361 



RED-BILLED JAY. 



Corvus er}^throrhynchos. C. fusco-violaceus cauda longissima, 



fronte jngulo pectoreque nigris, occipite apicihusque remigum 



rectricumque albis. 

 Brown -violet Jay, with very long tail, forehead, throat, and 



breast black; hind-head, wing and tail-tips white. 

 Corvus erythrorhynchos. C. corpore supra fusco suhtus albi' 



cante, caiida cuneiformi, remigibus basi dilute violaceis, medio 



nigris, apice albis, Lin, Gmel, 

 Geai de la Chine a bee rouge. Buff, ois, Fl. EnL 622. 

 Red-Billed Jay. Lath. syn. 

 La Pie bleue. Levaill. ois. pi. 57. 



This beautiful bird has long ago been described 

 by BufFon, and is figured in the Planches En- 

 luminees ; but Monsr. Levaillant observes that the 

 figure there given is extremely faulty in the ex- 

 pression of the tail, which, instead of being but of 

 moderate length, as there represented, far exceeds 

 that of the w^hole body: it is strongly cuneated, 

 the two middle feathers, which were probably 

 wanting in the specimen figured in the Planches 

 Enluminees, extending a great way beyond the 

 rest. The colour of the bird is grey brown, with 

 a strong cast of violet, which on the wings and 

 tail is much brighter than elsewhere, and particu- 

 larly on the latter: the forehead, fore part of the 

 neck, and breast are deep black, the hind-head 

 greyish white, the under parts of the body pale 

 ash-colour: the wing-feathers are tipped to some 

 little distance round the edges with white, forming, 

 when closed, a double range of white crescents 



V. VII. p. II. ^4 



