MEGALAIMHXE. 121 



FAMILY, Megalaimidse. 



Bill stout and somewhat conic, inflated at the sides, moderate 

 in length or short, wide at the base, more or less compressed 

 towards the tip ; base of upper mandible continued backward 

 to the gape, and usually furnished at the base with numerous 

 stiff bristles projecting forwards ; some have the mandibles denti- 

 culated, and grooved at the sides ; culmen generally blunt ; wings 

 and tail short, the latter even or nearly so ; with the feathers 

 soft, only ten in number ; toes in pairs, the hind-claws much 

 curved ; tongue of ordinary structure. 



GENUS, Megalaima, Gray. 



Bill moderate, about as long as the head, robust, conical, more 

 or less wide at the base and compressed at the tip ; culmen 

 tolerably arched ; upper mandible somewhat overlapping the 

 lower one ; gape wide ; nostrils somewhat exposed in a groove at 

 the side of the culmen ; wings moderate, rounded ; tail short, 

 nearly even ; feet truly zygodactyle ; conspicuous tufts of bristles 

 surrounding the bill, a series of them above each nostril, a tuft 

 at each angle of the gape, and another growing from the chin. 



Megalaima caniceps, Frankl. 



193. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 310 ; Swinhoe and 

 Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 63. 



THE COMMON GREEN BAEBET. 



Length, 10'5 ; expame, 16; wing, 5; tail, 3'5 ; tarsus, 11; 

 bill at front, T37. 



Bill pale orange-brown ; irides orange-brown ; orbitar skin 

 dull orange ; legs light yellowish-brown. 



Above green ; paler on the flanks and lower belly ; vent and 

 lower tail-coverts yellowish; head, neck, breast, and upper 

 abdomen brownish ; throat dusky-brown ; the feathers of these 

 parts with narrow pale streaks, continued but gradually diminish- 

 ing upon the green of the back ; each wing-covert and tertiary 

 has a whitish speck on the tip ; forehead and neck almost 

 uniform brown, with pale mesial streaks. 



Within our limits the Common Green Barbet has only been 

 recorded from the forests on the Vindhian Hills, near Mhow, 

 Central India, its place being taken elsewhere by the next 

 species, with which it is often confounded. 



Megalaima inornat a, Wald. 



1936is. Butler, Guzerat ; Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, p. 459 ; 

 Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 387. 



THE WESTERN GREEN BARBET. 



Length, 10'5 ; expanse, 16'5 ; wing, 51 ; tail, 3'4 ; tarsus, T08 ; 

 bill at front, 1'35. 



