70 
BIRDS OF BUITTSH BURMAH. 
band of pale blue near the tip ; the outer webs of the later primaries and 
all the secondaries the same light blue for about an inch below the coverts ; 
primary- coverts light blue. 
Bill dark brownish black ; mouth yellow ; edges of the eyelids^ lores 
and skin at the back of the eye yellowish orange ; iris brown ; legs 
yellowish brown ; claws black. 
Length 13 inches, tail 6' 2, wing 7'4_, tarsus 1*1, bill from gape 1'9. 
The female is of about the same size. 
The Burmese Roller, or Blue Jay as it is usually turmed by residents 
in Burmah, occurs commonly over the whole Province except in the 
extreme south of Tenasserim^ where Mr. Davison did not observe it. 
It is found in Siam^ and Dr. Tiraud states that it is very common in 
Cochin China. It extends through the Indo -Burmese countries up to 
Assam and westerly through Eastern Bengal as far as Calcutta. In India 
it is replaced by C. indicus ; and the two appear to interbreed in the 
territory where they meet. 
This Roller is a very familiar and well-known bird, and is found in 
almost every portion of the Province except in the interior of the larger 
forests. It prefers compounds^ gardens and places where the trees are not 
very thickly placed. Perched usually on a dead branch it likes to have a 
good view all round ^ in order the more easily to detect the larger insects, 
which it catches by gliding to the ground. After killing and eating its 
prey, it returns to the same or a similar perch. 
This bird breeds in March and April, laying four or five glossy white 
eggs in a natural hollow in a tree at various heights from the ground. 
Genus EURYSTOMUS, Vieill. 
461. EURYSTOMUS OEIENTALIS. 
THE BROAD-BILLED ROLLER. 
Coracias orientalis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 159. Eurystomus orientalis, Jerd. 
B. Ind. i. p. 219 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 105 ; id. S. F. ii, p. 164 ; Salvad. 
Uce. Born. p. 105 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 72 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 73 ; Wardlaw 
Ba?nsag, Ibis, 1877, p. 457 ; Hume Sr Dav. S. F. vi. p. 72 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, 
p. 285 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 85 ; Bingham, S. F. ix. p. 153 ; Kelham, Ibis, 1881, 
p. 379 ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 186. 
Description. — Male and /mot/e. JForehead^ crown and nape dark brown 
with a tinge of greenish blue ; from the nape the greenish blue tinge 
becoming more decided on the back, scapulars, tertiaries, the wing-coverts. 
