South-eastei'n Subdivision of Southern Ceylon, 289 



of a rushing torrent iu the wet season^ been delighted in 

 listening to its lively notes and watching its quick movements 

 in the magnificent mahogany trees over my head. 



I have a considerable series of examples with tails in all 

 stages, and at no period do I find any resemblance to those 

 of D. lo])ho7'hinus. They appear to breed in this part about 

 May ; for on the 3rd July I shot a female in nestling-plumage, 

 with the iris light brown, and the tarsi with the lower part 

 bluish, changing above to the black of the adult. The frontal 

 crest was scarcely recurved at all, but projecting forward, as 

 in lophorhinus ; the feathers of the head and back of the neck 

 were round-tipped, and the under tail-coverts not barred white 

 as the under wing-coverts, but with only one spot at the tip 

 of one of the longest feathers. The lateral rectrices were 3*35 

 inches longer than the urojiygials ; in the finest lophorhinus 

 the difference does not exceed 2'6 ; the web was well turned 

 up and over at the tip, as in the adult, with a small indenta- 

 tion adjacent to the tip of the penultimate, looking as if the 

 margin had been burnt, and leaving a width of "23 in the 

 web. The total length of this example was 13 inches, with 

 a wing of 5 "75. In the second year the crest is recurved, 

 though not so lengthened as in old birds, the under tail- 

 coverts are barred white, and of course the under wing-coverts 

 spotted with the same; and in a female, now before me, the 

 lateral rectrice is 4-75 longer than the uropygials, with quite 

 a perceptible edging to the shaft at the denuded part, leaving 

 a width of '07 at its narrowest : the iris is brownish red, and 

 the wing 5 •75. In the most adult bird, and, at the same time, 

 the largest male that I can pick out of a series of eight now 

 before me, the lateral rectrice is 6*4 longer than the uropygials, 

 and the shaft is almost completely denuded ; the iris in this 

 is deep red, the under tail-coverts unspotted ; but the under 

 wing-coverts have two solitary spots as a remnant of the im- 

 mature dress. The above diagnosis will, I think, prove that 

 the short tail is a characteristic of immaturity, and not an in- 

 dividual variation. 



55. TcHiTREA PARADiSEA (Linn.). 



I found this species abundant in the Wellaway Korle in 



SER. III. VOL. V. y 



