Mr. H. J. Elwes on the Genus Henicurus. 257 



sea. The nest and eggs are said to be similar to those of H. 

 maculatus, but smaller. 



5. Henicurus ruficapillus. 



E. ruficapillus, Temm. PI. Col. 534 ; Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi, 

 p. 155 ; Cat. Birds in Mus. As. Soc. p. 159. 



E. diadematus, Miill. (exBoie, MS.) Tijds. voor Nat. Gesch. 

 1835, p. 346. 



Hab. Java [Blyth) ; Sumatra [Muller) ; Malacca [Maingay). 



Head, cheeks, sides of neck, and back rich reddish brown ; 

 belly, rump, gorget, and narrow wing-bar white ; breast-feathers 

 white, broadly edged with black ; chin and throat black, a nar- 

 row, band on the forehead white, bordered with black. 



In some specimens, which, according to Temminck, are males, 

 the chin and tbroat are white and the lower part of the back 

 black instead of red. As, however, none of the specimens 

 which I have examined had their sexes noted, I am unable 

 to verify this statement. According to Miiller the female is 

 smaller than the male, and has the back of a darker rufous. 

 Length 7\ inches ; wing 3f ; outer tail-feathers 3 ; tarsus 1 1 ; 

 beak |. Irides brown ; beak black ; legs, feet, and claws fleshy 

 white. 



Blyth says (J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 155) : — " This fine species, 

 preeminently typical of its group, strongly exhibits, in the form 

 of its bill and the rufous colouring of its head and nape, the 

 Myiotherine affinity of the genus ; the bill has the upper man- 

 dible hooked over at the top much as in Cinclus, minus the 

 hook and nareal orifices ; and it is the same form of bill as reap- 

 pears in Eupetes, It is a very interesting species, as indicating 

 more than any other the affinity of the group." 



I should be inclined to think that this species is more 

 aberrant than any from the type of the genus ; and were it not 

 connected with the rest through H. frontalis, which it resembles 

 greatly in its proportions, I should be disposed to place it as the 

 type of a subgenus. 



Temminck says of this bird (Rec. d^Oiseaux, 90th livraison) 

 that it was first received from Pallambang, Sumatra, and is found 

 very rarely in Java. " It is difficult to approach this very shy 



SER. III. — VOL. II. U 



