Acheen. 453 



ing- tlietree^ but when aliout a dozen feet from the ground^ I ran 

 mj bare head into the bottom of a large ant's nest^ which I had 

 not before seen ; in an instant I was covered with thousands 

 of the enraged owners of the nest into whicli I had so uncere- 

 moniously intruded my head ; they swarmed over my face^, head, 

 and handsj and down my back, biting so furiously that I was 

 obliged to spring to the ground, and pull off my clothes as fast 

 as I could, while the natives around me laughed as though the 

 whole thing was a capital joke, and I have no doubt but that to 

 them it was so, but to me at the time it did not seem quite so 

 amusing. It was with considerable difficulty that I freed myself 

 from the pests. As obtaining the bird by climbing was out of 

 the question, we were obliged to resort to " Aunt Sally ■" prac- 

 tice, and thus eventually, I got my bird which was a remarkably 

 fine specimen." 



197.— Xantholaema hsemacephala, Mull. 



A single specimen procured at Acheen is un distinguishable as 

 regards color from Indian examples, but it is a somewhat small- 

 er bird with a wing of less than 3 inches, and a decidedly shorter 

 and broader bill, more suddenly compressed a little beyond the 

 nostrils than in the Indian bird. It is impossible to draw any 

 conclusions safely from a single specimen. Mr. Davison mention- 

 ed that he only observed a single pair of this species on a tree 

 close to a village. 



217 quat.—GentroGQCQYK. eurycercus, Eay. 



This species appears to be very common about Acheen. It is 

 at once distinguished from the Indian birds by its much laro-er 

 bill. The following are the dimensions of a fine male measured 

 in the flesh : 



Length, 19-5 ; expanse, 24 ; wing, 7-9 ; tail, from vent, 9-5 ; 

 the wings, when closed, reached to within 6 of end of tail ; the 

 tarsi, 2-05 ; hind claw, 0-9 ; bill at front, straight from fore- 

 head to tip, 1-5 ; from gape, 1-95 ; the legs, feet, claws, and 

 bill, black ; irides, deep carmine ; weight, 12 ozs. This is of 

 course Horsfield's huhutus, apud Raffles, and I must say that 

 I believe that this name should stand, but as Lord Walden has 

 particularly studied this group and believes that the Javan bird 

 will prove distinct, I follow him in retaining his name. 



There is a rather remarkable fact in connection with these 

 crow-pheasants, which I wish to notice prominently^ Lord 

 Walden remarks Ihis, 1872, p. 366, '^ C. eurycercus can always 

 be distinguished from the Continental C. rttfipennis, Illiger, by its 

 larger size, by the tail of the full plumaged bird (?) being blue and 

 not green, and by the interscapular^/ region of the back bahig color" 



