BIRDS OF UPPER PEGU. 145 



this may be an artistic exaggeration, but even the type speci- 

 men had not. so large a bill as this, and magnirostris, if so the 

 Upper Burmese race from Thayetmyo is to be called, usually has 

 a bill of 16 to 1*7, against 1*5, a maximum, as I think, for 

 occipitalis. In good specimens there is no great naked space sur- 

 rounding the eyes, and in fact, the only real differences between 

 fine specimens of the two races are — (1st), that magnirostris is 

 rather more richly colored, especially on the wings; and (2nd), 

 that the bill averages nearly a quarter of an inch longer, is pro- 

 portionally stouter, and is of a somewhat deeper and brighter 

 color. Captain Feilden adds that the legs are scarlet, instead of 

 the reddish orange of occipitalis, and that the irides are of different 

 shades of brown, but never red. 



Mr. Oates confirms this statement in regard to the irides 

 being hazel brown, and the bill and feet deep coral red ; but 

 then the sole specimen sent by Mr. Oates unsexed, and perhaps 

 a female, is undistinguishable, I should say, from true occipitalis, 

 and it remains to be discovered whether both races inhabit Pegu, 

 or whether the specimen first named by Mr. Blyth, and that 

 which I owe to Captain Feilden, are fair samples of a race, or 

 merely abnormally fine males of occipitalis, or whether it is only 

 the males of this Burmese race, which are characterized by the 

 richer coloring of the wings and the larger size of the bill. 

 In favor of magnirostris being distinct, I am bound to say 

 that, though I have an excessively large series of occipitalis from 

 various parts of the Himalayas, many of them really superb 

 birds of our own preserving, I have not one that, in regard 

 to size of bill and coloring of wings, can be mistaken for the 

 magnirostris sent me by Captain Feilden. I should add that a 

 specimen from the Arracan Hills, apparently a young male, has a 

 rather larger bill than occipitalis of the Himalayas ever has, 

 but not so large as either Blyth's type or Captain Feilden' s 

 bird. On the whole, it seems to me very doubtful whether this 

 species can be maintained ; what is wanted is a really large and 

 carefully sexed series from Pegu and the Arracan Hills. 



Mr. Oates says that " this bird, " (but whether he means the 

 big-billed or small-billed race is uncertain,) " is very common 

 in some localities in the plains. It likes the neighbourhood of 

 villages in forest country, and may often be seen on the stages 

 erected for stacking straw." 



These habits are curious, and are different to those of occipi- 

 talis of the Himalayas, which I have never seen in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of villages. 



673.— Cissa speciosa, Shaw. 



Specimens from Thayetmyo correspond well with others from 

 Tipperah and various parts of the Sub-Himalayan Ranges from 



