PEEICEOCOTUS. 477 



In Platyloplius the bill is very strong, about three quarters the 

 length of the head, strongly curved, notched, laterally compressed, 

 and deep ; the nostrils are concealed by numerous close-set hairs ; 

 the wing is very rounded and the tail ample and well graduated ; 

 the tarsus is short and stout. The sexes are alike. 



489. Platylophus ardesiacus. The Jay-Shrike. 



Lophocitta ardesiaca, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. i, p. 219 (1850). 

 Platylophus galericulatus, partim, Elliot, Ibis, 1878, p. 54. 

 Platylophus ardesiacus ( Cab.), Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii, p. 317 ; Hume 



&Dav. S. F. vi, p. 380; Hume, Cat. no. 6(38 ter ; Gates, B. B. \, 



p. 410. 



Coloration. The whole head, crest, and neck very dark brown, 

 almost black ; a large white patch on each side of the neck, the 

 two nearly meeting behind ; a spot of whits on the upper eyelid 

 and another on the lower behind the centre of the eye ; upper 

 plumage and the exposed parts of the closed wings and tail rufescent 

 olive-brown ; lower plumage varying from dark slaty brown to 

 dark olive-brown. 



The young have the lower plumage barred with black and white 

 and the feathers of the upper plumage tipped and margined with 

 rufous. 



Legs, feet, claws and bill black ; eyelid dark brownish black ; 

 iris reddish brown, varying from rhubarb-brown to litharge-red 

 (Ilume Davison). 



Length about 11 ; tail 5 ; wing 5'5 ; tarsus 1'3 ; bill from gape 

 1-35. 



Distribution. The extreme south of Tenasserim. This species 

 extends down the Malay peninsula, but is replaced in Sumatra by 

 P. coronatus, a rufous-brown species, and in Java by P. yalericulatus, 

 a black species. 



Habits, $c. Inhabits evergreen forest, restless, always on the 

 move and strictly arboreal. " Note, a sharp metallic rattle. Gene- 

 rally found in pairs. 



Genus PERICROCOTUS, Boie, 1826. 



The genus Pericrocotus contains an assemblage of species, the ma- 

 jority of which are of very brilliant plumage, scarlet and yellow 

 being the predominant colours. They are found only in India and 

 Eastern Asia. 



The birds of this genus are remarkable for the stiffened shafts 

 of the feathers of the rump. This character is shared by the next 

 two genera. In the larger species these stiffened shafts can easilv 

 be felt by the fingers, but in the smaller species the rigidity of the 

 shafts is ascertained with difficulty although always present. 



Some of the Minivets are migratory, but their migrations appear 

 to be of limited extent, with the exception of two or three species 

 which wander according to season from China, and even Japan, 

 down to Singapore and the Islands. 



