of the Genus Hemicercus. 255 



Much perplexity has existed as to the identity of the 

 sexes of this species as well as of H. cordatus. Dr. Jerdon 

 described the buffy white crown as a character of the male, 

 and the spotted crown as a character of the female. Siinde- 

 vall, as well as Cabanis and Heine, shared this view, while, 

 on the contrary, Malherbe considered the spotted-headed 

 bird to be the male ; and this opinion was held by Colonel 

 Tickell, who, in his MS. "^ Illustrations to Indian Ornithology,^ 

 has figured the white-crowned bird as the female. Mr. Hume 

 endorses Malherbe^s opinion, and considers his views fully 

 corroborated by the large number of specimens of which the 

 sexes have been carefully determined by his trustworthy col- 

 lectors. I was at first inclined to think that there were two 

 species inhabiting Burmah, Tenasserim, and probably Siam 

 (one in which both the male and female had spotted heads, 

 and another in which both male and female had a buffy-white 

 cap), and that two smaller races of these existed in Malabar 

 and the peninsula of India. The different opinions held by 

 so many learned authors seemed to justify such an idea, as I 

 presumed that the specimens collected and examined by Dr. 

 Jerdon and others were determined. Mr. Hume, however, 

 than whom we can have no better authority, has examined a 

 very large series of specimens, and he states that the bird 

 with the spotted head is the male, and that the light-crowned 

 bird is the female, also that the young male resembles the 

 female in having the light crown, which disappears with age, 

 the feathers becoming black, very minutely spotted with 

 white at the tip, the change commencing at the extremity of 

 the feather. Upon examining the black-headed birds, one 

 constantly finds specimens (evidently immature) in which the 

 bases of the feathers of the forehead and crown are white, 

 clearly showing the change of plumage, which is not the 

 result of a moult, but a change of colour in the feather itself, 

 the black first appearing on the tip. I have in my collection 

 a specimen from the Arrakan hills {E, W. Oates) which is 

 a spotted- headed bird, but marked female ; and Mr. Oates 

 drew my attention to this, saying he had no reason to doubt 

 the accuracy of the determination. While unable to account 



