46 COBACIIDiB COEACIAS 



last-named continent, and four of these have been obtained within 



our limits. 



Key of the S^pecies. 



A. Outer tail-feathers not elongated. 



a. No nuchal patch ; blue below C. garrulus,^. i.Q. 



b. A white nuchal patch ; below, hlac with 



white streaks C. mosambicus, p. 51. 



B. Outer tail-feathers elongated. 



c. No expanded racquet on the elongated tail- 



feathers ; primary coverts silvery -blue ... C. caudatus, p. A8. 

 b. Outer tail-feathers ending in a racquet- 

 shaped expansion ; primary coverts pur- 

 plish-blue, like the primaries C. spatulatus, p. 50. 



400. Coracias garrulus. European Boiler. 



Coracias garrula, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 159 (1766) ; Layard, 

 B. S. Afr. p. 60 (1867) ; Gurney, Ibis, 1872, p. 56 ; Ayres, Ibis, 1874, 

 p. 102 [Potchefstroom] ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's, B. S. Afr. pp. 102, 

 805 (1875-84) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 68 [Pinetown] ; Barratt, Ibis, 

 1876, p. 198 [LydenburgJ ; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 302 (1881); 

 Eolub S PelzeVn, Orn. Sud-Afrikas, p. 61 (1882); Shelley, Ibis, 

 1882, p. 242 [Palapye] ; Symonds, Ibis, 1887, p. 327 [Kroonstad] ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xvii, p. 15 (1892) ; Dresser, Monogr. Corac. p. 19, 

 pi. 7 (1893) ; Bendall, Ibis, 1896, p. 167 [Barberton] ; Shelley, B. 

 Afr. i, p. 109 (1896) ; Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 87 (1899) ; 

 Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 246 [Sahsbury]. 



Coracias abyssiuicus, Layard (nee Bodd.), B. S. Afr. p. 60 (1867). 



Coracias garrulus loquax, Beichenow, Ornith. Monatsb. vii, p. 191 

 (1899). 



" Blue Jay " of the Enghsh colonists. 



Description. Female. — Crown and nape a greenish-blue, back, 

 scapulars, and inner secondaries light brown ; wing-coverts pale 

 blue, purplish on the carpal bend and ulna, and with brown tips 

 to some of the feathers ; wing-quills purplish- black above, bright 

 purplish-blue below, with black tips ; rump a purplish-blue, tail- 

 coverts a more greenish-blue, two centre tail-feathers dusky ashy- 

 green, the others green at the base, blackish on the inner web, with 

 a black shaft and pale green tips, the outer pair only tipped with 

 black ; below, a pale greenish-blue, with whiter shaft marks on the 

 chin and throat and a slight brown shading on the breast. 



Iris dark grey or hazel ; bill black ; legs and feet brownish- 

 yellow. 



Length about 13-0; wing 7-70; tail 5-20; culmen 1-30; 

 tarsus 0-80. 



