312 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXllI. 



own observations, his name is unfortunately preoccupied, I therefore 

 should have liked to propose a name in remembrance of Mr. Gates, 

 who particularly drew attention to the fact that the colour of eggs is 

 a great aid to the classification of birds, and more especially in the 

 Orateropodince . 



At present I have onty divided up the Trochalopteruiin into two 

 groups, according to the shape of their bills and nostrils. 



■ KEY. 



a. Bill stout, nostrils oval and exposed .. Section I — TrocJialopterum. 



b. Bill slender, nostrils narrow slits . . Section II — (^Pterocyclus.) 



Section I,— (TROCHALOPTERUM). 



Genus — Tkochaloptektjm, Hodgson, 1843. 



Type — Trochalopterum squamutum. 



Gray's "Genera of Birds," Vol. i., p. 226. 



" Bill moderate with culmen much curved, and the sides compressed to 

 the tip, which is strongly emarginated ; the lateral margins slightly curved, 

 and the gonys short and ascending ; the gape furnished with a few long 

 bristles ; the nostrils lateral, basal, sunk in a groove, with opening anterior, 

 exposed and rounded." 



The bill in this group is short, stout, slightly curved, and not notched 

 the nostrils oval and exposed ; and no overhanging hairs over the nostrils. 

 They all lay spotless blue eggs. 



Key. 



^.— Upper plumage not streaked. 



a}. Primaries edged blue and black . . . . T. squamatum, 



h^. Primaries edged grey and yellow . . . . T. subunicolor. 

 B. — Upper plumage streaked. 



c^" A white supercilium . . . . . . . . T. virgatum. 



d}. No white supercilium . . . . . . T. lineatum. 



TBOCnALOPTERUM SQUAMAIUM, Gould. 



The Blue-2vinged Laughing Thrush. 



lanthocincla squamata, Gould, P. Z, S., 1835, p. 48. 



Troehalopterum squamatum, Sharpe, Cat. B. M., vii., p. 367 ; Gates, F. 

 B. I., i., p. 96. 



Description. — As in Gates, F. B. I. 



Distribution. — Add Mt, Victoria, Chin Hills, and the Kachin Hills, 

 Bhamo District, Burma. 



Mr. Gates draws attention to the variation in the plumage of this species, 

 some birds having the black tail whilst others the bronzed one. 1 think 

 this must be individual, as I found the same thing in the birds I procured 

 in Bhamo Hills, and a pair I shot both were differently coloured. 



[It is certainly not the same variation as between G. pectoralis and G. 

 monliger, which are perfectly distinct species inhabiting the same locali- 

 ties, the former is a good deal bigger than the latter. I have also shot and 

 trapped pairs of birds on their nests showing that these variations ;are 

 entirely individual. — E. C. S. B.] 



