4 
THE GRKAT HIMALAYAN BAKBET, 
Megalc^ma marshalloruvi. 
I have not a skin of this species to hand, so must perforce quote 
from "F. of Brit. India," as I am unable to get up to the Museum to 
examine and describe the skins there. 
" Colouration. Feathers of head and neck all round black with deep violet b'lie edges; 
" back and scapulars brownish olive, the upper back with narrow pale green or greenish- 
" yellow longitudinal streaks ; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts grass-green, with 
" brighter green edges ; tail green above, blackish washed with pale blue below ; secondary 
" coverts like back ; primary-coverts and primaries near the base fringed with bine, outer 
" webs of secondaries green, tertiaries bluer with the tips olive-brown, remainder of quills 
" blackish-brown, inner webs with yellowish-white margins, and outer webs of primaries 
" with a pale linear border near the tips ; upper breast dark olive-brown ; lower breast and 
" abdomen bine in the middle, yellow with broad brownish shaft-stripes at the sides; under 
" tail-coverts scarlet." 
" Bill yellow, pale in front, dusky at the edge of the upper mandible ; irides brown ; legs 
" greenish \\or\\y .—J etdon." 
"Length 13; tail 4 ; wing 5.7: tarsus 1.25; bill from gage 2.1." 
" Distribution. Throughout the Himalayas as far west as Murree, between 3000 and 8000 
" feet elevation, also south of the Assam Valley in Manipur the Khasi hills, and according 
" to Blyth, Arrakan. Birds from Karennee referred to this species by Wardlaw kamsay 
" prove to belong to the next." 
" Haiits, !t^c. A forest bird; according to Jerdoii, 'it has a loud plaintive call— 
" keeps to the top of high trees, lives entirely on fruit, and has a strong and vigorous 
" flight in great undulations.' It sometimes is met with in small flocks. It makes nest 
" holes in various trees, in the trunks and larger branches, from 10 to 50 feet from the 
" ground, and lays from the middle of May to the middle of July. The eggs are dull white, 
" usually four in number, and measure on an average i 37by 08." — Fauna of Brit. India. 
* * * 
THE GREAT CHINESE BAKBET (BLANDFORD), 
MegaliTina vh ens. 
With Mr. Goodchild's exquisite plate accompanying these notes, a 
description is unnecessary, though perhaps I had better emphasise the 
distinctions between the two species other than tliose named in the 
keys quoted above.... The pale streaks on the upper back are fewer in 
number and not so distinct, and are whitish, almost impei ceptihly stained 
with blue and not with green or yellow, as in M. marshalloruin. It is a bird 
of the forests, keepingtothe topsof the tiees, subsisting ahnost entirely on 
fruit. It nests in lioles in the trunks and larger branches of tiees. Major 
Bingham found the eggs in Tenasserim during February and ]\Iarcli. 
Distribution. "Karennee and hill-forests of Northern Tenasserim as 
far south as Miileyit, east of Monlbrnein, extending thence unto South 
China." {Fauna of British India.) 
Though having seen the Zoo specimen many times I have passed it 
as Ijeing the Giant Himalayan Barbet and have not made the minute 
examination to say whicli species it is really referable to. 
The Barbets are all nice interesting birds, many of them being clad in 
really gorgeous plumage and many of them of a smallei size than the two 
