TEBPSIPHONE PAEADISI. 



(THE PARADISE FLYCATCHER.) 



Muscicapa paradisi, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 324 (ex Briss.) ; Sykes, P. Z. S. 1852, p. 84 ; Jerdon, 



111. Ind. Orn. pi. 7 (1847); Gould, B. of Asia, pt. 5 (1853). 

 Muscipeta castanea, Temm. PL Col. iii. text to pi. 584. 

 Tchitrea paradisi, Less. Traite, p. 386 (1831) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 203 (1849); 



Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 123 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiii. 



p. 126 ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 133 (1854) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. 



p. 445 (1862) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 440 ; Plume, Nests and Eggs, i. p. 196 (1873) ; 



Ball, Str. Feath. 1874, p. 403 ; Hume, ibid. 1875, p. 102 ; Butler, t. c. p. 466 ; Ball, 



ibid. 1877, p. 415. 

 Topsiphone paradisi, Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 38 (1850) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. iv. p. 346 (1S79). 

 The Pyed Bird, of Paradise, Edwards, Nat. Hist. Birds, iii. pi. 113 ; Paradise Flycatcher, 



Latham; Bird of Paradise, Europeans in Ceylon. Shah bulbul, Hind. (White Bird); 



Sultana bulbul, Hind. (Red Bird); Taklah, Hind., N.W. Provinces; Tonka pigli jritta, 



Tel. ; Wdl-kondalati, Tarn., lit. " Long-tailed Bulbul." 

 Ginni bora (Red Bird), lit. " Fire-thief," Badde hora (White Bird), lit. " Rag- or Cotton-thief," 



Sinbalese; Wdl-kuruvi, Ceylonese Tamils ; Ladram de fogo (Red Bird), Portuguese in 



Ceylon. 



OI<l male (with lone; tail). Length 17'75 to 21 # inches, according to the length of the tail, which, on the average, 

 varies from 13-0 to 15*0, but sometimes attains a length of 17 - 0; centre tail-feathers 9-0 to 13-0 longer than the 

 adjacent pair ; wing 3 - 7 to 3-8 ; tarsus 0*7 ; mid toe and claw 0'6 ; bill to gape 1*0 to l'l. 



Old male (with short tail). Central tail-feathers, fully grown, exceeding the rest hy only Oo inch. 



Iris dark brown ; eyelid cobalt-blue; bill fine cobalt-blue; legs and feet paler blue than the bill ; claws bluish brown. 



Entire head and neck, with along coronal crest of lanceolate feathers, shining blue-black, which colour terminates in an 

 abrupt edge round the throat and hind neck : rest of the body above and beneath, with the wing-coverts and tail, 

 white ; quills and primary-coverts black, with white edges, increasing in width towards the innermost secondaries, 

 and not reaching to the tips of the outer primaries ; two innermost secondaries all white but a black shaft-streak ; 

 edges of all but the centre tail-feathers, and the shafts of all except the terminal portion of the centre pair, black. 

 In some specimens the shafts of the dorsal and wing-covert feathers, and those of the plumes at the sides of the 

 breast, are black. 



Adult male. At an age in which the male breeds, probably in the second year, the back, wings, upper tail-coverts, and 

 tail are cinnamon-red ; the head aud throat blue-black, as in the older bird ; the chest, just beneath the black 

 boundary, slate-grey, fading off into white on the lower breast and rest of the underparts ; under wing-coverts 

 white, with the bases of the feathers cinnamon. 



Birds at this stage have, for the most part, long tails, the centre feathers varying from 9 to 11 inches in length beyond 

 the remainder ; but some have these feathers only slightly elongated, as in the female noticed below. 



Adult female. like the short-tailed males, with the same parts of the plumage red: wing 3-5 to 3-0 inches; central 

 tail-feathers 4-5 to 5-0. 



Young. Nestling, scarcely Hedged (in National collection). Head and hind neck brownish, tinged with chestnut- 

 reddish ; back, wings, rump, and tail paler chestnut than the adult; inner webs of quills brown ; fore neck and 

 chest greyish, tinged with chetnut, passing into fulvous on the flanks; remainder of under surface whitish, 

 blending into the above-named colours. 



