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collection, procured by the late Captain Beavan at Uniballah, in November 1866, gives the following dimen- 

 sions : — Total length 8 inches, culmen 0'97, wing 4 - 6, tail 3 - 2, tarsus L05. These birds are all very small, 

 and appear to belong to a small race of P. cyanus, unless they are P. solitarius, which here reaches its utmost 

 western limit. Pains should be taken by future observers in the above-mentioned localities to see whether 

 they ever get birds with remains of rufous on the abdomen ; for all these four are in blue dress. The chief 

 peculiarity seems to be the short tarsus, which is less than the shortest one among the European specimens 

 examined. Lord Walden has lent as a Darjeeling skin in blue plumage, but evidently in complete winter 

 dress; for, in addition to the ashy-brown shade spread over the head and neck, it has the usual black and white 

 margins to the feathers of the back and the belly. The throat and upper breast are very thickly escalloped, as 

 in the young spotted stage, a phase of plumage difficult to account for, unless our surmise is correct, that the 

 Eastern species, after breeding in the blue-and-red livery, changes in the ensuing winter into an escalloped 

 under dress, and during that time a gradual passage of the abdominal plumage from red to blue takes place. 

 Captain Elwes has kindly sent us an individual in wholly blue garb, and exhibiting only slight remains of the 

 winter plumage, a few of the mottlings on the throat being still apparent. Another bird, obtained with the 

 foregoing at Darjeeling in the winter of 1869-70, agrees very well with the Philippine example which we 

 considered to be the young of P. solitarius, but does not exhibit nearly so much rufous on the under wing- 

 and tail-coverts, and has decidedly more of a blue shade overspreading the flanks, on which we cannot discover 

 the slightest approach to a rufous abdomen. The colour of the bill is brown, inclining to a yellowish brown 

 on the lower mandible; and this seems to indicate that it is an immature bird. Total length 7 - 7 inches, 

 culmen - 85, wing 4 - 5, tail 3'2, tarsus l - 05. The other two Darjeeling birds measure as follows: — Total 

 length 7-5-8-0 inches, culmen 0-9-0-95, wing 4-7-4-8, tail 3'3-3-35, tarsus 1-0. It is difficult to say whether 

 the birds from Darjeeling are really P. solitarius, as they are in full blue plumage : they seem to be smaller 

 than the average of P. cyanus ; and the Etawah birds point to the existence of a small race, which would pro- 

 bably be the true P. pandoo, 



Assam. Two specimens from this country, in Lord Walden's collection, are in immature dress, similar to 

 Captain Elwes's Darjeeling skin. Total length 8'4 inches, culmen TO, wing 4 - 4-4 - 7, tail 3 - 3-3 - 4, tarsus LI. 



Burmah. Mr. Swinhoe possesses four specimens, sent to him by Mr. Blyth as P. affinis; and on the 

 labels Mr. Blyth draws attention to the square tail of one of the birds, which, for that reason, he refers to 

 P. pandoo. It is a curious fact that we have not yet seen a single specimen from Burmah or any part of 

 Eastern India with a trace of rufous upon it, and we cannot therefore determine the question whether our 

 specimens belong to a small race of P. cyanus or are only the full-plumaged P. solitarius. Two of Mr. Swinhoe' s 

 Burmese birds are in spotted dress, and on one of them a blue feather is shooting on the hinder part of the 

 neck, which seems to prove that it is about to assume a blue upper plumage by a partial or entire moult. The 

 other two birds are in full blue livery, with a great many cross markings on the breast and belly — in fact 

 resembling exactly Lord Walden's Darjeeling specimen. Total length 7-3-8-0 inches, culmen 0-9-1-0, wing 

 4-4-4-7, tail 3-1-3-4, tarsus 1-05-1-1. Lord Walden has five Burmese birds in his collection, four in blue and 

 one in. spotted dress. They all look bigger than the other specimens in Mr. Swinhoe' s cabinet, but there can 

 be no doubt that much of this apparent difference is caused by the making-up of the skin. Two of the blue- 

 plumaged birds are in nearly full breeding-dress, the other two having signs of winter plumage, especially one 

 shot at Moulmein in October 1865 by the late Captain Beavan. They measure as follows : — Total length 

 8-0-8-5 inches, culmen 0-9-1-0, wing 4-6-4-8, tail 3-2-3-4, tarsus 1-1. 



Malacca. Lord Walden possesses two specimens obtained by the late Dr. Maingay in this country. One 

 is an immature bird, with a great deal of blue all over the upper parts and also on the flanks. The throat and 

 breast are mottled ; but we cannot see a trace of approaching rufous on the belly. In the absence of any 

 information as to sex and date of capture, this specimen is one which we are unable to determine satisfactorily. 

 It is evidently immature, from the shape and colour of the beak, which is brownish ; and it does not differ from 

 the Phdippine bird first described, except in the stronger shade of blue on the flanks, and in the entire absence 



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