KELAARTIA PENICILLATA. 



(THE YELLOW-EARED BULBUL.) 



(Peculiar to Ceylon.) 



Pycnonotus penicillatus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1851, xx. p. 178 ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. 



p. 123 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 125. 

 Kelaartia penicillata, Jerdon, Cat. B. S. India, Suppl. Madr. Journ. 1845, xiii. no. 70; 



id. B. of Ind. ii. p. 86 (1863); Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 450 ; Legge, Ibis, 1874, 



p. 20 ; id. Str. Feath. 1876, p. 245. 



5 -"/. supra flavicanti-viridis, tectricibus alarum dorso concoloribus : remigibus saturate brunneis, extus flavicauti- 

 viridi marginatis, secundariis iutimis fere omnino flavicanti-viridibua : rectricibus olivascenti-bruuueis, extus 

 flavicanti-viridi lavatis et anguste flavo terminatis : pileo summo nigricante, postice flavicanti-viridi lavato: fascia 

 lorali alba : palpebra summa alba : loris posticis et facie laterali nigricanti-bruuneis, fascia per regioneni paroticam 

 superiorem ducta lsete flava : superciliu lato, bete flavo, supra regioneni paroticam ducto, fasciam penicillatatn 

 formante : genis anticis gulaque albis : colli lateribus cinereis : gala ima et corpore reliquo subtiis flavis, lateribus 

 olivascenti-viridibus : subalaribus et margine alari flavis : remigibus infra cineraseenti-brunneis, iutiis albo mar- 

 ginatis: rostro nigro : pedibus nigrieantibus : iride rufescenti-brunnea. 



Male. Length 7 - 5 to 8-0 inches ; wing 3-2 to 3-4: tail 3-1 to 3-2; tarsus 075 to 0*8; mid toe and claw OS ; hind 

 toe and claw beneath 0<> ; bill to gape 0-85. 



Iris red mingled with brown, or red deepening to brown next the pupil ; tarsi and feet dark leadeu blue : bill black. 



Lores, cheeks, forehead, and crown dull black, paling on the occiput int o the olive-green of the bind neck, back, rump, 

 wings, and tail, and changing into a grey patch below the ears ; a stripe from the nostril up the side of the 

 forehead, a spot at the upper eyelid, the chin and gorge white : a bright yellow tuft of lanceolate feathers passing 

 back to the neck springs from above the eve. and an impure yellow spot lies on the ear-coverts ; inner webs of 

 quills and rectricea blackish brown, the latter washed with the olive-green of the outer webs: tips of tail-feathers 

 beneath yellowish ; throat yellow, changing into olivaceous or greenish yellow on the under surface : the abdomen 

 and centre of lower breast nearly as yellow as the throat ; flanks dusky, under tail-coverts like the breast. Varia- 

 t inns exist in the depth of the green of the upper surface and in the yellow of the under surface. 



F, mali (somewhat smaller). Length 7'1 inches ; wing 3*1. Bill, legs, and feet as in the male. The tail-feathers are 



more broadly tipped with yellowish beneath as a rule. 

 Eoung birds of the year have the feathers of the head edged whitish, aud the yellow of the throat less in extent and 



v clearly denned from the hue of the chest. 



Obs. Until the publication of Dr. Jerdon's great work on Indian birds this species held rank as a peculiar Ceylonese 

 form. It was discovered by Kelaart, and forwarded by him to Blyth, with, it appears, the suggested name of 

 penicillata. It was described by Blyth, he. cit., and placed among the Ceylonese local forms. Jerdon, however, 

 included the species in his ' Birds of India' on the evidence of a specimen from the south of the peninsula, of which 

 he writes as follows : — " I believe that this Ceylon bird is identical with one procured by me from the Mysore 

 country, below the NUghiris, which was accidentally destroyed before I had taken a description ; but I had a 

 coloured sketch drawn, from which I briefly described it in my ' Supplement Cat. Birds of South India.' " From 

 that time until the present no second example has, to my knowledge, ever been procured ; and Mr. Hume, even, 

 has no record of its occurrence in South India. I therefore include it in this work among the birds " peculiar to 

 Ceylon." Its slight differences from Ixos entitle it to generic rank ; and it forms the second genus only peculiar 

 to the island, PJuencophaes being the first. 



Distribution. — This handsome Bulbul is a hill species, and more exclusively confined to the upper regions 

 than any of our " peculiar " birds, with the exception of Stoparola sordida. It is abundant in all the 

 higher parts of the Central Province, from the altitude of Horton Plaius and the Nuwara-Elliya plateau to 

 about 3500 feet, at which elevation it is common in the Kandyan and other western districts. In Uva, however, 



