EUEYSTOMUS ORIENT ALIS. 
(THE INDIAN BROAD-BILLED ROLLER.) 
Coracias orientalis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 159 (1766). 
Eurystomus orientalis , Steph. Gen. Zool. xiii. p. 99 (1826) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 
no. 220, p. 51 (1849) ; Bayard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 171 ; Horsf. 
& Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. no. 148, p. 121 (1854); Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 219 
(1862) ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 423; Hume, Str. Feath. 1874, p. 164 ; Morgan, 
ibid. p. 531; Bourdillon, ibid. 1876, p. 382. 
Eurystomus cyanicollis,V ieill. N. Diet. d’Hist. Nat. xxix. p. 425 (1816). 
The Oriental Boiler (Horsfield) ; Tiong Batu , Sumatra (Raffles) ; Tihong Lampay, Malay. 
Adult male and female. Length (from skin) ll'O to 12-0 inches ; wing 7'2 to 7’5 ; tail 3 - 7 to 3'9 ; tarsus 0'75 ; middle 
toe 085, claw (straight) 0-35 ; bill to gape 1’5. 
The above are from 3 Ceylonese examples. A Nepaul bird in the British Museum measures, wing 7‘4 inches ; another 
from Labuan, wing 7’3 inches. 
Iris hazel-brown ; bill deep orange-red, the tip of the upper mandible red ; orbital skin red ; tarsi and feet orange- 
red ; feet duskier than the tarsus. 
Head, face, and chin brown, darker in some adults than in others, and slightly suffused with greenish on the nape, 
which passes into the opaque leaf-green of the hind neck, back, least wing-coverts, ter tials, and rump ; median and 
greater wing-coverts greenish blue, blending into the duller hue of the lesser coverts ; primary-coverts, pi binaries, 
and secondaries black, washed on the outer webs and on the inner just inside the shaft with ultramarine ; ji broad 
band of pallid cerulean blue extending from the inner web of the 1st primary to the outer web of the 7th, and 
tinging the surrounding ultramarine at the point of contact ; tail black, the feathers washed with ultramarine at 
the edges, and the reverse part beneath, except near the tip, blue ; centre of the throat cerulean blue, blending 
into the obscure greenish blue of the fore neck and under surface ; the centre of the breast and abdomen verditer- 
blue ; under wing-coverts concolorous with the breast. 
The above description is from Ceylonese examples. One from Nepal has the head and hind neck darker, and the bine 
colour of the breast not so bright ; another is very similar to the Ceylonese birds, but has the back and wings more 
sombre, the wing-bar smaller (its hue spreading down the outer edges of the quills in the form of an edging), and 
the under surface much greener. 
Young. Mr. Hume writes of the immature bird that the bill, which is much smaller than in the adult, is almost black, 
with the gonys pale orange, which gradually deepens in colour with the age of the bird and spreads over the 
whole mandible, the upper mandiblo becoming reddish black, after which the orange hue spreads from the gape 
over the whole upper mandible except the tip. 
An example which I have examined from the Andamans is paler on the head and neck than an adult ; the feathers of 
the upper surface are slightly pale-edged ; chin and along the base of the under mandible brown ; a portion of 
the throat tinged with hyacinth-blue, the rest greenish blue, and the feathers pale-tipped, with a faint tinge of the 
hyacinth hue on the centres of many. The under parts are paler than in the adult, and the feathers of the chest 
tipped with a light colour. 
Obs. This is a variable species in colour, which character is no doubt due to the age of respective individuals : one 
example from Labuan corresponds with Ceylonese and Indian ones ; it is slightly more nigrescent on the hind 
neck and interscapulars, and the blue of the throat is more extensive. Another from the island of Negros and 
one from Java are also not to be separated. 
Eurystomus pacificus, of which I have examined specimens in the national collection from Ceram and the Sula Islands, 
is closely allied to E. orientalis. The wings of three specimens measure 7-8, 7'8, and 7-5 inches respectively. The 
upper surface is greener, the under parts paler, and the throat less coloured with blue than in E. orientalis ; 
the basal outer margins of the tail-feathers are tinged with greenish blue. A Sula-Island individual, however, has 
