18/2.] MR. E. W. H. HOLDSWORTH ON CEYLONESE BIRDS. 453 



155. Oriolus ceylonensis, Bonaparte. 



Generally distributed in the low country. I have met with it com- 

 monly at Aripo, Colombo, and in the south ; but I have no reason to 

 think it ascends above the lower hills. The young bird has the back 

 pale dirty yellow, purer on the rump ; top of the head brownish 

 black, becoming streaked on the cheeks and strongly so on the throat 

 and under neck; quills margined externally with whitish, and the 

 colours generally very much less pure than in the adult. Ihe bill 

 in the young is black. 



Bill deep flesh-colour ; irides red ; feet leaden. 



Ceylon, S. Iudia. 



156. Copsychus saularis, Linn. 



Abundant in the low countrv, and rarely found far from native 

 villages or the houses of English residents. The familiarity of the 

 "Magpie Robin" makes it a general favourite; and whether when 

 perching on the roof of the house (a frequent station for it when 

 singing) or furiously attacking some intruding rival, there is always 

 something attractive in this showy and well-known species. During 

 the last hour before sunset these birds become very noisy and frequent 

 fights take place between the cocks, two or three of them going 

 through a sort of tournament before the hen bird which has taken 

 up her quarters in the neighbourhood. It is at this time the cocks 

 put themselves in such strange attitudes, turning back the tail till it 

 almost touches the head, as Layard mentions ; but Jerdon says 

 he has never observed these performances, which from my own 

 observation I should say are regularly gone through every after- 

 noon ; the birds frequently utter a harsh kind of scream ; and this goes 

 on until the sun disappears and the quickly following darkness puts 

 an end to the proceedings. 



Good specimens of this Robin are very difficult to obtain at Co- 

 lombo, unless immediately after moulting ; as the birds soon become 

 discoloured with the red soil, and the tails rapidly worn out at the 



Females of this species from Ceylon have the back darker than 

 those from Burmah, and perhaps from India generally, but they do 

 not differ from a Madras specimen in the British Museum. 



The young birds are greyish brown above, with the throat and 

 breast mottled with dark brown on a paler gronnd, and the bill 

 dusky. 



Bill black ; irides brown ; feet dark leaden. 



Ceylon, India, Arracan, Tenasserim, S. China, Hainan. 



157. KlTTACINCLA MACRURA, Gmel. 



This bird is confined to wild jungly districts in the low country 

 and on the lower hills. In such localities it is numerous and its fine 

 song may be constantly heard in the morning and evening. It is 

 abundant in the wilder parts of the northern road from Kandy ; and 

 I have also heard it occasionally in a piece of thick jungle close to 



