BHOPODYTES. 233 



July; the nest is a loose platform of twigs, with two or three 

 white chalky eggs, measuring about 1'46 to 1*05. 



1124. Rhopodytes diardi. Diard's Green-billed Malkoha. 



Melias diardi, Lesson, Traite cCOrnith. p. 132 (1831). 

 Phcenicophaeus tristis, apud Blyth, J. A. S. B. xi, p. 928 ; xii, p. 246. 

 Zanclostomus diardi, Blyth, Cat. p. 76 ; Horsf. $ M. Cat. ii, p. 690 ; 



Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 81. 

 Rhopodytes diardi, Cab. $ Heine, Mus. Hem. iv, p. 61 ; Sharpe, 



P. Z. S. 1873, p. 604, fig. 9 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 163 ; Hume, 



Cat. no. 215 bis ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 122 ; Shelley, Cat. B. M. 



xix, p. 390. 



Coloration. Almost the same as that of R. tristis. The narrow 

 line of feathers on the lores black ; head and neck dark ashy 

 grey ; lower hind-neck, back, rump, wings, and tail, the latter two 

 both above and below, rich glossy metallic green, passing into 

 blue ; all the tail-feathers tipped with white, less broadly than 

 in R. tristis. Lower parts ashy, chin whitish, the rest dark, 

 becoming blackish on the abdomen. 



Bill pale green ; irides dark brown ; bare orbital space crimson ; 

 edges of eyelids black ; legs and feet dark plumbeous green 

 (Davison). 



Length about 15; tail 9; wing 5; tarsus 1-25; bill from 

 gape 1-4. 



Distribution. From the neighbourhood of Mergui throughout 

 Southern Tenasserim and the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra. 



Habits, <$fc. Similar to those of R. tristis., which this species 

 replaces south of Mergui. 



1125. Rhopodytes sumatranus. The Sumatran 

 Green-billed Malkoha. 



Cuculus sumatranus, Raffi. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 287 (1822). 

 Zanclostomus sumatranus, Blyth, Cat. p. 76 ; Horsf. 8f M. Cat. ii, 



p. 689. 

 Rhopodytes sumatranus, Cab. fy Heine, Mus. Hein. iv, p. 62 ; Hume 



8f Dav. S. F. vi, p. 164; Hume, Cat. no. 215 ter; Shelley, Cat. 



B. M. xix, p. 391. 

 Poliococcyx sumatranus, Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 606, fig. 14 ; Oates, 



B. B. ii, p. 123. 



Nostrils long, oblique. 



Coloration. Narrow band of feathers on lores black, a few white 

 feathers sometimes, not always, present above the bare orbital 

 area; head above dark ashy grey, passing on the neck into 

 metallic green, which covers the remainder of the upper surface ; 

 quills and outer tail-feathers steel-blue above and below ; all the 

 tail-feathers with moderate white tips. Chin and throat ashy; 

 breast darker, with a wash of glossy green ; abdomen and lower 

 tail-coverts deep bay. Shafts of head- and neck-feathers black, 

 but not conspicuous. 



