MYIOPHONTJS BLIGHI. 465 



It is much to be feared that the extensive felling of the forest for tea-planting, in the upper ranges, will 

 limit within the smallest possible bounds the portion of country in Ceylon alone fit for the habitation of this 

 species, and may possibly conduce to its ultimate extinction. 



Nidification. — Nothing of any certainty is known of the nesting of the Whistling Thrush ; but I am 

 inclined to the belief that several nests which I have found on the banks of streams belonged to it. They 

 resembled those usually constructed by this family, and were deep ample cups, composed almost entirely of 

 moss and fine roots, fixed in niches, in overhanging trees, or in forks of sapplings at some height from the 

 ground. 



The figures in the Plate accompanying this article are those of a male shot by myself near Hakgala, and of 

 a young bird procured by Mr. Holdsworth near Nuwara Elliya. 



PASSERES. 



Fam. BRACHYPODID.E. 



Thrush-like birds of arboreal habit, mostly frugivorous in diet, with the legs and feet short. 

 Bill variable, in most Thrush-like. Wings with the 1st quill not less than half the length 

 of the secondaries. Tail of 12 feathers, and shorter than the wing. 



Subfam. IRENIN^E*. 



Bill very wide, the mandibles inflated ; both culmen and commissure curved, the tip slightly 

 hooked and notched. Nostrils round, perforated in a deep indentation, and protected by well- 

 developed bristles. Bictal bristles small. Wings somewhat pointed, the 4th and 5th quills the 

 longest, the 3rd equal to the 7th. Tail even. Legs and feet proportionately very short. Tarsus 

 slightly exceeding the middle toe ; the outer toe connected with the middle at the base as far 

 as the 1st joint of the latter. 



Nape furnished with long hairs. Sternum narrowed in front and widening considerably 

 towards the posterior edge, which is indented with a wide notch close to the sides. 



* I have placed this singular and interesting group of birds first in the family of Brachypodidfe because, as a sub- 

 family possessing some abnormal characteristics, they are better in this position than following the Phyllomithina?, 

 with which they have nothing in common except the very superficial character of a partial blue coloration. That the 

 Irenas, with their arboreal and frugivorous habits, their Brachypodine legs and feet, and wing- and tail-formation, belong 

 to the short- legged Thrushes is the opinion of many able ornithologists. They were placed, through an oversight, in 

 the Dicruridre by Mr. Sharpe, and he now informs me that he considers them to have affinities with the Bulbuls. 

 Mr. Hume argues, on the evidence afforded by their peculiar eggs, that they are not well placed in this position, and 

 suggests that they will have to be located between the Paradiseidee, Sturnidae, and Icterida?. Their totally different 

 wings would, in my opinion, remove them far from the Starlings, and to the Birds of Paradise they possess only a rostral 

 resemblance. 



So 



