UROCISSA CUCULLATA, Gould. 



White-capped Blue Pie. 



PsilorHnus flamrostris, Adams in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part xxvi. p. 479. 

 Urocissaflavirostris, Adams in ib., part xxvii. p. 172. 



I do assure my readers that I have no desire unnecessarily to increase the number of species of this or any 

 other group of birds ; on the other hand, I shall never shrink from pointing- out such species as I may see 

 reason to believe are distinct from those previously described, which may occur in any of the various forms 

 I have undertaken to investigate. It might be considered doubtful by many persons whether two birds 

 so closely allied, or resembling each other, as the U. occipitalis and U. cucidlata are really different, but I 

 am satisfied that I am correct in so considering and publishing them. To what cause such slight differences 

 as they present are attributable is a question upon which zoologists will, I expect, be for a long time at 

 variance. 



In the form and the tipping of the central and other tail-feathers, this species, which is one of the most 

 elegant and beautiful of the Urocissce, most nearly resembles the U. occipitalis ; but it differs from that 

 bird in its bright yellow bill, and in the black cowl-like hood which occupies the crown of the head. Its 

 shorter and less slender legs, and the lighter hue of the body, are also characters by which it may be dis- 

 tinguished from the yellow-billed species, to which the name of flamrostris has been given. I wish it to be 

 understood that I am writing these remarks with abundant materials before me wherewith to institute com- 

 parison, namely, fully adult examples of all the known species of the genus, among which are particularly 

 fine specimens of the present bird, presented to me by Captain Michael Tweedie, of the Royal Artillery, 

 who killed them at Kooloo, a district which lies, I believe, a little to the north of Simla. Captain Tweedie 

 informs me that the bird inhabits the elevated forests of this part of India, and also the north-western 

 provinces, and that he believes it to be a migrant or summer visitant of those regions. 



In a letter to Mr. Blyth, Lord Arthur Hay remarks, "It is very curious that, though the Red-billed Jay 

 is found alone at Simla, I should have procured only the Yellow-billed one after leaving Jummoo, and in 

 Cachemere." On this passage, Mr. Blyth remarks, that by the red-billed bird his Lordship intended 

 U. occipitalis, and by the yellow-billed one, U. flamrostris ; but I have no doubt that his remark really has 

 reference to the bird here figured. Dr. Adams informs us that this species replaces the V, occipitalis in 

 the mountains of Cashmere, that it is often met wkh on the banks of the Jhelum, and that its habits are 

 similar to those of the other species. Capt. Strachey's bird from Kamoan, referred to by Dr. Horsfield and 

 Mr. Moore, is probably identical with the present bird. 



Crown black, with a few of the posterior feathers margined at the tip with white ; at the nape of the 

 neck a patch of white ; cheeks, sides of the neck, throat, and breast black ; upper surface bluish brown • 

 shoulders and outer webs of the primaries and secondaries fine blue, their inner webs brownish black v all 

 the secondaries crescented with white at the tip ; primaries margined obliquely with bluish white, and 

 with a narrow line of pure white at the tip, increasing in breadth but diminishing in length as the feathers 

 approach the body ; upper tail-coverts blue tipped with black, posterior to which is a fine transverse line of 

 bluish white ; two centre tail-feathers blue largely tipped with white ; the next on each side blue tipped 

 with white, and with a narrow band of black separating the two colours ; the remainder blue largely tipped 

 with white, the two colours separated by a broad deep band of black, immediately behind which is a 

 mark of bluish white, which becomes narrower, longer, and of a purer white as the feathers recede from 

 the centre ; all the under surface creamy white, with a slight wash of blue ; bill and leo-s rich lemon- 

 yellow. 



The Plate represents the bird about three-fourths of the size of life. The plant is the Garcinia Man- 

 gos tana. 







m. 



• 







