256 PHCENICOPHAES PYRRHOCEPHALTJS. 



Adult male. Length IT'S to 18-2 inches: wing 6-0 to 6-2; tail 10-5 to 11-1 (lateral feathers only 5); tarsus 1-3 to 



1-4 ; anterior toe PI, claw (straight) 035 ; bill to gape l - 5 to P6. Expanse 17 - 5. 

 Iris brown • bill apple-green, paling at the tip, and the lower mandible lighter than the upper ; legs and feet bluish 



slate, claws brownish horn. 



Female. Length 18-0 to 18*7 inches ; wing 6-2 to 6-4 ; tail 11-0 to 11-3 ; bill to gape 1*5 to L65. 

 Iris white. 



Whole face as far back as the ears, passing over the eye and across the base of the upper mandible, clothed with a 

 short blade-like crimson substance, resembling a rudimentary feather ; crown, back, and sides of neck greenish 

 black, with the terminal margins of the feathers white: back and wings deep brilliant metallic green, blending 

 into the hue of the neck ; quills slightly darker, with a bluish lustre ; tail metallic bronze-green, the terminal 

 portion white, increasing from about an inch on the central feathers to two inches on the laterals, and separated 

 from the green by a smoky-browai margin ; throat and upper part of chest deep black, the feathers of the chin 

 and of the space beneath the crimson cheeks white, with black shafts ; breast and lower parts pure white, 

 changing abruptly from the black of the chest, at the lower edge of which the feathers are tipped with white ; 

 flanks and thighs dark greenish black ; under wing-coverts metallic green. The tips of the head- and neck- 

 feathers are furcate, the shaft protruding from the fork. 



The extent of rhe striations on the hind neck, and the amount of white tipping at the edge of the black chest, vary in 

 individuals. Some examples, probably immature birds, have the thigh-coverts and lower flanks tinged with 

 fulvous. 



Obs. This remarkable genus has no representative in India. Jerdon speaks of Ph. curvirostris, an inhabitant of 

 Burmah : but this bird has a very different shaped and situated nostril, on account of which Mr. fSharpe, and 

 justly so it would appear, has made it iuto a new genus, Rhinococcyx. It has the same singular facial clothing, 

 but not to so great an extent as in our bird. 



The most singular feature in the economy of the present species is the difference in the colour of the eye in the two 

 sexes, as noticed in my description above. Layard probably procured a female and noted the colour as white : 

 specimens sent to Lord Tweeddale, and a living bird which Mr. Holdsworth had, appear to have been males and 

 had brown eyes. I was fortunate enough, on two occasions, to shoot a pair together, and was able to demonstrate 

 the fact of the sexual difference. 



Distribution. — The Malkoha is found in most of the forests and heavily-clad jungle-districts of the low 

 country ; but, notwithstanding, has always been considered one of our rarest species, an idea which naturally 

 arose from the extreme difficulty of penetrating its haunts. It occurs sparingly throughout the south-western 

 hill-region, or the tract of country extending from the Kaluganga, through the Pasduu and Hincdun Korales, 

 to the eastern confines of the Morowak Korale. It is likewise to be found in most of the damp forests of the 

 Western Province, particularly in the hills stretching from the neighbourhood of Avisawella to Kurunegala, 

 and occurs even at Mahara and Kotte, in the vicinity of Colombo. It occurs throughout the jungles of the 

 great northern forest-tract, extending from the Western Province through the Seven Korales to the Vanni, 

 the most northerly point in which I have seen it being the forests on the road from Trincomalie to Anarad- 

 japura. In the Eastern Province, however, it is far more numerous than in the aforesaid districts, for I have 

 nut with it in flocks of ten or a dozen in the jungles at the base of the Friars Hood, and also near Bibilc 

 beneath the Madulsima range. Mr. Bligh has procured it at a considerable altitude in the Lemastota hills, 

 into which it doubtless ascends from the Wellaway-Korale forests in the dry season. On the western side 

 of the hill-zone Mr. Holdsworth has observed it in the Kandy district ; but I have no evidence of its being 

 found at a greater elevation than that. 



This species is one of the earliest known Ceylon birds. Its gay plumage no doubt made it an object of 

 attraction to the early travellers; and Forster described it in his ' Iudische Zoologie ' so far back as 1781, 

 giving a plate of it done in the crude style of that period. lie, however, does not make any mention of the 

 discoverer of this interesting Ccylonese form, which leads to the inference that natives first made it known to 

 Europeans in the island. 



Habits. — This handsome bird is a denizen of forest and heavy jungle, and is of such a shy and retiring 

 disposition that it is but little known to Europeans, even those who are stationed in the wilds of the interior. 



