1872.] MR. E. W. H. HOLDSWORTH ON CEYLONESE BIRDS. 443 



The distinguishing characters of the species are the rich orange- 

 brown of the throat and breast, and the black stripe running from 

 the bill down the sides of the neck to the breast and terminating 

 below the bend of the closed wing. The specimens I obtained were 

 both males, adult and immature ; and the above characters are di- 

 stinct in both, but much more so in the older bird. 



These birds frequented low thin jungle ; and I did not hear them 

 utter any note. 



Bill dusky above, yellow beneath ; irides dark brown ; feet purplish 

 brown. 



Ceylon, Central India. 



Jerdon mentions that E. leucura is found in Ceylon ; but I cannot 

 find any special record of its occurrence there. It may have been 

 confounded with E. hyperythra. 



128. Brachypteryx (?) palliseri, Blyth. (Plate XVIII.) 



Peculiar to Ceylon. The generic position of this bird is not very 

 clear. It was placed by Blyth doubtfully in Brachypteryx, but differs 

 from the birds of that genus in the sexes being alike in colouring 

 and in the well-developed tail. I believe it will require generic 

 distinction ; but for the present I shall leave it in Brachypteryx. 



It is a species confined to the upper hills, and is by no means un- 

 common in the Nuwara Eliya district ; but, from its habits, it is not- 

 an easy bird to watch or to obtain. It frequents the low brushwood 

 in the true jungle, creeping about the stems of the underwood close 

 to the ground, and may sometimes be seen busily examining the dead 

 branches of some fallen tree. Frequently it betrays its close neigh- 

 bourhood by its "cheep" once or twice repeated; and it will show 

 itself for a moment within two or three yards of one ; then it is lost 

 again in the thick jungle. By giving up a good deal of time I suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining a few specimens ; but I have often been out for 

 many hours without being able to get a shot, although I have 

 occasionally heard the bird close to me. It will sometimes show 

 itself on a jungle-path ; but it then keeps close to the side, turning 

 over the dead leaves in search of insects, and disappearing on the 

 slightest alarm. When on the ground it often jerks its tail up after 

 the manner of the Robins ; but I have not observed this habit when 

 it has been on the stems of the jungle plants or creeping about the 

 dry sticks. The sexes are alike in colouring. I have one specimen 

 which on dissection proved to be undoubtedly a male ; and it could 

 not be distinguished by any external character from the female. Two 

 other birds, of different sex and evidently young, were also alike, and 

 differed from the adults only in the absence of the rusty throat and 

 dark grey cheeks, and in having the tail shorter. 1 have been unable 

 to ascertain any thing of the nesting-habits of this species ; and the 

 bird itself is exceedingly rare in collections. 



The whole upper surface is of a dark olive-brown, the wings, rump, 

 and tail being of a richer brown tint ; chin and throat pale rusty, 

 beneath the eye and the ear-coverts dark greyish ; the underparts 

 pale olive, becoming brown at the flanks, vent, and under tail-coverts. 



