PASSERES 
5 
more or less distinct scutellae. The third and fourth toes are united for nearly half their length, 
the toes have very strong claws. The body is thickly covered with soft feathers without 
aftershafts. The moderate wings have ten to eleven primaries, the tip is formed by the third 
and fourth, fourth, or fourth and fifth primaries, the second is sometimes a little, sometimes much 
shorter, the first always shorter than the following ones. The secondaries are nine or ten in 
number. The tail is of various shapes and consists of twelve rectrices. The sexes are alike in 
plumage or the females are (in Calyptomena) much duller than the males. 
The Eurylemide build large oval or roundish nests with an entrance-hole near the 
top, often overhung by a protecting roof and elongated into a sort of tail. The inner lining 
consists mostly of green leaves. They are suspended from branches on trees and bushes, those 
of some species usually overhanging the water. The eggs are three to five in number and they 
are milky-white or creamy-buff with dark brown or rufous spots and dots, sometimes also 
unspotted. The young generally resemble the adults much, but some are partially spotted with 
white. 
These birds are not very active. I found them to feed on insects, but Calyptomena and 
others are said to eat soft berries and other fruits, Their notes are soft whistles (Calvpftomena) 
or a peculiar whirring song (Eurylaimus, Cymbirhynchus), which has gained them the Malayan 
name rain-bird, as the Malays compare the sound with that produced by the rain falling on the 
leaves of the forest, and a soft whistling call-note. 
The distribution of the Eurylamid@ is not very wide. They are peculiar to the Oriental 
Region, being distributed from the Southern Himalayas to Siam and Cambodia, throughout the 
Malayan Peninsula to Sumatra, Borneo and Java, and reoccurring on the Philippine Islands. 
Bibliography. Sclater, The Ibis (1872), p. 177; id., Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. Vol. 14, p. 454-470 (1888). — 
Sharpe, Hand-list Birds, Vol. 3, p. 1-3 (1901). — Dubois, Syn. Avium, p. 204-206 (1900). — 
Cf. also : Nitzsch, Pterylographie, p. 109 (1840). — Blanchard, Ann. Sc. Nat. (4), Vol. rr, 
p- 92 (1859). — Garrod, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. (1877), p. 447. — Forbes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 
Lond. (1880), p. 382. — Elartert & Kutter, Journ. f. Orn. (1889), p. 391-400. 
Two subfamilies can be distinguished : 
SUBFAM. A. CALYPTOMENINAE 
Bill much higher, with a well-marked culminal ridge. Nostrils in a large hole near the 
base of the bill, half (or more) protected by a membrane, entirely hidden by the frontal 
feathers, which project forwards and reach to about the middle of the bill or more. 
The Calyptomenine consist of a single genus. 
SUBFAM. B. EURYLAEMINZE 
Bill much flatter, not with a well-marked ridge, the frontal feathers normal, not covering 
part of the bill, nostrils near base of bill, in front of the frontal feathers, or lineiform, in a slit 
near the middle of the bill. 
The Eurvlemine are conveniently divided into 6 genera. 
