Birds of the Indian Hills 



stretched wings. The median pair of tail 

 feathers is much longer than the others, the 

 pair next to the middle one is the second 

 longest, and the outer one shortest of all. 

 Thus the tail, when expanded during flight, 

 has a curious appearance. 



We now come to the jays. That brilliant 

 study in light and dark blue, so common in 

 the plains, which we call the blue-jay, does not 

 occur in the Himalayas ; nor is it a jay at all : 

 its proper name is the Indian roller (Coracias 

 indica). It is in no way connected with the 

 jay tribe, being not even a passerine bird. We 

 know this because of the arrangement of its 

 deep plantar tendons, because its palate is 

 desmognathous instead of aegithognathous, 

 because — but I think I will not proceed further 

 with these reasons ; if I do, this article will 

 resemble a letter written by the conscientious 

 undergraduate who used to copy into each of 

 his epistles to his mother, a page of A Com- 

 plete Guide to the Town of Cambridge. 

 The fond mother doubtless found her son's 

 letters very instructive, but they were not 

 exactly what she wanted. Let it suffice that 

 the familiar bird with wings of two shades of 



blue is not a jay, nor even one of the Corviniae, 



32 



