410 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH, 
Genus PLATYLOPHUS, Swains. 
381. PLATYLOPHUS AEDESIACUS. 
THE CRESTED JAY. 
Lophocitta ardesiaca, Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 219 ; Elliot, Ibis, 1878, p. 54. Platy- 
lophus ardesiacus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. Mus. iii. p. 317; Hume ^ Dav. 
S. F. vi. p. 380 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 105. 
Description, — Male and female. The whole head_, crest_, cliiii, throat and 
entire lower plumage blackish brown or nearly black ; back, scapulars, wings 
and wing-covertSj rump and upper tail-coverts rich olive-brown ; tail dark 
brown ; a large patch of white on either side of the neck ; two small distinct 
patches of white at the back of the eye near the corners of the eyelids. 
The young bird has the head_, crest and lower plumage blackish, but a 
good many of the feathers of the crown are chestnut and some of those on 
the abdomen white ; the mantle and wing-coverts are rufous with chestnut 
tips ; the tail and wings are much as in the adult. In another stage there 
is no chestnut on the crown and the chestnut tippings are confined to the 
wing-coverts ; the lower plumage is dark brown, barred with white. Sub- 
sequently the chestnut tippings to the wing-coverts disappear, and the 
white bars on the lower plumage resolve themselves into spots or broken 
bars previously to vanishing altogether. 
Legs, feet, claws and bill black ; the eyelids dark brownish black ; the 
irides are reddish brown, varying from a rhubarb-brown to a litharge-red. 
[Davison.) 
Length 11 inches, tail 5, wing 5*5, tarsus 1-3, bill from gape 1*35. The 
female is slightly smaller. 
From an examination of a series of these birds in the British Museum, 
and some specimens which my men shot in Tenasserim, I consider Mr. 
Sharpe correct in separating the Malayan bird from that of Java, and 
again from that found in Borneo and Sumatra. The Javan bird is black, 
and the Sumatran bird is reddish brown ; and knowing as we do that in 
P. ardesiacus the sexes are alike, it is highly improbable, as has been 
suggested, that the above are merely different sexes of the same species. 
The Crested Jay has been observed in the extreme south of Tenasserim 
by Mr. Davison, and my men procured several specimens at Malewoon. 
It is confined to the Malay peninsula, being replaced in Sumatra and 
Borneo by P. coronatus and in Java by P. galericulatus. 
Mr. Davison makes the following remarks regarding the habits of this 
bird : — This species occurs only in the evergreen forests of the extreme 
south. It is a very restless bird, flying about from tree to tree and branch 
to branch incessantly, sometimes close to the ground, sometimes high up. 
