EURYSTOMUS. 477 



coverts bright caerulean blue ; central tail feathers green, the others purple on 

 the basal half or two-thirds pale blue terminally; lesser and median wing 

 coverts purple, the greater series purplish brown, edged and tipped with 

 greenish blue; quills purple, the first four primaries with a band of pale 

 blue ; near the tip, primary coverts and secondaries pale blue, the blue of the 

 latter under the coverts. Bill brownish black ; irides brown ; legs yellowish 

 brown. 



Length. 13 inches ; tail 5-2 ; wing 4*4 ; tarsus ri ; bill from gape rg. 



Hab. British Burmah to Assam and Eastern Bengal. Breeds in March and 

 April. Eggs 45, glossy white. 



Gen. Eurystomus. Vmllot. 



Bill shorter and much broader than in Coracias ; base wide, the tip of 

 culmen curved ; nostrils narrow ; rictal bristles absent ; gape wide ; wings 

 long; 2nd quill longest; 1st sub-equal; tarsus short; outer toe slightly 

 syndactyle. 



1109. EurystOmUS orientaliS (Linn.}, Jerd., B. 2nd. i. p. 219, 

 No. 126; Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. p. 105 ; id., Sir. F. ii. p. 164; 

 Salvad., Ucc. Born. p. 105 ; Blyth, B. Burm. p. 72 ; David et. Oust 

 Ois Chine, p. 73; Wardlaw- Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 457; Hume and Dav., 

 Sir. F. vi. p. 72 ; Legge, B. Ceylon p. 285 ; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 85 ; Oates, 

 Sir. F. x. p. 186; id., B. Br. Burm. ii. p. 70. Coracias orientalis, Linn., 

 Syst. Nat. i. p. 159. The BROAD-BILLED ROLLER. 



Whole head, including lores, cheeks, ear coverts and nape dark brown, 

 tinged with greenish blue, which is more conspicuous and decided on the 

 scapulars ; back, rump, upper tail coverts, tertiaries and wing coverts, also the 

 primaries, secondaries and their coverts black, the first 6-7 with a light blue 

 patch at their bases ; tail uniform dark violet ; throat and upper breast with 

 broad violet blue shaft stripes ; rest of lower plumage dingy greenish blue, 

 brighter on the vent, under tail coverts and under wing coverts. Bill and legs 

 vermilion ; eyelids red ; irides dark brown ; gape yellowish. 



Length. 12 to 12-5 inches ; tail 4-4 to 4*5 ; wing 7-6 to 8; tarsus 07 ; bill 

 from gape 1*7. 



Hab. The base of the Himalayas, Lower Bengal, Assam, the Burmese 

 countries, extending to China, Ceylon, Siam, Cochin-China, and down the 

 Malay Peninsula to Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. According to Gates, it is 

 rare, though locally distributed over the greater part of Burmah. It has been 

 got in Pegu, in the hills north of that town, also at Tonghoo and at Shway- 

 gheen. Capt. W. Ramsay got it on the Karin hills, and Mr. Blanford at 

 Bassein, and Davison's experience is that it is confined to the southern portion 

 of Tenasserim. Gates adds that it is almost crepuscular in its habits. It 

 breeds in the Terai during May in holes of the higher branches of lofty trees. 

 Nothing appears to be known of its eggs, but they also are probably white. 



