

 primaries and their coverts black, edged with blue ; secondaries brown on the 

 inner webs and green tinged with coppery on the outer ; tail bluish green ; 

 under tail coverts crimson ; abdomen bluish, changing to green towards the 

 vent ; flanks streaked green and yellowish. Bill yellow, dusky at the edge of 

 upper mandible ; irides brown ; legs greenish horny. 



Length. 12 to 13 inches ; tail 4 to 4-5 ; wing 5-5 to 5-75 ; tarsus 1-25 ; bill 

 from gape 2-3. 



ffab.The Himalayas, hill tracts of Eastern Bengal, Arracan, and British 

 Burmah, on the Karin hills east of Tounghoo. Breeds in the Himalayas from 



