270 
HARPACTES FASCIATUS. 
fulvous on the rump ancl upper tail-coverts ; least wing-coverts concolorous with the back, the remainder of the 
wing black, crossed with narrow bars of white on the wing-coverts, tertials, outer webs and tips of secondaries ; 
all but the first primary with a clearly-defined white outer edge ; the three centre pairs of tail-feathers cinnamon- 
rufous, the central pair almost entirely so, with a fine black tip ; the next two black at the tip and on the terminal 
portion of the inner web ; the next two with almost all the inner webs black ; the three outer pure white on the 
terminal half, black on the basal, and with a rufous edge except on the outermost. 
Female. Has the back and rump as in the male ; but the head and hind neck are brown, darker than the back ; the 
throat and fore neck light olive-brown and the chin blackish; the wing-coverts, outer webs of secondaries, and the 
tertials are barred with bands of fulvescent-rufous, broader than the white bars of the male: breast and under 
surface fulvous, the white pectoral band wanting. 
Younn male Rill and orbital skin duller than in the adult. In nest-plumage the male has the head and face slaty 
black back and tail as in the adult ; the median wing-coverts barred with narrow bars of fulvous, and the outer 
webs ’of the secondaries with broader bars of the same, slightly paler than these markings in the female ; the chin 
is black and the fore neck slate-colour ; the under surface is paler fulvous than the adult female, and the white 
pectoral band is present. An individual shot in January, in the Northern Province, has the wing-coverts with 
white-and-rufous barred feathers, and the under surface with fulvous and scarlet ones. 
Obs. Mr. Hume has called attention ( loc . cit.) to the fact that Ceylonese examples are smaller than Indian ; and he 
points out the following difference in the tail of the island race : — “ Instead of the central tail-feathers being 
entirely chestnut with moderately black tips, and the next pair entirely black, they have all the four central tail- 
feathers black on the inner webs and on the outer webs for about one inch, the rest of the outer webs being chestnut. 
As a matter of fact the pair adjacent to the central one have the black only on the inner web, at least in a good 
scries I have obtained, so that these feathers may be said to be almost entirely rufous, which is a great- 
dissimilarity to the same in the Indian bird. I have not been able to examine any South-Indian specimens, and 
cannot express an opinion as to whether it is the rule to find them with such black tails . If the Indian species is 
to be separated, it must bear another name, as it is the Ceylonese bird which is fasdatus, it having been described 
by Forster, in his ‘ Indische Zoologie,’ from Ceylon. . . 
Mr Fail-bank gives the following measurements of specimens killed in the Palams : 6 , length 12-o inches, wing 5-0, 
expanse 16-0, tail 7-0, bill from gape 1-1 : ?, length 12-0, wing 5-0, expanse 15-75, tail 7-0, bill from gape 1-0. 
An individual shot in Sambalpur by Mr. Ball measures-length ll’S, wing 5-0, tail 7-0. From these dimen- 
sions it would appear that Indian examples differ chiefly in the length of the tail, but do not much exceed 
Ceylonese ones in the wing. 
Forster’s plate of this species is a good representation of it ; the figure is that of a male bird lying on the stump ot a tree. 
Distribution. — This very handsome bird is widely diffused throughout Ceylon, and is by no means 
uncommon, although, being entirely a denizen of the forest, it is not much known among Europeans. In all 
parts of the island it is found wherever there is lofty jungle, which it frequents by choice. It is met with 
near Colombo, at Atturugeria and Ikkade Barawe, and inhabits the forests in the interior of the Western 
Province. In the south it is found in the timber-jungles near the Giudurah, those throughout the Hinedun 
Pattu, and in the Kukkul and Morowak Korales. The Singha-Rajah forest is a great stronghold of this 
species ; its gloomy ravines clothed with fine timber- jungle, entwined in many places with enormous ratan-canes, 
which flourish on the incessant rains of that region, afford it a paradise. In the Eastern Province I found 
it common in the Friars-Hood hills, in the Nilgalla district, and other localities clothed with heavy jungle. In 
the north it is locally distributed, being confined to heavy forest, in which I have procured it about 15 miles from 
Trincomalie. At the northern base of the Matale ranges it is common, and is diffused throughout all the 
coffee-districts, ascending to the upper ranges in the dry season. Mr. Holdsworth met with it at Nuwara 
Elliya in February, and I have seen it at Kanrlapolla in January. 
In India Jerdon found it in the forests of Malabar, from the extreme south up to about north latitude 1/ , 
reaching up the Ghats and hill-ranges to at least 3000 feet. Referring to ‘ Stray Feathers, we find Mr. lair- 
bank procuring it first on the Palani hills at an elevation of 3500 feet, and finding it up to 5000 feet elevation. 
Mr. Bourdillon records it as a common bird in heavy jungle on the Travancore hills above 1000 feet ; north 
of this region the former gentleman notices it as found in the woods of Sawant Wade, in the Khandala district. 
In the Central Provinces Mr. Thompson has procured it in the Ahiri forests, in lat. 19° 30' ; Mr. Ball at 
