CTSSA. 29 



band of black ; lesser wing-coverts green, the other coverts red ; 

 wings brown on the inner webs, red on the outer ones ; the tertiaries 

 and some of the secondaries tipped with pale blue and with a band 

 of black in front of the tips. 



.pill red ; eyelids yellowish brown, the edges red ; legs coral- 

 red; iris blood- red ; claws dull red; inside of the mouth reddish 

 flesh-colour. 



Length 15; tail 8; wing 5-9 ; tarsus 17; bill from gape 1-6. 



The plumage of this bird changes after death and also in cap- 

 tivity from green to dull blue ; and the red on the wings also 

 undergoes a change under the same circumstances, becoming much 

 duller. C. minor, a subspecies from Sumatra, is rather smaller. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from the Jumna valley to Bhutan 

 and Assam ; thence through the hill-ranges of Eastern Bengal and 

 Burma to Tenasserim, where this bird has been observed as far 

 south as Mergui and the Thoungyeen valley. It is found from the 

 base of the hills up to about 5000 feet. 



Habits, $c. This Magpie is found in all descriptions of jungle, but 

 personally I have only observed it in the evergreen forests. It is 

 as a rule shy and difficult to observe, keeping to the ground or to 

 dense undergrowth. It breeds principally in April, constructing 

 a cup-shaped nest of twigs, roots, and bamboo-leaves in a tree or 

 bamboo-bush at no great height from the ground. The eggs, three 

 in number, are dull white freckled with yellowish and brown, and 

 measure 1'21 by *92. 



15. Cissa ornata. The Ceylonese Magpie. 



Pica ornata, Wayler, Isis, 1829, p. 749. 



Cissa puella, Blyth, Cat. p. 93 (1849). 



Cissa pyrrhocyanea, Lichtenstein, Gould, S. Asia, v, pi. 53 (1850). 



Cissa ornata ( Wuql. ), Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii, p. 87 ; Legye, Birds 



Ceyl. p. 353, pi. 15 ; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 408 j id. Cat. no.' 073 bis; 



Gates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. i, p. 19. 



Kahibella, Ceyl. 



Coloration. "Whole head, neck, upper back, and upper breast rich 

 chestnut ; remainder of the body-plumage bright blue, suffused 

 with cobalt next the chestnut of the neck; tail blue, tipped with 

 white and subterminally with black ; wing-coverts brown, more or 

 less margined and suffused with blue : quills chestnut on the outer 

 webs, black on the inner, changing to blue on the tertiaries ; thighs 

 dusky purple. 



Iris light brown ; eyelid deep red ; orbital skin somewhat paler ; 

 bill, legs, and feet coral-red; claws reddish yellow at base, dusky at 

 tip (Legye). 



Length about 17; tail up to 10; wing 6-5; tarsus 1*7 j bill 

 from gape 1'6. 



Distribution. The forests of Ceylon only. 



Habits, $c. Breeds in Ceylon during the cool season or from 



