108 COEACIADvE. 



Eurystomus calorynx, Hodgs. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 82 (descr. 



nulla). 

 Eurystomus calonyx, Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 551 ; id. Cat. E. M. 



xvii, p. 38, pi. ii, fig 1 . 2. 



Tak-rdl-vong, Lepclia ; Mo-goun-hnet, Burmese. 



Coloration. Head and neck above and at the sides blackish brown, 

 more or less tinged with green ; back much greener, passing into 

 dark bluish green on the rump and upper tail-coverts, and on the 

 scapulars and tertiaries, and into brighter greenish blue on the 

 wing-coverts ; primary-coverts deep blue, quills black, deep blue on 

 the outer webs, the outer primaries crossed near the base by a 

 broad pale blue band ; tail-feathers black, the outer webs above 

 and the inner below washed for a varying distance from the base 

 with deep blue ; throat deep blue, with bright blue shaft-stripes ; 

 remainder of lower surface greenish blue, darker on the breast. 



Bill, legs, and feet deep vermilion, tip of bill black ; iris dark 

 brown : gape yellowish (Oates). 



The young is duller in colour, wants the bright blue streaks on 

 the throat, and has a black bill. 



Length about 12 ; tail 4 ; wing 7'5 ; tarsus *8 ; bill from 

 gape 1-7. 



Ceylon and Travancore birds are deeper in colour, the head very 

 dark, almost black, and the underparts bluer. These form a well- 

 marked race or subspecies, E. Icetior of Sharpe. Sharpe also dis- 

 tinguishes the Himalayan and Chinese and some Burmese and 

 Malay birds under the name E. calonyx, on account of the 

 blue on the outer webs of the tail-feathers extending to the ter- 

 minal half of the feathers and of the outer webs of the secondaries 

 being washed with blue ; and he regards E. calonyx as a migratory 

 and E. orientalis as a non-migratory form ; but I find considerable 

 variation, and doubt whether two forms can be distinguished. 



Distribution. Along the base of the Himalayas as far west as 

 Kurnaun up to about 3000 feet and from Lower Bengal, Cachar, 

 and Assam locally throughout the Burmese countries to China 

 and Manchuria, Siam and Cochin China, and down the Malay 

 Peninsula to Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and the Philippines ; com- 

 mon in the Andarnans. Also found in Southern India near the 

 Malabar coast as far north as the Wynaad, and in Ceylon, where 

 this bird is rare. 



Habits, fyc. A forest bird, resident or locally migratory, haunting 

 high trees and usually perching on a dead tree or branch, some- 

 times on a bamboo, whence it flies down to capture insects. It is 

 somewhat crepuscular in its habits and is generally silent ; its call 

 is a monosyllablic deep-toned whistle, but occasionally in the 

 breeding-season it makes a chattering noise. In confinement it 

 eats plantains. It breeds in March and April, in holes in branches 

 of trees, as a rule at a considerable height from the ground, and 

 lays on the bare wood usually 3 white eggs, measuring about 

 1-38 by 1-15. 



