444 MR. E. W. H. HOLDSWORTH ON CEYLONESE BIRDS. [Mar. 5, 



Bill dusky above, dark grey below ; irides pale buff; feet dark 

 flesh. 



Ceylon (upper hills). 



129. Arrenga blighi, u. sp. (Plate XIX.) 



In the adult, or perhaps nearly adult, male the whole head, nape, 

 and throat pure black ; back, wing-coverts, and breast black strongly 

 glossed with indigo ; carpal joint dark smalt-blue ; wings, tail, rump, 

 flanks, and abdomen dusky brown, the two last slightly rufous. 

 The upper tail-coverts, rump, and flanks are tinged with blue ; and 

 it is not improbable that in an older bird these parts may become 

 of the same colour as the back and breast. In the young the whole 

 bird is brown, darker on the upper surface and more rufous below, 

 the feathers of the forehead, throat, and breast centred with yellow- 

 brown, and there is an indication of blue on the carpal joint. 



The dimensions of the adult male are : — length 8 inches, wing 4*4, 

 tail 3'5, tarsus 1*4, bill at front 0*6. 



Bill black ; irides greyish ; feet black. 



An adult female, shot by Mr. Bligh, but almost knocked to pieces, 

 had very much the character of a young bird of the same sex I 

 obtained at Nuwara Eliya (fig. 2) ; and the wing-spot was brighter, 

 but not of so deep a blue as in the male. 



The only example of this new species of Myiophonus I saw in 

 Ceylon was the immature bird I obtained at Nuwara Eliya in July 

 1 870 ; and the tinge of blue on the wing led Mr. Samuel Bligh of 

 Ceylon to the opinion that it was the young of a species he had shot on 

 the hills two or three years before, and which had been sent with 

 other skins to Mr. Master of Norwich. By the kindness of that 

 gentleman I have been able to examine his specimen and compare it 

 with the one I myself obtained. There is no doubt of their belonging 

 to the same species ; and as it has hitherto been unknown I have 

 named it after my friend Mr. Bligh, who procured this first specimen 

 of what is entirely a new form in the island. 



Some credit is due to Mr. Edward Blyth for his remarks on the 

 absence of certain birds on the Ceylon hills. He says ('Ibis,' 1867, 

 p. 312) "That Myiophonus horsfieldi (or a specialized representative 

 of this bird) has not been observed in the island is worthy of notice ; 

 but I have before expressed an opinion that the higher regions of 

 Ceylon have not yet been sufficiently explored." At the time 

 Mr. Blyth wrote this the first specimen of the Ceylon Myiophonus 

 was probably on its way to England ; and its true character has only 

 now been recognized. Its nearest ally is A. cyanea, Horsf., from 

 Java. 



The habits of the Ceylon bird correspond, so far as is known, with 

 those of the other Myiophoni. The young bird I procured at Nuwara 

 Eliya was killed on a low branch of a jungle tree close to a little 

 mountain-stream ; and Mr. Bligh, who obtained his specimens at an 

 elevation of between 4000 and 5000 feet, told me he had never met 

 with the bird excepting in the immediate neighbourhood of water- 

 courses. He writes me that although he has seen this species several 



