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HARPACTES FASCIATUS. I 



Fasciated Trog-on. 



Trogon fasciatm, Gmel. Edit. Linn. Syst. Nat. torn. i. par. i. p. 405.-Lath. Ind. Orn. torn. i. p. 200. -lb. Gen, 



Syn. vol. ii. p. 492.— Penn. Ind. Zool. p. 35. pi. iv. 

 Trogon Ceylonensis, Briss. Orn. 8vo, vol. ii. p. 91. 

 Malabaricus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc. part iv. p. 26.-Ib. Mon. of Trog. pi. 31 .-Gray and Mitch. Gen. 



of Birds, vol. i. p. 71, Trogon, sp. l._J er don, Mad. Journ. of Sci. vol. xi. p. 233. 

 Harpactes Malabaricus, Swains. Class, of Birds, vol. ii. p. 337.-Ib. List of Birds in Coll. Brit. Mus. part ii. p. 44. 

 fasciatm, Blyth, Drafts of a Fauna Indica (third tribe of the Picas), p. 8.- lb. Cat. of Birds in Mus. 



Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 80. 

 Kufni Churi, of some Hindoos. 

 Kurna, of the Mahrattas. 

 Kakemi Hukki, of the Canarese. 

 Rantvan Kondea, of the Cingalese, Blyth. 



The island of Ceylon and the southern part of the Peninsula of India are the true habitat of the Harpactes 

 fasciatm ; it there represents the H. Kasumba of the opposite peninsula of Malacca. It lias been long 

 known to writers on natural history ; a description of it being included in Gmelin's " Systema Nature " and a 

 figure in Pennant's " Indian Zoology," published in 1790. It is, however, to more recent observers that we 

 are indebted for the little that is even now known of its habits and economy. Mr. E. L. Layard informs 

 me that in Ceylon " it inhabits the high tree-jungle which the natives call Moohoolaney ; it there frequents 

 the summits of the loftiest trees, and feeds on spiders, Mantidee and Coleoptera ; it sits across a branch 

 with the head drawn down between the shoulders ; it is by no means a solitary bird, being found in small 

 parties of three or four in number, which always follow each other when one takes wing. It does not 

 appear to extend its range beyond Kandy. Dr. Kelaart says it is sometimes very numerous at Newera Elia ; 

 he likewise states that the Cingalese call it Rativon Kondea, but the natives in the neighbourhood of the 

 localities in which I found it were ignorant of its existence and had no name for it." 



So much for the bird in Ceylon. I now proceed to give the interesting note respecting it included in 

 Mr. Jerdon's " Catalogue of the Birds of the Peninsula of India" : — 



44 This very richly-plumaged Trogon is of rare occurrence in Southern India, and I have only found it in 

 the densest portions of the jungle in Malabar and the Wynaad. It is usually seen seated motionless on 

 the branch of a tree, occasionally flying off to capture an insect, and sometimes, though rarely, returning to 

 the same perch, generally taking up a new position, and wandering much about from tree to tree. I almost 

 always observed it solitary, occasionally in pairs, and on one occasion four or five were seen together. In 

 the stomach I have always found fragments of large Coleopterous insects. The Hindoostanee name Koofnee 

 chooree is given (says Mr. Elliott) * from the bird sitting with its head sunk in the shoulders, as if it had 

 no neck, or as if dressed in a faqueer's koofnee/ " 



Mr. Blyth remarks that this species is enumerated in Mr. Elliott's "Catalogue of Birds inhabiting the 

 South Mahratta country," and no doubt it is the species obtained by Captain Tickell at Dampara in 

 Dholbhiim, which would give it an extensive range in the Indian peninsula. 



The male has the head, neck and breast sooty black, bounded below by a narrow crescent of white., 

 separating the sooty black of the breast from the rich carmine-red of the under surface ; upper surface orange- 

 brown, becoming paler and brighter on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; wings black, the coverts and 

 secondaries crossed by numerous fine irregular bars of white, and the primaries narrowly edged externally 

 with the same hue; two centre tail-feathers chestnut, narrowly tipped with black, the next on each side 

 chestnut at the base and black at the tip, the chestnut advancing in a bifurcated form towards the tip of the 

 outer web ; the next on each side entirely black ; the three lateral feathers on each side black at the base, 

 largely tipped with white, the white advancing on the margin of the outer web nearly to the base, and the 

 black along the shaft to the tip; irides deep brown ; bill and orbits fine deep cobalt-blue; legs light blue. 



The female differs in having the head and neck brown, with a yellowish tinge on the chest ; the under 

 surface rich ochraceous ; and the bars on the wings ochraceous brown instead of white. 

 The figures represent the two sexes of the natural size. 



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