1872.] MR. E. W. H. HOLDSWORTH ON CEYLONESE BIRDS. 431 



but the only two examples I met with were obtained in half-cultivated 

 land in the low country near Colombo. To this species may probably 

 also be referred a bird closely resembling C. canorus which I watched 

 for some time in an English garden at Colombo a few days after my 

 arrival in Ceylon. 



Bill yellowish, dusky above ; irides pale yellow ; feet yellow. 



Ceylon, India, Burmah, Malaya, China. 



Layard has described a Ceylon Cuckoo under the name of C. 

 bartletti ; but there is some doubt about what the bird is. Jerdon 

 places it under C. poliocephalus, Lath., which, however, has not been 

 recognized in the island ; it may be C. sonneratii. 



82. Hierococcyx varius, Vahl. 



This bird is probably a migrant from India. Layard procured it 

 near Colombo ; but I have only met with it on the hills at Nuwara 

 Eliya, in the beginning of the year. 



Bill greenish yellow, dusky above ; irides yellow ; feet yellow. 



Ceylon, India, Burmah, Malaya. 



83. POLYPHASIA PASSERINA, Vahl. 



Referred to by Layard as Cucidus tenuirostris, Gray, and by 

 Jerdon (B. of India, vol. i. p. 333) as P. nigra, apud Blyth. 

 Jerdon has lately, however (Ibis, 1872, p. 14), gone more into the 

 nomenclature of the species, and placed it under the above heading. ' 

 It is migratory to Ceylon, but appears much later than most of the 

 other visitants. Layard gives February for its arrival about Jaffna ; 

 but I have first seen them at Aripo in the beginning of January, 

 and then they all at once became abundant, frequenting low bushes 

 in the jungle, and ranging in colour from dark grey to completely 

 rufous on the upper parts. No two specimens were exactly alike ; 

 but all were of some shade of grey beneath, and more or less 

 barred. The rufous-bellied species is an eastern bird, and unknown 

 in Ceylon. 



Bill black above, red-brown below ; irides hazel ; feet dull yellow. 



Ceylon, India. 



84. Surnictjlus dicruroides, Hodgson. 



Resident, but rather a scarce bird in Ceylon. It has been found 

 on the lower hills, near Kandy ; and I have obtained specimens in 

 immature and adult plumage in the low country near Colombo, and 

 in the extreme south of the island. Although at first sight this 

 Cuckoo may be readily mistaken for a King Crow, having the same 

 general colour and remarkable shape of tail, it is not difficult to dis- 

 guish it when within a moderate distance. It usually perches lower 

 and alights more frequently on the ground, besides having little of 

 the Flycatcher-action so common among the Dicruri. 



Bill black ; inside of mouth deep orange ; irides dark brown ; feet 

 black. 



Ceylon, India, Burmah. 



