HEGfAL JiHA FLAVIFEONS. 
(THE YELLOW-FRONTED BARBET.) 
(Peculiar to Ceylon.) 
Bucco flavifrons, Cuv. Reg. An. i. p. 428 (1817). 
Bucco aurifrons, Temm. PL Col. texte (1831). 
Megalcema flavifrons, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 143 (1850); Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1852, 
p. 179, et Ibis, 1866, p. 227 ; Gray, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. Capit. p. 8 (1868) ; Marshall, 
Monog. Capit. pi. 30 (1871). 
Meg alaima flavifrons, Kclaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 127 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. 
Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 447; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 429; Layard, P. Z. S. 1873, 
p. 204; Legge, Str. Peath. 1875, p. 365. 
Cyanops flavifrons, Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 314 (1862); Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 297; Legge, 
Ibis, 1874, p. 15. 
Le Barbut a front d' or, Levaill. Barbus, pi. 35 ; The Yellow-headed Barbet, Kelaart ; The 
“ Shouter Europeans in planting districts. 
Kotoruwa, Sinhalese. 
S ad. supra prasinus, interscapulio obscurius viridi, occipitis nuchse et colli postici plumis clare flavo medialiter 
striatis : remigibus nigris, extus prasinis, intus flavo marginatis : cauda prasina : fronte et vertice aurato-flavis : 
loi-is, fascia supereiliari, facie laterali, gulaque tota cyaneis : gems anticis aurato-flavis, fasciam mystacalem parvam 
formantibus : eorpore reliquo subtus pallide viridi, juguli et pectoris plumis prasino marginatis : subalaribus 
pallide ochrascenti-fulvis, obscure viridi lavatis : rostro viridescenti-corneo, mandibula pallidiore : pedibus pallide 
viridescentibus : iride dilute rubra. 
5 mari similis. 
Adult male and female. Length 8‘3 to 8-9 inches ; wing 3-45 to 3-7 ; tail 2-2 to 2'3 ; tarsus 09 to 1-0 ; outer anterior 
toe and claw 0-95 to 1-05 ; outer posterior toe 085 ; bill to gape 1*15 to 1-3 ; height at front of nostril 032 to 
04. Females average slightly smaller than males, and the bills of both sexes vary in size. 
In this species the bristles at the gape and chin are slight, and the lores more feathered than in the preceding. 
Iris light red, or pale brownish red, a pale outer circle often present ; bill greenish horn, slightly dusky at base of 
culnien, lower mandible paler ; tarsi and feet sickly green, the tarsi in some bluish ; soles yellow, claws dusky. 
Lores, a superciliary stripe, cheeks, ear-coverts, and throat pale verditer-blue, lightest on the latter part : a spot beneath 
the gape, forehead, and front of crown amber-yellow, passing on the head into brownish green, and from that into 
the grass-green of the back, wings, and tail ; nape, sides, and back of neck marked with light stria), yellowish on 
the former, and greenish white on the neck ; outer primaries and inner webs of quills brown, margined internally 
with yellowish ; longer primaries outwardly edged light towards the tips ; beneath pale green ; bases of abdominal 
feathers whitish ; chest and sides of breast with crescentic margins of brownish green. 
Obs. The coloration of this Barbet is peculiar, inasmuch as it forms a link between the Cyanops group and that 
comprised of the members of the genus Megalcema. Although now classed with the latter, it has, as I have 
pointed out above, a slight dissimilarity in the less amount of facial bristling and more feathered lores, besides 
which its bill is shorter in proportion to its width at the base. Some variation in its plumage is observable ; the 
extent of the frontal yellow varies, in some specimens it ceases abruptly, while in others it passes back almost to 
the occiput. The strise on the hind neck are sometimes broad and almost white in colour, individuals so marked 
having the lunulations on the chest very pale ; this is, perhaps, a sign of immaturity. There is no difference in 
size between low-country and hill birds, some Mahara specimens in my collection being as large as, if not larger 
than, any others. 
