152 BLX'EEOTID^. 



Coloration. Male. Plumes at each side of forehead dull rufous ; 

 crou'ii and nuchal crest dark greyish brown, the feathers with 

 whitish shaft-stripes and rufous edges ; back, rump, upper tail- 

 coverts, sca]julars, tertiaries, and wing-coverts dark brown, larger 

 secondary-coverts pale-edged, larger primary-coverts black, some 

 of them white-tipped ; primaries black, slightly glossed, tipped 

 \^hite and with a broad buff outer border for an inch or two near 

 the middle, but gradually nearer the tip in the later primaries ; 

 secondaries black, outer web greyish brown and the margin buff ; 

 middle tail-feathers dark brown, other tail-feathers black glossed 

 with green, all tipped white, the outer more broadly ; sides of neck 

 and lower parts bright rufous, feathers of fore-neck with pale 

 shaft-stripes ; thigh-coverts mixed with dusky ; wing-lining dark 

 brown, edge of wing in front of winglet buff. 



Fig. 44.— Head of P. tickelli, ^. 



Female. The plumes at the .sides of the forehead are concolorous 

 with the crown; there are no white tips to the primary-coverts, 

 and those to the quills are small or wanting ; lower parts duller 

 and darker than in the male, growing blackish on the chin and 

 dusky on the vent and lower tail-coverts. 



Bill and casque yellowish white in the male, the tip of the 

 lower mandible blackish, and a saffron patch on each side of the 

 base ; bill and casque of female brownish black ; irides in both sexes 

 bright brown ; skin around orbits and at base of lower mandible 

 bluish white or blue ; legs and feet brownish black. 



Length of male 30; tail 11"5; wing 13; tarsus 2; bill from 

 gape 5. The female is smaller : wing 12 ; bill 4-5. 



Distribution, Only known from the Tenasserim hills east of 

 Moulmein. 



Habits, <^'c. A shy restless bird, keeping to high forest, usually 

 in parties of 8 or 10, and flying with the almost noiseless flight of 

 Anthracoceros, alternately flapping and sailing. The nest has been 

 described by Major Bingham, who found from 3 to 5 eggs in each 

 of the usual nest-holes in February. The eggs are white originally, 

 but generally stained during incubation, and average 1*82 by 1"34 

 in dimensions. These birds, according to Major Bingham, are far 

 less wary in the breeding-season than at other times. 



