Genus POMATORHIXTTS. 

 Bill long, curved, compressed from the nostrils to the tip, which is entire. Nostrils length- 

 ened, the membrane overlapping them. Wings short, rounded, the 5th and 6th quills the longest, 

 the 1st about half their length. Tail moderately long, lax, and graduated. Legs and feet stout. 

 The tarsus longer than the middle toe, the scutse smooth and large. Middle toe considerably 

 longer than the laterals ; hind toe and claw large. 



POMATORHINUS MELANURUS. 



(THE CEYLONESE SCIMITAR-BABBLER.) 



(Peculiar to Ceylon.) 



Pomatorhinus melanurus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1847, xvi. p. 451 ; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 

 p. 146 (1849) ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 122 (1822) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 1853, xii. p. 271 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 301 ; Legge, J. A. S. (Ceylon Branch) 1870-71, 

 p. 41; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 447; Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 437; Legge, Ibis, 

 1874, p. 18, et 1875, p. 395 ; id. Str. Feath. 1876, p. 245 ; Whyte, ibid. 1877, p. 202 ; 

 Eamsay, Ibis, 1878, p. 132. 



The Slack-tailed Scimitar-Babbler, The Ceylon Pomatorhinus (Kelaart) ; The Gamut-bird in 

 Planting-districts. 



Batitchia, Sinhalese, Galle district ; Parandeliya, Western Province. 



J ad. supra rufesceuti-brunnea, pileo obscuriore, f route et verticis lateribus nigrieantibus : tectricibus alarum dorso 

 concoloribus : uiajoribus remigibusque saturate brumieis, extus rufescenti-bruuneo marginatis, secunclariis latiiis : 

 rectrieibus chocolatinis, rufescenti-brunneo niarginatis : striga superciliari lata a basi rostri usque ad nucharu 

 lateralein producta : palpebra alba : loris, plumis iufraoeularibus et regione parotiea uigris : colli lateribus 

 eastaneo lavatis : genis et corpore subtus albis, lateribus et subcaudalibus rufescenti-brunneis : tibiis cineraseen- 

 tibus : subalaribus ciuerasceuti-brunneis, axillaribus albis apicaliter brunneis : remigibus infra brunneis, intus 

 pallide rufescentibus : rostro flavo, ad basin mandibulas nigricante : pedibus fuscesceuti-schistaceis : iride brunnea. 



Adult male. Length 8'6 to S"9 inches ; wing 3 - 5 to 3 - 8 ; tail 3 - 5 to 3"7 ; tarsus 1-2 ; middle toe and claw 095 to l - 05 ; 

 hind toe 0*6, its claw (straight) 0-4 ; bill to gape (straight) 1-13 to 1-23. 



Adult female. Length 8-5 to 8-7 inches ; wing 3-2 to 3-6 : tail 3-4 to 3-6 ; tarsus 1-2 ; bill to gape (straight) 1-1 to 1-2. 



Examples vary inter se in size, but there is no constant difference between low-country and hill birds. Dimensions of 

 various specimens are as follows: — cf (Karawita hills, Saffragam), wiug 3-6, bill to gape (straight) 1'26 ; 3 

 (Dumbara), wing 3-6, bill to gape (straight) 1-2; cf (Horton Plains), wing 3-65, bill to gape (straight) 1-15: 

 cf (Banderawella, Lva), wing 3-61, bill to gape (straight) 1-2 ; cf (Borella, Colombo), wing 3-55, bill to gape 

 (straight) l - 2. 



The bill varies in length and curvature according to age. 



Iris brownish red, dull red, or reddish brown ; orbital skin and eyelid dull blue ; bill gamboge-yellow, more or less 

 blackish from the forehead to a short distance in front of the nostril ; legs and feet plumbeous or greenish plum- 

 beous ; feet generally more bluish than tarsi ; claws dusky, pale horn at base. 



Lores, region beneath the eye, ear-coverts, forehead, and plumes bordering the supereiliuin above black, fading into the 

 dark olivaceous of the head and occiput, the crown-feathers having black shafts ; a conspicuous superciliary stripe 

 extending from the nostril to beyond the nape, throat, fore neck, chest, and breast pure white, passing up behind the 

 ear-coverts ; hind neck, upper surface, wing-coverts, flanks, and under tail-coverts ferruginous brown, more intense 

 on the back of the neck than elsewhere ; in many examples the feathers on the sides of the neck and chest at the 



