238 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



wings moderate, the secondaries emarginate at their tips, the 

 3rd and 4th quills equal and longest ; tail short, rounded, the tips 

 ending in soft slender points ; tarsus moderate ; toes very slender ; 

 otherwise as in the last. 



The head is somewhat crested, and the first four primaries have 

 slender points to the tips of the feathers. 



139. Serilophus rubropygia, Hodgson. 



Raya, apud Hodgson, J. A. S. VIH. 36— Blyth, Cat. 1183— 

 HoRSF., Cat. 145— i2a-i-5i«jra, Nepal. — Lho rapnun pho, Lepch. 



The Red-backed Broadbill. 



Descr. — Head, nape, back of neck, upper back, and wing 

 coverts, dusky slaty blue-grey, tending to olivaceous on the 

 back ; the lower part of the back, upper tail-coverts, and 

 tertiaries, deep chestnut; a band, from the eyes to the nape, black; 

 quills and tail black, the former with a blue spot on the 

 primaries, and the inner webs of the same with white spots ; 

 the first four quills also tipped with blue and white, the others 

 tipped blue on the outer web, with a white spot, and chestnut 

 on the inner web ; all the tail feathers, except the two centre 

 ones, broadly tipped with white ; beneath pale grey, albescent 

 towards the vent ; a demi-collar of shining white on each side 

 of the neck, not always conspicuous ; tibial feathers black. 



Bill soft blue ; orbitar skin yellow ; irides brown ; legs 

 yellowish-green ; nails bluish. Length 7 j inches ; wing 3^ ; 

 extent 11 ; tail 3 ; bill at front -f-^ ; width | ; tarsus f. 



This chastely-colored Broadbill is found only in the Eastern 

 Himalayas, fi'om Nepal to Bootan, extending through Assam 

 and Sylhet, to Arrakan. It is very closely related to S. lunatus, 

 from Burmah. Some specimens from Nepal appear to want the 

 narrow lateral frill of shining white ; but those I got at Darjeeling 

 had it distinct, though narrow. It is by no means a common 

 bird, and I had no opportunity of observing it myself. The only 

 specimen I procured fresh, had eaten various insects. 



S. lunatus is stated to live on fruit and berries ; and Dr. 

 Heifer, as quoted by Horsfield, says that he observed these 

 birds in societies of thirty to forty, upon the loftiest trees of 



