BUCHANGA LEUCOPYGIALIS. 393 



Adult female (Heneratgoda). Wing 4-7 inches ; tail 4-7; bill to gape 1-0. 



Iris dull red. 



In abraded plumage, but not so dark as the above, owing to some of the feathers not being so much worn as others ; 



the breast is greyish brown ; the vent whitish, and the under tail-coverts slightly less albescent than the vent, 



being so much worn as to show the brownish bases of the feathers. 



Female (Colombo). Wing 4-5 inches ; tail 4-4. 



Iris light reddish. An abnormally pale-breasted example. 



Throat and chest brownish black, the sides of the latter glossed with green, the centre of the breast brownish grey, 



the edges of the feathers whitish, the feathers at the sides of this part still paler, and the sides of the belly whitish ; 



vent and under tail-coverts pure white. 



Intermediate form. 



Male (Chilaw, 50 miles north of Colombo). Wing 4-8 inches ; tail 4-9 ; bill to gape 1-05. 



Back with a somewhat greener gloss than in the Colombo specimens ; chest and throat black, much glossed with 



metallic green ; the centre of the breast brown, the feathers edged paler, the flanks very dark, and the belly 



suddenly turning white ; vent and under tail-coverts pure white. 



Male (Deduru-Oya, N.W. Province). Wing 4 - 98 inches ; tail 4"7 ; bill to gape 1-05. 



Upper surface with a still greener gloss than the above, the entire belly and the under tail-coverts white, this colour 

 extending up the breast in the form of a point, and becoming at the uppermost part sullied, that is to say, whitish. 



Two adults (British- Museum specimens b, c, " Uva district;" but probably from the ivest of Nuwara Elliya). Wings 

 4-65 and 4-55 respectively. Resembling the above in plumage both as regards upper surface and lower parts ; 

 the whitish hue of the lower part of the breast passing into dark slate on the upper part of it. 



Two adults (Kandy district). Wing 4'9 inches. Upper breast very dark ; abdomen turning abruptly to white. 



Light form : Buchanga insularis, Sharpe. 



Adidt female (Trincomalie). Wing 4-6 inches; tail 4-4 ; bill to gape I/O. 



Upper surface with a marked greenish gloss ; throat blackish brown ; chest black, glossed with green ; upper breast 

 dark slate, rather abruptly changing into white on the lower part of the breast and rest of under surface. 



Adult male (British-Museum specimen «, " Ceylon," from Badulla district). 



Similar to Trincomalie specimen, except that the white colour takes a pointed form on the breast. 



Male, not quite adult (Badulla). Wing 4-75 inches ; tail 4-9 ; bill to gape 1*03. 



Paler on the chest and tail than any of the foregoing specimens. The upper tail-coverts are tipped with whitish. 



Young (dark form on leaving the nest). Blackish brown above, without the black-green gloss of the adult. Chest and 

 throat blackish brown, the breast slaty, the feathers of these parts finely tipped with greyish fulvous ; the belly 

 and under tail-coverts sullied whitish, the latter tipped with dusky grey. 



A young bird about two months old (Ambepussa, June 29, 1875), shot with the hen bird, which was feeding it, is 

 already acquiring the mature plumage ; the black-green feathers on the upper surface predominating over the 

 brown "nestling" ones; the chest nearly all moulted to black feathers, and the centre of the breast whitish as 

 high up as birds from the N.W. Provinces. Wing 4 - 5 inches. The old bird shot with it was of the true leucopy- 

 gialis type, the breast much darker than that of the young bird. 



A young bird in a similar stage of change (shot at Deltota, May 29, 1876) is much darker on the breast than the 

 Ambepussa specimen. Wing 4 - 8 inches. 



Young (pale form : Galoya, Trincomalie Road). Similar to the Ambepussa example on the upper surface, being in a 

 state of change from the brown nest-feathers to the glossy black-green ; the under surface is paler, inasmuch as the 

 whitish immature plumage extends higher up the breast, and instead of running up towards the chest in a point 

 is distributed right across to the flanks. 



Ohs. No bird in Ceylon is so puzzling as the present, and there is none to which I have given so much attention with 

 a view to arriving at a satisfactory determination as to whether there are two species in. the island or only one. 

 I cannot come to any other conclusion than that there is but one, the opposite types of which are certainly 



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