PHCEXICOPHAES PTEEHOCEPHALTJS. 257 



The natives of the Western and Southern Provinces, a part of the island in which the population is chiefly 

 located in the cultivated districts, are less acquainted with it than with most birds ; but the inhabitants of 

 the northern and eastern jungles, whose scanty villages are situated, for the most part, in the depths of those 

 primaeval wilds, recognize the Mal-kamdetta, without hesitation, as a not uncommon bird. Layard, who 

 considered its range to be limited to the mountain-zone, speaks of it as being eaten by the natives, and 

 probably alludes to the Kandyans of the Dumbara district before it was denuded of forest, and when it 

 contained this bird in much greater numbers tban it does now. The natives of the " Friars-Hood " jungles, 

 where it is commoner than in other parts of the island, call it " Warreliya," or " long tail." 



The Malkoha is fond of tall or shady forest in which there is a considerable amount of undergrowth or 

 small jungle, into which it often descends, after making a meal off the fruits of the lofty trees overhead. 

 When flushed it invariably flies up into high branches and is difficult to come up with, as it quickly makes 

 off, taking short flights from tree to tree. I have seen a flock of six or seven feeding among the topmost 

 boughs of one tree, and noticed that they moved very quicky about among the leaves, sharply wrenching oft' 

 the berries which they were seeking and devouring them whole. As a rule it is a silent bird, the only note 

 with which I am acquainted being a rather low monosyllabical call like Kaa, which it utters when flying 

 about. Although I have occasionally found the remains of small insects in its stomach, it is almost 

 exclusively a fruit-eating species, and its flesh is consequently by no means to be despised. It is tender and 

 not unpleasantly flavoured ; and Layard remarks, with justice, that the natives consider it a great delicacy. 

 I have known an individual persistently return to a tree, on the berries of which it had been feeding, a few 

 minutes after being shot at. 



Nothing is known of the nidification of this species. 



In the Plate accompanying this article, the figure in the background with the white eye represents a 

 female shot in the Vanni. 



