270 HAEPACTES FASCIATUS. 



fulvous on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; least wing-coverts concolorous with the back, the remainder of the 

 wing black, crossed with narrow bars of white on the wing-coverts, tertials, outer webs and tips of secondaries ; 

 all but the first primary with a clearly-defined white outer edge ; the three centre pairs of tail-feathers cinnamon- 

 rufous, the central pair almost entirely so, with a fine black tip ; the next two black at the tip and on the terminal 

 portion of the inner web ; the next two with almost all the inner webs black ; the three outer pure white on the 

 terminal half, black on the basal, and with a rufous edge except on the outermost. 



Female. Has the back and rump as in the male ; but the head and hind neck are brown, darker than the back ; the 

 throat and fore neck light olive-brown and the chin blackish ; the wing-coverts, outer webs of secondaries, and the 

 tertials are barred with bands of fulvescent-rufous, broader than the white bars of the male : breast and under 

 surface fulvous, the white pectoral band wanting. 



Yn»!t<i malt'. Bill and orbital skin duller than in the adult. In nest-plumage the male has the head and face slaty 

 black, back aud tail as in the adult; the median wing-coverts barred with narrow bars of fulvous, and the outer 

 webs of the secondaries with broader bars of the same, slightly paler than these markings in the female ; the chin 

 is black and the fore neck slate-colour ; the under surface is paler fulvous than the adult female, and the white 

 pectoral band is present. An individual shot in January, in the Northern Province, has the wing-coverts with 

 white-and-rufous barred feathers, and the under surface with fulvous and scarlet ones. 



06s. Mr. Hume has called attention (he. cit.) to the fact that Ceylonese examples are smaller than Indian ; and he 

 points out the following difference in the tail of the island race : — " Instead of the central tail-feathers being 

 entirely chestnut with moderately black tips, and the next pair entirely black, they have all the four central tail- 

 feathers black on the inner webs and on the outer webs for about one inch, the rest of the outer webs being chestnut." 

 As a matter of fart the pair adjacent to the central one have the black only on the inner web, at least in a good 

 scries T have obtained, so that these feathers may be said to be almost entirely rufous, which is a great 

 dissimilarity to the same in the Indian bird. I have not been able to examine any South-Indian specimens, and 

 cannot express an opinion as to whether it is the rule to find them with such black tails. If the Indian species is 

 to lie separated, it must bear another name, as it is the Ceylonese bird which is fasciatus, it having been described 

 by Forster, in his 'Indisehe Zoologie,' from Ceylon. 



Mr. Fairbank gives the following measurements of specimens killed in the Palanis : — d , length 12-5 inches, wing 5*0, 

 expanse 16'0, tail 7*0, bill from gape 1-1; £ , length 12-0, wing 5-0, expanse 15-75. tail 7 - 0, bill from gape P0. 

 An individual shot in Sambalpur by Mr. Ball measures — length 1P5, wing 5-0, tail 7*0. From these dimen- 

 sions it would appear that Indian examples differ chiefly in the length of the tail, but do not much exceed 

 Ceylonese ones in the wing. 



["'orster's plate of this species is a good representation of it ; the figure is that of a male bird lying on the stump of a tree. 



Distribution. — This very handsome bird is widely diffused throughout Ceylon, and is by no means 

 uncommon, although, being entirely a denizen of the forest, it is not much known among Europeans. In all 

 parts of the island it is found wherever there is lofty jungle, which it frequents by choice. It is met with 

 near Colombo, at Atturugeria and Ikkade Barawe, and inhabits the forests in the interior of the Western 

 Province. In the south it is found in the timber-jungles near the Gindurah, those throughout the Hinedun 

 I'attu, and in the Kukkul and Morowak Korales. The Singha-Bajah forest is a great stronghold of this 

 species; its gloomy ravines clothed with fine timber-jungle, entwined in many places with enormous ratau-canes, 

 which flourish on the incessant rains of that region, afford it a paradise. In the Eastern Province I found 

 it common in the Friars-Hood hills, in the Nilgalla district, and other localities clothed with heavy jungle. In 

 the north it is locally distributed, being confined to heavy forest, in which I have procured it about 15 miles from 

 Trincomalie. At the northern base of the Matalc ranges it is common, and is diffused throughout all the 

 coffee-districts, ascending to the upper ranges in the dry season. Mr. Holdsworth met with it at Nuwara 

 Elliya in February, and I have seen it at Kandapolla in January. 



In India Jerdon found it in the forests of Malabar, from the extreme south up to about north latitude 17°, 

 reaching up the Ghats and hill-ranges to at least 3000 feet. Referring to ' Stray Feathers/ we find Mr. Fair- 

 bank procuring it first on the Palani hills at an elevation of 3500 feet, and finding it up to 5000 feet elevation. 

 Mr. Bourdillon records it as a common bird in heavy jungle on the Travancore hills above 1000 feet ; north 

 of this region the former gentleman notices it as found in the woods of Sawant Wade, in the Khandala district. 

 In the Central Provinces Mr. Thompson lias procured it in the Ahiri forests, in lat. 19° 30'; Mr. Ball at 



