m 

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CORYDON SUMATRANUS. 



Great Eurylaime. 



Coracias Sumatranus, Raffl. Linn. Trans., vol. xiii. p. 303. 



Eurylaimus Corydon, Temm. PL Col. 297 —Less. Traite d'Orn., p. 261.— Atlas, pi. 50. fig. 1. 



Eurylaimus ? Hay, Journ. As. Soc, vol. x. p. 575. 



Corydon Sumatranus, Strickl. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. vi. p. 417— Blyth, Cat. of Birds in Mus. of As. Soc. 



Calcutta, p. 195. — Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 168. 

 Corydon Temminckii, Less. Man. d'Orn., torn. i. p. 177. 

 Eurylaimus Sumatranus, Vig. App. to Mem. of Sir S. Raffles, p. 653— Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 65, 



Eurylaimus, sp. 6.— G. R. Gray, List of Birds in Brit. Mus. Coll., part ii. sec. 1. p. 37. 

 Eurylaimus Corydon Sumatranus, Horsf. Cat. of Birds in Mus. in East Ind. Comp., p. 117. 

 Kung-quait, Malays. 



The tropical portions of India and the adjacent islands are without question the head quarters of the Eury- 

 MmiiKB, for like E. Javanicus and E. ochromahts, the present extraordinary bird is there found, the provinces 

 it inhabits being Tenasserim, the Malayan peninsula generally, Sumatra, and I believe Borneo, It is the 

 largest species of the family yet discovered, and also differs from all its congeners in the absence of adorn- 

 ment in its plumage, the sooty black hue of which is merely relieved by a large blood-coloured patch on 

 the back and the dingy brownish white patch on the throat. 



The female is said so nearly to resemble the male in colour as not to be distinguished. 



The extraordinarily broad and strong bill, its greatly dilated margins and other peculiarities naturally 

 suggested the propriety of separating this bird from the other members of the family, and of making it the 

 type of a new genus, Corydon, in which at present it stands alone, no other species of the form having 

 been discovered. The singularly formed mandibles and enormous gape would seem to indicate some great 

 peculiarity in its mode of life, with which it would be interesting to be made acquainted. 



Insects and fruits doubtless constitute the food of this curious bird, but of what kinds is uncertain, for we 

 have everything yet to learn respecting its habits and economy. 



General plumage brownish black ; on the throat a large patch of brownish white, each feather with a 

 crescent mark of reddish brown at the tip; on the centre of the back a small patch of red feathers with 

 black tips, and a whitish line down their centres ; lateral tail-feathers crossed near the tip with an oblique 

 irregular mark of white ; orbits and bill fleshy red. 



The figure is of the natural size. 







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