86 NOTES ON THE NIDIFICATION OF SOME BIRDS IN BURMAH. 



693.— Eulabes javanensis, Osb. 



[Osbeeck's name javanensis is pre-Linnsean, so is Brisson's 

 name maajor, and we must adopt Cuvier's name javanus, for the 

 Javan bird ; but the identity of the Indian and Javan, &c, 

 form is not accepted by the Marquis of Tweeddale and others. 

 Having no sufficient series of Javan specimens to compare, 

 I cannot offer a positive opinion, as to the identity of these, 

 but I am quite unable to separate specimens from numerous 

 localities in India, Burmah, the Andamans, Nicobars, the 

 Malay Peninsular, and Sumatra. Beginning with specimens 

 from Sumbhulpoor and the Tributary Mehals ; going 1 north to the 

 Himalayas and thence down to the Straits, there is doubtless an 

 appreciable but gradual increase in the size of the bill and bird 

 as one goes onwards. There is however no break in the 

 sequence ; no point at which a line can be drawn (except entirely 

 arbitrarily), and all appear to me to be inseparably one and the 

 same species. But the Javan bird may be separable. If so, it 

 seems to me that our bird must stand as E. sumatranus, Less Tr. 

 d'Orn, 357, 1831, with religiosa, Raffl. nee Lin, Tr. L. S. XIII., 

 303, 1822, and intermedia, Hay, Madr. J. XIIL, pt. 2, 156, 

 1842, as synonymes. Wagler's name musicus (1827) appears 

 in this case to be barred by including more than one species — 

 Ed., S. F.] 



I saw several nest holes of this bird which was very 

 common in the reserve, but none of them were accessible, and 

 it was not till the 18th April that I chauced on one in a low 

 tree, the nest being in the hollow of a stump of a broken 

 branch. It was composed and loosely put together, of grass 

 leaves and twigs ; and contained three half- fledged young 

 and one addled egg of a light blue color, spotted chiefly at the 

 large end with purplish brown. 



[The egg is very similar to those of E. religiosa, but what is 

 very surprising, it is very considerably smaller. 



Of religiosa the egg^ vary from 1*2 to 1-37 in length, and 

 from 0*86 to 0*9 in breadth, and the average of 8 is 1*31 

 by 0-88. 



This present egg only measures 1*12 by 0*8; and it must, 

 I should fancy, be abnormally small. 



In shape it is an extremely regular oval. The ground is a 

 pale greenish blue, and it is spotted and blotched pretty thickly 

 at the large end (where all the larger markings are) and very 

 thinly at the smaller end, with purple and two shades (a darker 

 and lighter one) of chocolate brown, the latter colour much 

 predominating. The shell is very fine and close, but has but 

 little gloss.— Ed., S. F.] 



