XANTHOL^EMA. 431 



horn brown, dirty white at the gape and sides ; orbits dark brown ; irides 

 nut brown ; legs and feet pale greenish plumbeous. (Bingham, MS.) 



Length. $'2 inches ; tail 2*5 ; wing 4 ; tarsus I ; bill from gape 1-4. 



fa. British Burmah, on the Mooleyit mountain, in the Thoungyeen 

 Valley, and in Karenne. I have not any specimens of this and the preceding 

 two rare species, nor have I seen them. 



Gen. Xantholsema, Bonap. 



Bill shorter than in Cyanops, wider and less compressed ; 2nd quill of wing 

 longest and sub-equal to the next three. 



1031. Xantholsema haemacephala (P. L. S. Mull), Marsh., 



Monog. Capit. pi. xliii. ; Wald., Trans. Zool. Soc. ix.p. 156; Hume, Nests and 

 Eggs, p. 131 ; id., Str. F. iii. p. 77; Armstrong, Sir. F. iv. p. 311 ; Oates, 

 Sir. F. v. p. 144 ; Hume and Dav., Str. F.v. p. 155 ; Murray, Vert. Zool. 

 Sind, p. 117; Legge, B. Ceylon, p. 218; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 88; Scully ', 

 Str. F. viii. p. 253 ; Bingham, Str. F. ix. p. 167 ; Kelham, Ibis> 1881, p. 390; 

 Oates, B. Br. Burm. ii. p. 136. Bucco haemacephalus, P. L. S. MulL, 

 Natursyst. Suppl. p. 88. Bucco indicus, Lath., Ind. Orn. i. p. 205. Xantho- 

 Icema indica, Jerd., B. Ind. i. p. 315, No. 197; Wald., Ibis, 1871, p. 162. 

 Megalaema haemacephala, Blyth, B. Burm. p. 74. The CRIMSON-BREASTED 

 BARBET. 



Forehead and forecrown bright crimson ; throat and round the eyes pale 

 sulphur yellow ; pectoral gorget glistening crimson, edged below with an arrow 

 of rich golden yellow ; moustachial streak continued round the throat, above 

 the crimson pectoral gorget and on the crown of the head, black ; back and 

 wing coverts green, more or less margined yellowish ; primaries and second- 

 aries greenish ; the inner webs dusky brown and margined with dull white ; 

 tail greenish, tinged with blue ; beneath, the abdomen, vent, and under tail 

 coverts fulvous or greenish white, streaked with green ; bill black ; irides 

 hazel ; orbitar skin dull crimson ; legs coral red. 



Hal. India generally, also Burmah, Malayana, Ceylon, Nepaul, Tenasserim 

 and Upper Pegu ; Punjab, N.-W. Provinces and Oudh. Occurs in Kutch, 

 Kattiawar and Jodhpore, and probably in North Guzerat also. In Sind it is 

 rare, and occurs as a visitor in September and October, affecting the acacia 

 forests. 



In Burmah it is found in every portion of the province, also in Karenne, 

 and wherever it occurs it frequents open country, gardens, compounds, and 

 groves of trees. Its presence is readily known by the note it utters, which is 

 like the hammering of a piece of metal. It breeds in March, April and May, 

 but in Central and Southern India a little earlier, laying 2 3 eggs in a hole of 

 a tree, excavated by itself at no great height from the ground. Eggs pure 

 white, from 0-87 to 1-07 in length X 0-62 to 072 in breadth. 

 VOL. II. 56 



