The genus Platysmurus contains two species, one of which is a resident in the southern portion of Tenasserim and the other inhabits Borneo. They seem to connect the Magpies with the Jays.
The bill is very much curved and shorter than the head, and the bristles covering the nostrils are numerous and stiff but short. The feathers of the crown of the head are very harsh. The tail is of no great Length but well graduated. The sexes are alike and the young appear to resemble the adults.
Davison, who observed these birds in life, says : - " This species keeps entirely to the forests, going about usually in parties of from four to six. They have a deep, rolling metallic note, which they continually utter as they move from tree to tree. I have never seen them on the ground; they probably get their food, which consists of insects, and occasionally, at any rate, of fruit, amongst the trees. They are excessively restless and always on the move, flying from tree to tree, generally at a considerable height, and continually uttering their harsh metallic call. They restrict themselves to the evergreen forests, never, that I am aware, coming into gardens or open ground,"
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