THE CRIMSON-BREASTED FLOWERPECKER. 839 
Genus PRIONOCHILUS, Strickl. 
321. PEIONOCHILUS PERCUSSUS. 
THE CRIMSON-BREASTED FLOWERPECKER. 
Pardalotus percussus, Temm. PI. Col. 394. fig. 2 ; Strickland, P. Z. S. 1841, p. 29 ; 
Tweedd. Ibis, 1877, p. 303; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi. p. 196; Hume, S. F. viii. 
p. 90. 
Description. — Male. The whole upper plumage^ sides of the head and 
neck and lesser wing-coverts dull blue ; a patch of crimson on the centre 
of the crown ; tail brown^ washed with blue on the outer webs ; greater 
wing-coverts brown, edged with dull blue ; quills brown, edged with lighter 
blue ; a narrow white moustachial streak runs down the cheeks ; point of 
the chin white ; under wing-coverts and axillaries pure white ; the whole 
lower plumage deep yellow, paler on the vent and under tail-coverts and 
washed with green on the sides of the body ; a large patch of crimson on 
the breast. 
The female has the whole upper plumage and lesser wing-coverts green ; 
a patch of dull orange on the crown ; greater wing- coverts, quills and tail 
dark brown edged with greenish ; sides of the head green mixed with ashy ; 
a moustachial stripe grey ; chin ashy ; lower plumage olive-yellow, washed 
with dusky on the sides ; a patch of bright yellow, tinged with orange, on 
the breast, and the abdomen rather brighter than the other parts ; under 
wing-coverts and axillaries white. 
The young are like the female, but soon show a few feathers of the adult 
plumage and traces of the breast- and crown-patches. 
Length 3"8 inches, tail 1*2, wing 2'2, tarsus -55, bill from gape '45. The 
female is smaller. The colours of the bill &c. do not appear to have been 
recorded by any naturalist. 
P. thoracicus occurs in the Malay peninsula. It has the whole head, 
neck and breast black ; there is a patch of crimson on the crown and 
another, very large one, on the breast. The upper plumage of the body is 
yellow. 
The Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker was met with by Mr. Davison at 
Bankasoon, at the extreme southern point of Tenasserim. 
It extends down the Malay peninsula, and occurs also in the islands of 
Sumatra and Java. 
There is little to be said regarding the habits of these birds. They are 
all arboreal, climbing about the smaller branches of trees and searching the 
leaves for insects. They are said to eat berries as well as insects. 
z2 
