BIRDS OF UPPER PEGU. 83 



a single bird. I fancy they come here only to breed. The 

 oviduct of a female shot on the 12th April contained a fully 

 formed egg-. On the Pegu Hills I found it sparingly in 

 April. The sexes appear to be much the same size. The follow- 

 ing is a resume of the measurements of four specimens of both 

 sexes, by far the smallest, as well as the largest bird being 

 males — ■ 



" Length, 15-6 to 17 ; expanse, 237 to 24'5 ; tail, from vent, 

 7-4 to 8-15; wing, 7*8 to 8; bill, from gape, 1'52 to 167 ; 

 tarsus, 1*2 to 1*5. 



" The bill is dull green, dusky at gape, and black about the 

 nostrils ; the irides, bright crimson j the eyelids, pinkish brown ; 

 legs and feet, plumbeous ; claws, dark horny/'' 



215.— Zanclostomus tristis, Less. 



Birds from Thayetmyo and Upper Pegu, like others from 

 near Rangoon, Tenasserim, and Arracan, are undistinguishable 

 from specimens procured iu the Sub-Himalayan ranges from 

 Dehra Dhoon eastwards. 



Mr. Oates remarks that " this species appears to be spread 

 sparingly over the whole country, but is nowhere very common. 

 The following are the colors of the soft parts of a male which 

 I shot in September : bill, bright green, pinkish about the 

 nostrils ; bare skin round the eyes, and edges of eyelids, purplish 

 red ; iris, hazel ; inside of mouth, dusky ; feet, greenish slaty ; 

 claws, dark brown.'" 



217 qtiat— Centrococcyx eurycercus, Bay. 



In my brief notes on a few birds from Acheen (Stray Feathers, 

 1873, p. 453), I discussed this little sub-group of Coucals which 

 have the whole of the interscapulary region rufous, and I men- 

 tioned that there were three noticeable races, and that the 

 Thayetmyo birds belonged to the race which, if held worthy of 

 specific distinction, should stand as intermedins. I also noticed 

 that, though retaining Hay's name for the present, I was inclined 

 to believe that the Javan and Sumatran birds would prove 

 identical, in which case eurycercus must give place to bubutus, 

 Horsf . I have not yet a sufficiently larg-e series from a sufficient 

 number of localities to decide whether the three races, 

 C. eurycercus (vel bubutus f) , C. maximus, and C. intermedins, 

 do really deserve specific separation. 



In regard to the Pegu birds, Mr. Oates remarks : " This bird 

 is common j I found it nearly up to the summits of the Pegu 

 Hills, on the western, but not on the eastern, slopes. A female 

 killed on the 11th of May, showed no signs of breeding. She 

 measured: Length, 194; expanse, 235 ; tail, from vent, 100; 



