PRIONOCHILUS VINCENS, Sdater. 



Leg^e's Flower-pecker. 



Prionochilus vincens, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 730.— Holdsworth, torn. cit. p. 483. 



The present species is a very interesting bird, occurring, as it does, in the island of Ceylon. In the Malayan 

 archipelago the genus Prionochilus is plentifully represented; and in India it may also be said to be present, 

 as the bird called Piprisoma agile is scarcely distinguishable from the genus Prionochilus. But it is not 

 among the Malayan species that we must look for the ally of the Ceylonese Prionochilus, the bird which it 

 most resembles being in fact the Yellow-bellied Flower-pecker of Nepal, the Pachygiossa melanoxantha of 

 Hodgson, which, on examination, turns out to be a true Prionochilus, and should stand as Prionochilus 

 melanowanthus. 



The present species is named after Captain Vincent Legge, R.A., a gentleman celebrated not only for 

 the ornithological discoveries in Ceylon, but for the very excellent and complete work on the avifauna of that 

 country, which he is now publishing. In a letter addressed to me from Trincomalee in Nov. 1872, he writes 

 as follows : — " As I have learnt from Dr. Sclater that you intend to figure my little bird, Prionochilus vincens, 

 I thought it advisable to send you some leaves of the creeper which it frequents so much, and 'pecking' 

 the flowers of which I discovered it at first. I enclose the leaves, the colour of which, when in life, is dull 

 leaf-green ; they grow on the long tendrils which encircle the trunks of the tall straight forest-trees at 

 intervals of about an inch. The creeper itself clothes the trunk of the tree completely, much more so than 

 ivy does, giving the appearance of a beautiful column of vegetation. The flower of the plant is of a yellowish 

 red, and is a thick seedy substance, somewhat resembling the marigold flower. The little birds may be 

 seen in flocks of from ten to fifteen in one tree, twisting and turning themselves about these flowers and 

 clinging to them back downwards with the active movements peculiar to the family. I have lately traced it 

 up to some little-known ranges of hills in the southern province, at an elevation of 2500 feet; but it is quite 

 confined to the forests of the southern part of Ceylon, and is therefore, as regards its island distribution, 

 extremely local. Its little note, ' tsee-tsee,' is scarcely audible when the wind is high, the noise of the 

 moving branches almost drowning it." 



The following is a copy of Captain Legge's original description : — 



"Male. Length 4~a% inches; tail 1*2; wing 2'3 ; tarsus 0*5 ; mid toe with claw 0'5, hind toe i&; bill to 

 gape -io, at front nearly 0*4, Third primary longest, slightly longer only than second. 



" Description. Iris reddish ; bill, upper mandible black, lower mandible lightish at the base ; legs and 

 feet blackish brown ; entire head (except the chin and throat), hind neck, back, rump, and lesser wino-. 

 coverts dull steel-blue, palest on the rump, and with the bases of the feathers dark ; quills blackish brown, 

 the basal portion of inner webs, with the under wing-coverts, white ; tertiaries, greater wing-coverts, and 

 tail black, the former edged with the hue of the upper surface, the latter with the three outer feathers 

 white towards the tip, the colour extending a little up the shaft on the inner web, the next two with a small 

 terminal white spot ; chin, throat, and chest white, below which the under surface is saffron-yellow, palino- 

 at the vent ; under tail-coverts white, edged pale yellow. 



" Female. Length 4'1 inches ; wing 2#d ; tail 1*1. Bill slightly lighter in hue than that of the male ; leo-s, 

 feet, and iris the same as in the male ; head and hind neck faded bluish ashen, centres of feathers dark ; back 

 olivaceous brown ; secondaries and wing-coverts brown, edged with olivaceous ; quills lighter than in the 

 male: sides of neck and chest ashy beneath, paler yellow than in the male, mingled with grey on the flanks; 

 tail brownish black." 



I am indebted to Dr. Sclater for the loan of the typical specimens of the present species, which he lent 

 me before returning them to the owner. The Plate represents two males and a female, of the size of life • 

 but I regret that the plant spoken of by Capt, Legge was not adapted for illustration. 





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