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UROCISSA FLAVIROSTRIS. 



Yellow-billed Blue Pie. 



Psilorhinus favirostris, Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng., vol. xx. p. 28. -lb. Cat. of Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. 



Calcutta, p. 93. 

 Calocittaflavirostris, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 381, Calocitta, sp. 3. 

 Urocissaflavirostris, Cab. Mus. Hein, p. 87— Horsf. and Moore, Cat. of Birds in Mus. East Ind. Comp., vol. ii. 



p. 578.— Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xxvii. p. 200. 



Here at least we have a bird which the most sceptical of ornithologists must admit to be specifically distinct 

 from the other Blue Pies of India and China, U. occipitalis and U. sinensis, — its much duller colouring 

 combined with its bright yellow bill, its lengthened and slenderly-formed tarsi, and the absence of all 

 spotting on the crown, being characters which are surely sufficient to indicate its individuality ; Mr. Blyth's 

 indications, however, of the points of difference, which I give below word for word, will be the best evidence 

 on this point. Of course, it would be useless to compare it with either of the red-billed species ; nor can it, 

 in my opinion, be confounded with the bird to which I have given the name of U. cucullata. It is true that 

 both the flamrostris and cucullata have yellow bills, but there, as will be seen on reference to the figures and 

 descriptions of the two species, their similarity ends. 



In pointing out the specific differences of this bird, Mr. Blyth says, " General plumage of a much duller 

 colour than in the preceding {occipitalis') ; the bill of the recent specimen bright yellow, and the white of the 

 occiput reduced to a narrow transverse band, with a broad collar of black below it, surrounding the hind- 

 neck, and never any white tips to the feathers immediately above it ; legs and toes small and slender." 



The native countries of the Urocissa flamrostris are Sikkim and Bhotan. 



The vast primaeval forests of the southern slopes of the Himalayas, extending over an area embracing many 

 degrees of longitude, must still contain an abundance of undiscovered stores for the student of zoology ; for 

 if we find such conspicuous objects as the members of the genus Urocissa differing in countries only a few 

 degrees apart, there also will be found numerous species of more diminutive birds, insects, and mammals 

 which at present are entirely unknown to us. 



The sexes are alike in size and colouring. 



Head, neck, throat and breast black ; within the black at the back of the neck acrescentic mark of bluish 

 white ; all the upper surface dull bluish brown ; wings dull brownish blue ; the inner webs of the primaries 

 and secondaries brownish black ; all the secondaries crescented with white at the tip ; primaries margined 

 with dull brownish white and with a small oblique mark of white at the tip ; upper tail-coverts dull blue 

 tipped with black, behind which is a narrow transverse line of bluish white ; two centre tail-feathers blue 

 tipped with white ; the remainder blue tipped with white, the two colours separated by a broad band of 

 black, immediately behind which is a mark of white, which gradually expands into a wide band crossing both 

 webs as the feathers recede from the centre ; under surface dull bluish white ; bill and legs yellow. 



The Plate represents the bird about three-fourths of the size of life. 





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