Y © . nila
oe ochin-China. It extends as
throughout the whole of the Indo-Chinese countries, ranging into Siam as C hors
eo OV »
far south as Tenasserim; but Mr. Hume states that near Merg ui in the — pr ert .
° ites that he found it extreme
exhibited a tendency towards the Malayan race, I. cyanea. Mr. Oates ste é y

abundant in all the evergreen forests on the eastert

rn slopes of the Pegu hills, but that it is never seen on the

western slopes or on the plains. i pg ia
7 , lley. Captain Bingham describes his finding of a nest as
In his paper on the birds of the Thoungyeen valley, Ca] : hill-side overlooking the
: re teep hill-side ov
follows :—‘‘ On the 11th of April I was slowly clambering along a very steep

; re mn from a tree, whose crown was below my
oie choung, a small tributary of the Maplay stream, whe : ; =
I could see the nest and that it contained two eggs; so

feet, I startled a female /rena puella off her nest.
On getting the nest down I found it a poor

shot the female, who had taken to a tree a little above me. hcl \
e ys > a f ° - se a 2S S
affair of little twios. with a superstructure of moss shaped into a hollow saucer, on which reposed two eggs,

large for the size of the bird, of a dull greenish white, much dashed, speckled, aad apotted with brown.
They were so hard set, that I only managed to save one, which measured 1-09 by oa? =o. ie

The following description of the habits of the birds is copied verbatim from Captam Legge’s Birds Oo
Ceylon —* The Fairy Bluebird associates in small parties and affects lofty trees in foliage, Tecmie on
It is entirely a fruit-eating bird, and in this respect shows its affinity to the poe of the short-
legged Thrushes (Brachypodide). It is never found, says Mr. Davison, in the deciduous forests of
Tenasserim. The tenacious manner in which it confines itself to the evergreen jungle is remarkable ; for he
writes, ‘ About Pappoon, where the forests are deciduous, I never saw one; but, again, US twenty a
to the north of that place, the bird reappears with evergreen forests.’ The constantly recurring supply of
food in the latter naturally accounts for the predilection of the Bluebird for them; but it is strange that
when deciduous woods are found in their vicinity it does not wander through them during the season of
fruition. Mr. Davison writes:—‘It is almost always found in flocks, but occasionally in pairs or even
singly. It is a very bright and lively bird, always on the move, hopping from branch to branch or tree to
tree, uttering its fine note, which resembles exactly the words “ be quick, be quick.” They live on fruit, I
believe, exclusively, and are especially fond of figs; and where a fig-tree is in fruit great numbers
congregate, with Hornbills, Green Pigeons, Fruit-Pigeons, and numbers of other fruit- eating birds. In the
middle of the day they ae come down to the banks of streams and the smaller rivers to drink and
bathe.’ Jerdon styles its note ‘a fine Bees warble, which it is constantly repeating, both when feeding

their fruit.

and when it flies from one tree to another.’

I add the description of the species given by Mr. Bowdler Sharpe in the ‘ Catalogue of Birds ’:—

“Adult male. General colour above deep purplish cobalt, of a purer blue shade somewhat on the forehead ;
scapulars as well as the breast and median coverts coloured exactly like the back, the greater series blackish,
with a cobalt-blue spot at the tips of some of them; quills and tail black, with a slight bluish shade on the
secondaries and central tail- feathers ; lores, feathers over the eye, sides of face, sides of neck, and entire
under surface, including the thighs aa under wing-coverts, black ; under tail-coverts deep purplish cobalt ;
bill and legs black ; iris ruby-red. Total length 10 inches, culmen 0-95, tail 4°45, tarsus 0°75, dense
between tip of tail-coverts and tip of tail 1-6.

‘Adult female. Different in colour from the male, bemg of a dull Prussian blue, a little brighter and
inclining to cobalt on the rump and upper and under tail-coverts ; wings and tail dark brown, the quills
narrowly edged and the secondaries and tail-feathers w ashed with dull blue, the latter more conspicuously,”

The Plate represents a pair of birds of the size of life, drawn from examples in my own collection.

ic. ie oT