384 A FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS 
tinge at the base of the ear coverts. These specimens vary a 
creat deal in the colour of the upper parts, but as Lord Walden 
correctly remarked, not one of these approaches the intensely 
deep blue of the finer Malayan specimens of asiatica. 
When we take Tenasserim specimens from Amherst, we find 
that some of these are identical in colour with the deepest coloured 
Andaman birds, but one of them is nearly as deeply coloured as 
Malaccan specimens; here the strange thing is that the 
female has the cheeks and ear coverts red, but divided by a con- 
spicuous blue band. This too is the case with a female from the 
Rajmahal hills, and this too was probably the case with 
Captain Beavan’s specimen from Maunbhoom, at any rate it had 
red upon the cheeks. It would thus seem that while the 
typical Beavani of the Andamans is characterized by the ab- 
sence of rufous on the cheeks and ear coverts in the female, 
and asomewhat paler and greener tint on the upper surface, 
the birds of continental India and Northern Tenasserim so far 
as I yet know them (unfortunately I have no females from 
Sikhim and other localities) are characterized by more or less 
rufous cheeks and ear coverts divided by a blue band, and some 
of those from Northern Tenasserim and Sikhim by a tint on the 
upper surface more approaching that of typical aszatica. 
On the other hand, this Southern Indian bird (unfortunately 
I have only a male) is characterized by intense brilliancy of 
plumage, by its large size and by a bill conspicuously exceeding 
in length, every specimen I possess of Beavani, asiatica and the 
intermediate continental race. 
140.—Dichoceros cavatus, Shav, 
“*‘ No where numerous, except perhaps in some of the wilder 
jungles on the lower slopes of the hills, though one pair might 
be found in each valley or glen of any size throughout the whole 
range. J have never seen more than three together. The 
hideous and harsh ery of this bird first of all perhaps attracts 
the attention of a new arrival on the hills, while its larger 
size, conspicuous colouring and extraordinary bill render it no 
less remarkable to the eye. I believe that the same pair 
of birds, if unmolested, will continue to build year after 
year in the same tree, but I am inclined to place little credit 
in the story of the male plastering up the female during the 
period of incubation, although it is quite likely he may feed her 
during the whole of that time. A note of anest and egg 
secured in February will appear in Mr. Hume’s ‘Nests and 
Eggs, &e.—F. W. B.” 
A splendid pair of this species carefully measured in the 
flesh and sexed have been received. The male differs as is 
