A CONTRIBUTION TO THE OENITHOLOGY OF NEPAL. 251 



Becond primaries are wholly black ; the rest are black, margined 

 on the outer web with blue-green. 



This fine Barbet is common in the valley of Nepal through- 

 out the year. It inhabits the forest-clad hills that surround 

 the valley, descending in winter to the foot of the hills, and 

 ranging in summer to an elevation of over 7,000 feet. It was 

 never found in the woods of the central part of the valley. 

 Although it generally affects high trees, I have, on several 

 occasions, found and shot it in low thick jungle, perched on 

 bushes or bush trees. Its fine, plaintive call — till-low, till-low, 

 till-low, 8fc., — uttered by flocks in chorus, may be heard from a 

 great distance, and is both striking and pleasant, 



192.— Megalsema hodgsoni, Bp. 



Two males, Hetoura, December. — Length, 1I"3 to 11'35; 



expanse, 17-4 to 17-8; wing, 5-2; tail, 3-6 to 37 ; tarsus, 



M5 to 1-2; bill from gape, 1-73 to 1-75 ; bill at front, 1-25 to 



1'32 ; closed wings short of tail, 2*5 to 2*7. 



Two females, Hetoura, December. — Length, 1I'6 to 1I"7; 



expanse, 18"2 to 18-3; wing, 5-5; tail, 365 to 3*8 ; tarsus, 



1-2 to 1-3; bill from gape, 1-75 to 1*8; bill at front, I'S to 



1*35 ; closed wings short of tail, 2'5 to 2'6. 



Bill horny yellow ; orbits deep yellow ; irides brown, deep 



brown, and reddish brown ; feet fleshy yellow ; claws dusky, 



brown at bases. 



The bill is very large and powerful, and the birds generally of 



large size and robust form. In both sexes the chin and throat 



are rather dark earthy brown, with a slight coppery tinge on 

 the chin ; forehead brown ; feathers of hind head, sides of neck, 

 breast, and upper abdomen, pale yellowish fulvous, with well- 

 defined dark brown edg'inofs. 



I have carefully compared these four specimens with the fine 

 series of green Barbets in Mr. Hume's museum, and they 

 certainly do not agree with the species he calls hodgsoni, or 

 any other in his collection. My birds are distinct from the 

 species figured in Marsiiall's monograph under the name of 

 hodgsoni. A specimen from Kaladungi, labelled hodgsoni, in 

 Mr, Hume's museum, agrees exactly with the figure in the 

 monograph of the Barbets in having the throat white, and the 

 forehead whitish ; and certainly, the Nepal birds diff'er as greatly 

 from that specimen as M. inornata does fi-om caniceps. My 

 specimens, 1 believe, represent the true hodgsoni, as Bonaparte's 

 type seems to have come from Nepal. In the Oonsp. Gen. Av., 

 I., p. 144, I find the following : — " 19, Megalaimus hodgsoni, 

 Bp. Mus. Lugd. ex Nepal. Similis sequentis et valde major '" 

 the species which follow this hQm^ caniceps ^ viridis, ^-c, as far as 



