15G 
SYRNIUM INDRANI. 
to the adjacent coverts ; least wing-coverts uniform, like the back ; winglet and primary-coverts deep brown, barred 
with dusky fulvous ; primaries paler brown than their coverts, secondaries somewhat lighter still, the whole deeply 
tipped with white and barred on both webs with dusky fulvous, paling into whitish at the inner edges, and into 
buff at the basal portions of the longer primary outer webs ; first primary darker than the rest, and unbarred on 
the outer web ; tail deep brown on the terminal portion, paling towards the base, tipped with white and barred 
with narrow non-corresponding bands of huffy w'hite. 
Disk rufous tawny, changing into whitish above the eyes, in some examples faintly barred with dark wavy lines ; a 
circle of black feathers immediately round the eye, extending more or less to the loral plumes, which in some 
specimens are almost black, in others the basal part of the webs is whitish ; upper part of ruff blackish brown, 
paling to dark brown beneath, and bounded externally by a zone of fulvous ; beneath this the feathers of the throat 
are brownish, this colour usually taking the form of a zone across the fore neck ; chest and under surface fulvous, 
closely barred with brown ; under tail-coverts whitish, barred wdth darker brown than the breast ; thighs, tarsi, 
and toes more ochraceous than the under surface, crossed with narrow, wavy, brownish bars ; under wing-coverts 
eoncolorous with the breast, barred more closely and paling to buff-white at the edge of the wing ; primary under 
wing-coverts blackish browm, paling to buff at the base ; basal portions of the inner primaries and the secondaries 
beneath fulvescent white. 
Examples from the upper hills (whether as a rule or not I cannot say) are darker on the disk, ruff, and lores than the 
low-country birds, and exhibit at the same time the facial barring which Mr. Hume found to be absent in his 
examination of the specimen on which he founded his Ceylonese race or subspecies S. ochrogenys. These birds 
have the barring of the under surface darker than the ochraceous-faced, paler-eyebrowed ones from the low 
country ; but the ground-colour varies, being occasionally paler than in the latter. 
Young. The nestling has the iris paler brown than the adult ; cere and bill bluish leaden. 
It is clothed with whitish down on the body, which gives place to the first or nestling feathers, which are edged with 
greyish buff, the scapulars, quills, and tail assuming from the first the brown hue noticed in the following 
description : — 
Plumage on leaving the nest. Head, hind neck, scapulars, wing-coverts, lower back, and upper tail-coverts pale rufescent 
brown, the body-feathers broadly edged with whitish margins of a fluffy character ; the scapulars and wing-coverts 
boldly barred with buff-white, aud the greater coverts deeply tipped with the same ; primaries aud their coverts 
dark sepia-brown ; the secondaries paler brown, the whole barred with pale ochraceous brown, and deeply tipped 
with whitish, the bars at the internal bases of the quills buff ; tertials paler or more ochraceous bro wn than the 
secondaries, and narrowly barred with buffy white ; back brownish ; tail eoncolorous with the primaries, barred 
with narrow whitish marks, and tipped with white. 
Lores and plumes between the eye and the forehead black; face ochre-yellow, darkening into rufous behind the eye; 
ruff and chin deep brown, the former edged with whitish ; entire under surface buff-white, the feathers crossed 
with softened and indistinct rays of light ochraceous ; under wing-coverts pale fulvous. 
The above is a combined description from the example in my aviary (which was the subject of my article in ‘ Stray 
Feathers ’) and a second, shot in the Central Province ; at this young stage even the face in the hitter hill-bird is 
not so golden as was that of my tame, low-country one. The latter exhibited the following change of plumage 
during the first year : — After the lapse of a few weeks (about the 15th of June) the tips of the interscapular feathers 
next the scapulars and those of the lower part of the sides of the neck just above the point of the closed wing 
began to darken, and a V-shaped mark, having its apex about the middle of the back, was formed ; this was the 
origin of the deep sepia-brown back of the adult. About a fortnight later the mature feathers (buff, barred with 
brown) began to appear on the tarsus, the fluffy plumage falling out to give place to them. Li a short time the 
ground-colour of the tail-feathers deepened into blackish brown, and the adult feathers began to assert themselves 
elsewhere on the throat and parts of the breast. The tarsus and tibia took about three weeks to change, and by 
that time the whole of the interscapular region had become very deep sepia-brown ; the downy feathers along 
the ulna commenced to fall out, and the deep brown edge to develop itself, while the wing-coverts kept pace 
with the rest, the whole wing rapidly becoming dark. In the mean time, while this moult was going on, the 
scapulars, quills, and tail-feathers darkened, assuming by a change in the feathers the hue of the adult. By the 
31st of July the whole of the under surface w as fully clothed with new feathers, the lesser wing-coverts were fully 
grown, the back had assumed the adult appearance, and the chin had become deep brown, the ruff extending 
beneath it by degrees. The facial disk had not altered at that time, but as the bird grew older it darkened into 
the normal yellow-rufous colour. The feathers of the head were the last to change, that part becoming dark 
brown about the middle of September ; but it was not until the 30th November, when the bird w'as about 
8 months old, that the last immature feather disappeared from above the right eye. 
