438 Notes on some Ceylonese Birds. 



Jerdon further says^ " It appears to me very similar to some 

 Ceylon birds which Mr. Blyth doubtfully considered identical with 

 D. inornaUos. 



" My Ceylon birds are g-reyisb brown on the upper surface, 

 rather paler on the head, cheeks, and neck ; lores pale, and much 

 less conspicuous than in D. inornaf/as ; under surface, pale fulvous, 

 and flanks rather dusky ; the upper surface of the tail feathers 

 distinctly striated, the strise shewing- as faint narrow bars on the' 

 under s.urface, which has a narrow dark subterminal band, gener- 

 ally darker in the centre, and giving" the appearance of a spot. 

 In fresh specimens the bill is dusky above, fleshy below, irides 

 pale yellow ; feet, flesh colour. 



"Length, 5-5 inches; wing, 2-3; tail, 2-5; tarsus, O'S; bill at 

 front, O-iu" 



1 quote this especiall}', because I think there is no doubt that 

 this is quite correct, and that this Ceylon bird which is precisely 

 similar to wliat Dr. Jerdon shewed me as Jerdotii, is the true Jer- 

 doni, and altogether distinct from T). nfescens, nobis, with which 

 Dr. Stoliczka and others identify Jerdoni. 



Unfescens was described. Ibis, 1872, p. 110, the whole upper sur- 

 face is a rich rufous brown, the length is 7 inches, the wing 2'62 

 inch to 2-75 ; the tarsus, nearly one inch, and the bill at front; 

 fully 0"5. I do not see how any one can doubt that this is en- 

 tirely distinct from the true /erfl^o^?/, from Ceylon and Southern 

 India, correctly described above by Mr. Holdsworth. 



445.— Hypsipetes nilghiriensis, Jevd. 



Ceylon birds are entirely identical with Nilghiri ones, except 

 that taking a number together, the Ceylon birds do seem to aver- 

 ao"e a longer bill. It is by no means certain, as yet, that ganeesa, 

 Sykes, is identical with this species, and the Ceylon birds should 

 therefore, I think, be retained at present under the name above 

 given. r^^^ 



467.— ^gitMna zeylonica, Gmel. 



I am not now going to enter into the lora controversy which 

 I shall deal with hereafter, but I wish to note two facts, viz., 

 first, that out of eighty -five specimens from all parts of India in 

 all stages of plumage, I have no specimen agreeing perfectly with' 

 one of the Ceylon male JEgitMna%, and secondly, that I recently had 

 a pair of these birds, male and female, sent from the Teriate Hills 

 in Wvnaad by Mr. J. L. Darling, Jr., who shot them ofi" the nest, 

 which together with the eggs he also kindly sent me, in which' 

 the back of the male was, as it should be, in iypUa, green and 

 not black at allj_ whereas the latter species has never been sup- 



