1846.] or Little Known Species of Birds. 29 



races which I still insist upon are different species, if any meaning 

 is to be attached to the latter term. With sufficiently perfect speci- 

 mens to form an opinion upon, I own I cannot conceive how any other 

 conclusion can be arrived at, in the latter instance, than that upon which 

 Mr. Elliot and myself are agreed. 



Cissa, Boie : Corapica, Lesson : Chlorisoma, Swainson. Here, again, 

 I think that three species require to be distinguished. 1, Cissa sinensis, 

 (6m.), founded on Buffon's plate, of which a copy has been obligingly 

 sent me by Mr. Jerdon. This would seem to be distinguished from C. 

 venatorius, (Gray,) of the Himalaya, Assam, Sylhet, and the Tenasserim 

 Provinces, by having much less black behind the eye ; and it would 

 appear also to have the wing entirely blackish, except the tips of the 

 tertiaries which are white : and as the upper-parts are represented more 

 green than blue, the inference is, that the hue of Buffon's specimen had 

 not faded. — 2, C. venatorius, (Gray); — and 3, C. thalassina, (Tern.) — C. 

 venatorius, when newly moulted, is of a lovely green, with the wings 

 bright sanguine-red ; and the bill and legs deep coral : but whether alive, 

 (wild, or in confinement,) or mounted as a stuffed specimen and exposed 

 to the light, the green soon changes to verdigris-blue, and the red of 

 the wings to dull ashy : at this time of writing, a specimen in the 

 Museum which was of the finest green and red when set up, has com- 

 pletely faded on the side exposed to a moderate light, and retained its 

 pristine colours on the other side ; and I am obliged to keep another 

 specimen protected from the light, to shew the great beauty of the 

 species in its unchanged verdure. I have had many of these birds alive, 

 which combine in their manners the traits of the Jay and Shrike ; they 

 are very amusing birds, soon become tame and quite fearless, are very 

 imitative, sing lustily a loud and screeching strain of their own, with 

 much gesticulation, and are highly carnivorous in their appetite. The 

 Shrike-like habit, in confinement, of placing a bit of food in each interval 

 betwixt the bars of their prison, is in no species more strongly exempli- 

 fied then in Cissa venatorius. 



The genera Psilorhinus and Cissa, with Cyanacorax of South Ame- 

 rica, form a little group by themselves* ; and I consider that Mr. 

 Strickland was quite justified in separating from the last the blue Jays of 



* Corvus cyanus, Pallas, exemplifies another form that should rank with them. 



