48. TEEPSIPHONE. 355 



Tchitrea raelampyga, Sc?d. N. T. D. iii. p. 85. 



Terpsiphone melamp3Ta, Sharpe, P.Z. S. 1871, p. 610 ; id. Cut. Afr. 



B. p. 44, no. 420 ; Sharpe ^ Bouvier, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, i. 



p. 45. 

 Tei-psiphone riifocinerea, Cah. J. f. O. 1875, p. 236 ; Reichen. J. f. O. 



1877, p. 22. 



Difficult as it is to establish, I have come to the conclusion that 

 Terpsi])hone melampyra is only the female of the species of which 

 2'. duchaillui is the adult male. The Museum series is so complete 

 that scarcely any doubt can exist on the subject, and the sequence 

 of changes appears to be as follows : — 



Youvg female (sex marked by Dr. Lucan). Above dull orange- 

 chestnut, including the tail ; wing-coverts like the back, the greater 

 series with blackish bases ; primary-coverts and quills blackish, the 

 secondaries externally orange-rufous, of which a narrow margin 

 appears on the primaries ; head and under surface of body dull slaty 

 blue with a slight steel-bluish lustre, the abdomen fluffy and dull 

 whitish, washed slightly with orange ; vent and under tail-coverts 

 dull orange ; thighs dusky grey ; under wing-coverts slaty grey ; 

 axUlaries dull orange-rufous. Total length 6 inches, culmen 0-6, 

 wing 2*8, tail 2-8, tarsus O'oo. 



The bird I take to be thefuU-plumagcd female is much as the typical 

 specimen of T. melampijra. Rich orange-chestnut above ; wings and 

 tail the same, the secondaries entirely like the back, the primaries with 

 broad edgings ; below slaty blue, the throat and sides of face glossed 

 with steel-blue : the hind neck greyish ; crown of head glossy steel- 

 blue ; under wing-coverts slaty blue ; under tail-coverts orange. 



Young males appear at lii'st to resemble the females, but are often 

 distinguished by the greyish edgings to the primaries and the long 

 centre tail-feathers. Considerable difference in the colour of the 

 upperparts exists, sometimes the back being bright orange-rufous, 

 and sometimes chestnut. 



Male in second plumage. The head, neck, and underparts very like 

 the adult, steel-green, shading off into slaty grey on the abdomen ; rest 

 of upper surface rich chestnut-red, as also the wing-coverts ; outer 

 greater coverts, primary-coverts, and quills black, externally edged 

 with slaty grey, the inner secondaries with chestnut ; tail chestnut ; 

 under tail-coverts chestnut. Total length 8-3 inches, culmen 0'65, 

 wing 3-1, tail 3'6, middle tail-feathers 5, tarsus 0'6. 



Intermediate specimens between the red-backed and the white- 

 backed phases of plumage are in the collection ; one may be espe- 

 cially mentioned, as having the red back with a good deal of white 

 on the wings, and a black tail somewhat shaded with rufous at the 

 tip of the inner web, the centre feather having an appearance of 

 white near the shaft. The qiiestion to be proved is, whether the 

 adult miJe ever gets a perfectly white tail, and whether the red-tailed 

 birds arc females or (as I have described them) males in second plu- 

 mage. Mr. Cassiu's assignation of the red-tailed bird to the adult 

 male and the white bird to the i\A\\\i female is obviously incorrect ; 

 and the separation of his Musdpeta speciosa from M. duchaillui is 



