AJJPELICEPS. 531 



Young birds have those parts which are metallic in the adult 

 plain brown, the patch on the crown being indicated at an early 

 age. The marks on the wings and the buff baud across the rump 

 are always as in the adult. Birds of every intermediate form of 

 colouring are to be found. 



Legs and feet dull earthy green ; the bill varies from black to 

 brown, and is greenish blue or whitish at the base of the lower 

 mandible (Davison). Irides dark brown, claws horn-colour (Bincj- 

 Jiatn). 



Length 7'5 ; tail 2 ; wing 4 ; tarsus 1-1 ; bill from gape 1. 



Distribution. The Nicobars ; Lower Pegu ; Tenasserim from 

 Moulmein to Mergui and the Thoungyeen valley. This species is 

 probably much more widely distributed than the above noted loca- 

 lities indicate, and in winter it may be looked for over the whole 

 of Burma. At this period of the year it is found in the Malay 

 peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and Cochin China. In summer it retires 

 to Eastern Siberia and Northern China. 



Genus AMPELICEPS, Blyth, 1842. 



The genus Ampeliceps contains a remarkable Myna which may 

 be recognized by its bright black and yellow plumage and nude 

 orbits. 



In this genus the bill is shorter than the head, wide at the base, 

 and the culm en well curved ; the frontal feathers are curly, 

 growing both upwards and inwards and inclining over the base of 

 the bill; a large space round the eye is quite bare. The wing is 

 very long and pointed, and the tail short and square. 



The sexes of this species appear to me to be alike. Sharpe is of 

 opinion that they differ ; but the series of this bird in the British 

 Museum is not sufficient to enable the question to be settled con- 

 clusively either one way or the other. Analogy points to the 

 identity of the sexes, and Hume many years ago stated that they 

 were identical. 



543. Ampeliceps coronatus. The Gold-crest Myna. 



Ampeliceps coronatus, Blytli, J. A. S. B. xi, p. 194 (1842) ; id. Cat. 

 p. 108 ; Horsf. Sf M. Cat. ii, p. 525 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 436; 

 Armstrong $ Hume, S. F. iv, p. 335 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, 

 p. 398 ; Hume, Cat. no. 693 ter ; Inalis, S. F. ix, p. 256 ; Oates, 

 B. B. i, p. 395 ; Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) v, p. 615 ; 

 Hume, S. F. xi, p. 269 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii, p. 116 ; Oates in 

 Hume's N. 8? E. 2nd ed. i, p. 374. 



Coloration. Forehead, crown, chin, and throat bright yellow ; 

 with this exception, the whole plumage is glossy black ; the first 

 six primaries with a patch of white on the inner webs, and the 

 second to the seventh primaries with a yellow patch on the outer 

 webs ; in counting these, the first or bastard primary, which is 

 very minute, is not taken into consideration. 



The young appear to have the head entirely black. 



2M2 



