102 A FIRST LIST OF THE 



vent, 6 ; wing, 6- 7 ; bill, from gape, 1"62 ; tarsus, 1'09. The irides 

 were pale pink ; eyelids, pinkish grey ; bill, legs, and claws, black ; 

 and inside of mouth, bluish black." 



287.— Artamus fuscus, Vieil. 



Thayetmyo specimens differ in no respect, that I can see, from 

 specimens from other parts of India. 



Mr. Oates says : " The Common Swallow-Shrike abounds 

 throughout the plains ; it flies over the Thayetmyo cantonment 

 almost every evening in large flocks high in the air, hawking after 

 insects; towards the hills it disappears. Paired birds are excessive- 

 ly affectionate to each other. I have seen a pair kissing and caress- 

 ing each other for fully an hour. I have never found the nest, 

 but I saw a pair making preparatory arrangements at the end of 

 April. A male I shot measured : Length, 7*35 ; expanse, 15 ; tail, 

 from vent, 2" 4; wing, 5*3; bill, from gape, 0-95; tarsus, 0-65. 



" The bill is a fine pale blue ; the tip and anterior half of mar- 

 gins, brownish; irides, dark brown; eyelids, grey; legs, slaty grey; 

 claws, dark horny; inside, of the mouth, black in some, bright 

 yellow in others. I have not yet discovered the reason of this." 



288.— Tchitrea paradisi, Lin. 



Specimens sent from Thayetmyo are nearer paradisi than 

 ajjinis. 



I cannot say that I have ever been very certain of the points 

 of difference between these two species. 



Jerdon says that the differences consist in (Is*!) the smaller size 

 of affinis ; (2nd) in the lengthened central tail feathers being black- 

 shafted throughout their whole length, and often more or less 

 conspicuously margined throughout with black ; (3rd) in the crest 

 not being so long, and having the feathers composing it more 

 equal ; {Mh) in the lengthened tail feathers being shorter and 

 narrower ; (57/$) in the chestnut birds wanting the rich glossy black 

 neck, and having the inner webs of the quills dusky, while they 

 are chestnut in paradisi. 



Now, No. 5 may be ignored at once, seeing that in one stage 

 of the plumage both species equally want the glossy black 

 throat, and have the inner webs of the quills dusky, and again 

 in another stage both species equally have the glossy black throat 

 and the interior webs of the quills chestnut. Next as to the size, 

 I compare a typical male affinis from Sikhim with typical male 

 paradisi ; the wings in both are 3*7 ; there is no appreciable differ- 

 ence in the size of the bills. As to No. 2, this distinction holds 

 good in typical specimens, but at the same time I have speci- 

 mens from Sikhim, shot at the same time as typical affinis, with 

 the central tail feathers about 11 inches long, and the terminla 



