326 
SUBGENUS BHUCHANGA NOBIS. 
ceal the bill. Rictus to eye, and strongly 
bristled, below as well as above. 
Plumes of the head and neck, lanceolate ; 
and those of the neck also elongated and bur- 
nished as in the two^precedent species. Legs, 
and feet, and wings, as in them ; but the tarsi 
and toes somewhat slenderer, and the thumb 
perhaps rather more developed. Ordinary 
tail shorter than the body, and composed of 
ten even plumes : its appendages more than 
double its length ; nude-shafted as in mala- 
baroides, with 3 and § inches of the tips barb- 
ed, and equally so on both sides of the shafts. 
Is a shy and retired forester, like the two 
last, feeding like them on the wing, by occa- 
sional darts from its lofty perch. Food, 
wasps, bees, various small coleoptera, with 
grilli, mantides, and other flying insects. 
Colour, black, with a very brilliant blue 
changing sometimes into green ; belly and 
gloss, flanks, slaty black and unglossed, espe 
daily in the female, which is rather less in size 
than her mate, but otherwise similar. Lining 
of the wings usually spotted with pure white 
both sexes : bill and legs, jetty : iris, dark in 
brown. 
Subgenus Bhuchanga nobis. 
4 th Species. Indicus necnon Fingah auc- 
torum? Albirictus or spotted gape nobis. 
Described by me, some years ago, in the 
Asiatic Society’s Transactions. Distinguish- 
able from all the precedent, by its familiarity 
with man,, by its simple plumage, by its 
parabolic evolutions in -the air, by the supe- 
rior length and power of its wings, its deeply 
forked tail, its shorter and unfeathered tongue, 
its feebler thumb, its more or less conical bill, 
audits non-apivorous habits. In the strength 
of its legs and feet it more nearly resemble 
casia and malabaroi'des than tectirostris ; but, 
in the form and size of its bill, is it much liker 
to the latter than to the former. 
Structure and size, 12§ inches long by 
18 § between the wings. Bill ; tail 
6| ; tarsus I| ; central toe js, hind 
Weight 2f oz. Bill scarcely longer than the 
head, strong, straight, hooked, conico-tetra- 
gonal, with blunt ridges and subconvexed 
sides, at base broader than high, and con- 
siderably spread except towards the tip which 
is compressed, but less so than in the last. 
Curve and recurve, tooth and notch, all pro- 
minent. Culmen scarcely § keeled, and only 
so far hid by the thick-set soft frontal plumes 
which end in adpressed setae and hairs over 
the nares. The nostrils are a good deal ad- 
vanced, but nearer to the gape than the tip. 
They are small, round, lateral, shaded above 
by a small process of the fossal membrane, 
and closely pressed by the nareal tufts. Ric- 
tus to eye and strongly bristled. Tongue 
shortish, subbifid, and subjagged ; not fea- 
thered like the foregone species. 
Plumage simple and but faintly glossed. 
Wings long, strong, and acuminate, reaching 
beyond the middle of the long tail ; 2§ inches 
less its tip. Closed wings fi^inches, whereof 
the 1 st quill is 3 ; the 2 nd 5 ; the 3 rd and 5 th, 
5 | ; the 4 th and longest 6 ; primes plus ter- 
tials 14^ inch, and harder and more pointed 
than in any of the precedent. Tail 10 , longer 
than the body and deeply forked, the centrals 
being 2 § inches less the extreme laterals ; 
legs and feet strong and heavily scaled ; 
tarsus longer than any toe ; toes short, 
unequal ; the fores rather full-soled, and 
basally connected, but less than in any 
of the foregone ; thumb, strong and depress- j 
ed, though not elongated, equal only to the in- 
ner fore toe ; nails very acute, the hind larg- j 
est, as in the others. 
Colour, black, with a dark blue gloss chang- 
ing to green and prevailing throughout. Alar 
plumes internally with a greyish hue and not j 
glossed ; caudal, black and glossy below. Bill 1 
and legs jetty : iris, red brown : lores, black : i 
behind the gape a permanent pure white spot ;i 
(unde nomen). Female, less : her belly and 1 
flanks shaded with white ; and her wing-lining 
under tail-coverts maculate with the same, i: 
Young and moulting birds, very similar to the 
female, but wanting the rictal spot which the 
grown females in full plumage has, as well as 
the male. 
5 th Species, new? Fingah? .^Eratus ? auc- 
torum. Annectans nobis. Annectant Bhu- 
changa nobis. A singular species, returning, j 
both by its form and habits, towards the fo- 
rest, — haunting birds first described, through 1 
the 3 rd or Tectirostris, which it very closely i 
resembles in the form of its bill. 1 
Structure and size, Ilf inches long by 17 j 
in expanse of wings, and 2 oz. in weight ; bill 
1^. tail 5 f ; tarsus central toe hind {g. | 
The strong wing with the 4 th quill longest, [ 
the distinctly forked tail, the simple tongue, 
the moderately elongated distinctly hooked I 
bill, the shortish thumb, and simple plumage, j 
proclaim this bird a bhuchanga, or, in other 
words, attest its intimate affinity with the I 
last or albirictus. Indeed, any ordinary ob- 
server would confound the two, as those who 
ought to have studied closer have done in 
costly tomes of natural history. Yet a 
broader, more angular, less straight, and less | 
hooked bill, together with a shorter tail, far ^ 
less forked, sufficiently prove the specific 1 
distinctness ; notwithstanding an uniformity j 
of colouring in both sexes of the two species | 
amounting almost to identity. Bill, distinctly 
longer than the head, subarCuate, strong, i 
spreading, but not depressed; slightly hooked, 1 
tetragonal with sharp ridges, and nearly plane , 
sides, gradually and moderately compressed j 
towards the tip, Nares, gape, and capistrum, 
as in the last. Wings scarcely so strong. j 
Tail shorter than the body, and forked barely 
one inch. 
Colour, lack with a moderate changeable I 
blue or gre'en gloss : no spot behind the 
gape. The female and young have the , 
breast, lining of wings, and lower tail coverts 
spotted or shaded with white : bill and legs I 
jetty: iris red brown. Rarer and less fami- 1 
liar than albirictus, but not a forester. 
Sub-genus Chaptia nobis. Chaptya (quasi 
Platyrynchus) of Nepal. 
