312 
Birds of Celebes: Coraciidae. 
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hypothetical explanations may be suggested, which would, however, not bring the 
problem to a solution in the present deficient state of our knowledge. 
GENUS EURYSTOMUS Yieill. 
Ditfers from Coracias by its shorter, broader bill, broader than deep across 
the nostril, not black in colour, but yellow or chiefly red (in the young duskier) , 
the nostril a long, linear slit; no rictal bristles; the toes united for their basal 
joint; wing rather long and pointed, the 2"^ quill a little longer than the 
I and 3"h About seven or eight species, ranging from India to Australia and 
New Zealand; also Africa, and Madagascar. 
98. EUKYSTOMUS ORIENTALIS (L.). 
Indo-A ustralian Broad-billed Roller. 
As a species this bird ranges from the Himalayas and Amoorland in the 
north to Australia and, occasionally, to New Zealand in the south. It varies, 
of course, individually, like everything else that lives, and also to some extent 
racially, but both questions are very improperly understood. The two chief 
authorities of the present day on the Rollers, Hr. Sharpe and Mr. Dresser, 
are not in unison on the racial question: Dr. Sharpe (P. Z. S. 1890, 551; 
Cat. B. XA^II 1892, 36, 38) would have it that there are three species and one 
subspecies; Mr. Dresser (Ibis 1891, 91 — 102, Alon. Corac. 1893, 70, 76) main- 
tains the more generally accepted view^ of two species — a northern and a 
southern one. We prefer to avoid this troublesome question with the remark 
that Dr. Sharpe is probably wTong^) and Mr. Dresser probably not entirely 
1) We bave paid considerable attention to Dr. Sharjje’s views. Treating liis three species and one 
subspecies as four races of JE. orientalis, the following should be their geographical ranges; 
1. The typical E. orientalis (Linn.), the stationary resident form of the East Indies from Cachar and the 
Burmese countries to the Great Sunda Islands (Sharpe) as far as Talaut (Nat. Coll. 16), Sangi, Celebes 
(Mus. Dresd.), Peling (Nat. Coll.) and Halmahera (Salvadori). 
2. E. orientalis calonyx (R. B. Sharpe), a more northern, migratory form, ranging from the Himalayas, 
where some examples at least appear to be stationary in places, though in Terai below Xumaon 
it is said by Mr. Thompson to arrive in April, breed in May, and leave in July and August 
(P. Z. S. 1890, 552), to “Amoor-land, Manchuria, and Northern China in summer, apparently wintering 
in Tenasserim and the Malayan Peninsula and Borneo” (Sharpe), Labuan, Java, Keeling Island, 
Ceylon, Sangi (Dresser, Ibis 1891, 101), Celebes (Dresser, and in the Dresden Museum). 
3. E. orientalis laetior (R.B. Sharpe), “Southern India and Ceylon” (Sharpe), apparently a resident in Ceylon 
but very rare (Legge, B. Ceylon, 286), believed by Bourdillon (Str. P. 1876, IV, 382) to be a 
visitor only to Travancore, S. India. 
4. E. orientalis australis (Swains.), apparently a more or less regular migrant, ranging from Celebes 
(Sharpe), Sula (Sharpe) and Burn (Salvad. Orn. Pap. I, 1880, 504) to Papuasia, Australia — 
where, in the Victoria basin, “it arrives early in spring, and, having brought forth its progeny, retires 
northwards on the approach of winter” (Gould, Handbook B. Austr. I, 120); in N. S. W. earliest 
arrival observed by Caley (Tr. Z. S. XV, 202) on October 3i'4, 1809, disappearing early in February. 
Most plentiful about Christmas. — “Occasionally reaching to New Zealand” (Sharp e), four examples 
being known to Buller, stragglers killed recently on the West coast at the time the species visits 
Australia (B. New Zealand, 2»'i. ed. 1888, I, 118). 
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