Birds of Suulhern Cauieroun. 533 



Still more remarkable are the birds MJth the middle 

 rectriees black. No. 4013 has these perfectly black ; one 

 (No. 4512) has some white near the shafts as in Reichenow's 

 T. melanura; but another bird (No. 4481) has the middle 

 tail-feathers black and white, with the white predominating. 

 No. 4013 has the lateral rectriees black ; other specimens have 

 them chestnut and black mixed. It is impos'sible to separate 

 my bii'ds into different species. Besides, they seem all to live 

 together in the bikotok, while the other two species of the 

 genus in my district are birds of the forest. 



There can be no question of hybrids among these variously 

 coloured birds, for no two species have yet been found which 

 could produce such hybrids. We seem to have to deal with 

 a wild species varying as remarkably in coloration as do 

 many domestic species. 



Birds of this species have the bill and feet blue, the bill 

 having a black tip ; the inside of the mouth is greenish 

 yellow, brightest in adults. 



The long middle rectriees of the male become extremely 

 worn. When they are shed, they are soon replaced by a new 

 pair, so that adult males are seldom seen without them. 



These birds are nearly always breeding, and nests and eggs 

 have now been found and recorded in every month of the year 

 except one, and in that month birds in breeding condition 

 have been shot. The uesls are often in exposed places and 

 many eggs and young are probably destroyed. The male 

 bird, in spite of his conspicuous plumage, takes a share in 

 the work of incubation. Once I saw a female fly off a nest 

 at my approach, and on returning about fifteen minutes after 

 1 discovered the male on the nest. Various observations 

 lead me to think that the male sits during the hours of broad 

 daylight, and the female at evening, night, and morning ; 

 but that the parent not on duty is generally close at hand to 

 take the place of its mate, if frightened off. 



Of many eggs now obtained, none vary much from those 

 already described, though the limits of size given before will 

 have to be extended, the extremes in length being 20 and 

 17 mm., and in width 15 and 125 mm. 



SER. IX. VOL. V. 2 o 



