278 V. Ball — Notes on Andaman Birds. [No. 4, 
10. Halcyon Smybnensis, Linn. 
This resembles specimens from Southern India and Ceylon in the bril- 
liancy of the coloration. Length 10\8, wing 5, bill at front 2 4 inches. 
11. Halcyon chlobis, Bodd. Sharpe, Monograph of Alcedinidce, 
p. 229. Todiramphus collaris, Scop. 
The collection contains several specimens of this bird which is said to 
be one of the commonest on the Islands.' 
Bam. Psittacidje. 
12. Paljeoenis Alexandbi, Linn. ? 
While aware of the considerable amount of variation which Palceornis 
Alexandri is subject to, I should be disposed to claim for the Andaman bird 
now before me a position as a distinct species, were I able to affirm that the 
characters which it exhibits are constant ; but on this point I have no in- 
formation at present. The specimen, a male, at once attracted notice by 
the enormous size of its bill ; and on closer examination and comparison 
with a good series of Indian specimens, I found that it possesses other 
characters which distinguish it from the Indian bird of normal, plumage. 
The black stripe from the lower mandible to the demicollar of peach- 
rose, so marked in ordinary specimens, is in this reduced to a narrow line 
which commences half an inch from the mandible and terminates at the first 
point of contact with the peach-rose, not being continued as a border to it, 
as it commonly is for three-fourths of an inch or so in Indian specimens. 
The head and cheeks, down to the collar, are of a vivid emerald green 
without a trace of the purplish grey or hoary bloom which is present in 
all Indian birds which I have examined. The dark red spot on the 
shoulders is smaller than usual ? and the blue of the central tail feathers 
of a much more decided hue. The wing is somewhat shorter than in any of 
the Indian specimens with which I have compared it. 
Dimensions of bill. Gape to point. Width at gape. 
A. B. A. B. 
Up. mandible 115 inch. 115 inch. -95 inch. 85 inch. 
Lr. mandible, -75 „ '65 „ -9 „ -8 „ 
Depth of both mandibles dosed A. V7, B. 15 . 
A is the Andaman bird, B a specimen of ordinary dimensions from 
the Rajmahal Hills. Should all the Andaman birds prove to have the 
above characters I would propose the name P. fnagnirostris for the 
species. 
It the characters be constant, they are as sufficient to distinguish the 
two races as are those which distinguish the two races of P. rosa. I may 
perhaps mention that in looking through a drawer full of these latter, I found 
