Notes on some Ceylonese Birds, 437 



372 qiiat, —OreoGmcldb imbricata? Layard, 

 O. Gregoriana, Nevil, Sp. Nov. ? 



I dare say 0. nilgki/riensis does occur iu Ceylon, but for all 

 that Dr. Jerdon, Mr. Holdsworthj and others say to the contrary, 

 I cannot help thinking that in Mr. Nevil's new species^ of which 

 he bas kindly favored me with a specimen, we have the true 

 imbricate of Layard. Anyhow, this present species is quite dis- 

 tinct from nilgkiriensis ; it has a shorter and stouter bill, from 

 gape, 1"35 ; from forehead to point, U-95, against 1*5 and 1*15 

 respectively in nilghiriensis. The Ceylon bird is altogether a 

 darker, richer, and more rufous colored bird than that from the 

 Nilghiris. The head is almost black, so close and broad are the 

 bars. The buff tippings to the coverts are broader and much 

 more rufescent j on the under surface the whole ground color is 

 a rich rufous buff, instead of being white as in nilgldriensis 

 only slightly tinged with buff about the collar. 



It might be supposed that this Ceylon bird was only the young 

 of nilghiriensis ; but in the first place, the bills differ totally, it 

 is not merely that the bill is shorter in the Ceylon bird, but it 

 is higher and broader \ in the second place, setting aside the 

 specimens in my own collection, my friend, Mr. Davison, has exa- 

 mined hundreds of the Nilghiri birds of all ages from nestlings 

 upwards, and assures me that that he has never seen a specimen 

 at all colored like the Ceylon bird. Under these circumstances 

 either this bird is imbricata, Layard, or it must stand under my 

 friend Mr. Nevil's name. 



404 6*s.— Pomatorhinus melanurus, Blyth, 



This may be readily admitted to be a distinct species, but 

 Mr. Blyth remarks Ibis, 1867, p. 301, "the black of the tail 

 affords the readiest distinction." I cannot say that I have ever 

 seen a specimen in which the color of the tail in any way justified 

 the name. The tail appears to be always a moderately dark hair 

 brown, more or less suffused with rufescent olive to towards the 

 base. 



544 6is.— Drymoipus Jerdoni, Blytli. 



Mr. Holdsworth says, that "^^the common Ceylon species, of 

 which I have obtained specimens close to Columbo, agrees per- 

 fectly with B. Jerdoni, Blyth, in the British Museum, where 

 there is a specimen named and sent by Dr. Jerdon himself. In 

 the ' Birds of India' Vol ii., p 180, Jerdon mentions that Blyth 

 described this species from specimens he sent him from Southern 

 India ; but he afterwards absorbed it into B. longicaudatus in the 

 belief that the specimen he described was in imperfect plumage. 



B 



