216 NOTES. 
fugitive, was natural to it, and not, like the yellow, put on by 
the bird. r. Ridley considered that both colours came 
from tke oil-gland ; so to settle the question I made a careful 
hed beak о 
lightness encased in a thin covering of horn; the casque is 
entirely hollow, except for a mass of bony cells at the base 
remaining layers of the horny Me It appears, therefore, 
that either the outer layer of h rn is naturally red aud bleaches 
on the death of the bird, or that it is transparent when daily 
anointed with the EM gial oil, allowing the underlying red colour 
to show through, but becoming opaque in the dried pone en. 
Probably the Gilidg of the ЫП, which is c.mmon to both 
sexes, is as much to keep the surface from cracking or beca 
brittle and flaky as for decorative purposes. 
ÆEgithina tiphia, Mr. Ridley jd as resembling а 
goldfinch in its plumage and habits. The resemblance in habits 
is not very apparent. Goldfinches аге fre arious, frequent 
open country, and feed on seeds, principally on thistle-down ; 
the Тога goes in pairs or singly, keeps chiefly to secondary jungle 
or low trees, and feeds on insects, mainly caterpillars. 
Turm plumbipes. Describing the decoying of these quail, 
Mr. Ridley says, “A cock quail is put inside the cag re- 
ly, a hen? It is the hens that do the cour ting and the fighting 
in the genus Turnix. They are also the larger and most con- 
spicucusly coloured birds. I have seen numbers trapped in 
India. апа Ceyl n with hen decoys, but never saw a cock use 
See Sthenura. ‚ The name Mr. Ridley uses arose from 
a misprint. “ Stenura” is correct, and has been show 
be what Bonaparte originally wrote, referring (tons, narrow) 
to the attenuated lateral tail feathers is merely à 
matter of synonymy, the least interesting part of ornithology. 
A. L. Butler, 
