796 
PORPHYRIO POLIOCEPHALUS. 
The plumage of the head and face is variable, both as regards the amount of grey and the tint of the colouring of the 
occiput, which is duskier in some examples than in others. 
Young. The chick is said to be blackish, with the bill blue and red (the basal portion red), and bluish flesh-coloured 
legs and claws. 
Birds of the year have the iris pale red, with the inner edge mottled with brown ; bill red ; legs and feet reddish, with 
the joints brownish. 
Length about 15-0 inches ; wing 9 - 0 ; tarsus 3-5. . . ... 
The face, throat, and neck is more tinged with green than in the adult ; the back of the head and neck brownish, with 
the feathers here and there tipped with greyish ; the back and wings sombre greenish blue, passing into brown 
on the rump and upper tail-coverts, the feathers with pale tips ; the greenish-blue chest-feathers are likewise 
pale-tipped, and the blue of the under surface not so pure as in the adult, with the edges of the feathers greyish ; 
thighs cinereous bluish, with light edges to the feathers. 
Ohs. Indian examples correspond with Ceylonese in plumage. Some before me, from Madras, in the national collec- 
tion measure as follows : — wing 9-2 to 9-5 inches ; tarsus 3-0 ; middle toe 3-0 to 3-2 ; culmen (with casque) 2-5. 
Mr. Cripps gives the measurements of a pair as follows : — <5 . Length 10-6 inches ; wing 9-83, expanse 31-0 ; tail 4-0 ; 
tarsus 3-3. ?. Length 17'0 ; wing 10-0, expanse 3(H) ; tail 3-50 ; tarsus 3-6. 
The dimensions of a $ Pegu example are recorded by Mr. Oates as :-Length 17-0 inches ; wing 9-8 ; tail 4-0 ; 
tarsus 3-6 ; culmen (with casque) 2-55. 
The genus Porphyria has a singular distribution, the habitat of the species (with one exception) composing it stretching 
across in a belt as it were, from Southern Europe through Western and Southern Asia, to China and, the 
Philippines, and thence down through the Malay Archipelago, taking in some of the Western Pacific isles to New 
Zealand and Australia. . . ,, 
In his able paper on these curious birds, ‘ Stray Feathers,’ 1878, written after an examination of the fine series m the 
Paris Museum, Mr. Elliot recognizes nine species, besides which Capt. Shelley has described a tenth from Egypt 
under the name of P. alleni, which seems to have been overlooked by that author. ' 
For the information of Ceylon students I will here enumerate these species, many of which I have had the pleasure of 
inspecting in the British Museum, in the order taken by Mr. Elliot. They are : 
P. cyanocephalus, Vieill. Hab. Tasmania, through Eastern Australia to New Guinea, including New Zealand, New 
Caledonia, and the Chatham Islands. . 
Char. Back, wings, and tail black, beneath indigo-blue : wing 105 to 11-2 inches. Tasmanian specimens are very 
large. 
P. veterum, Gmelin. Hab. Southern Europe, Northern Africa, and part of Asia Minor 
Char. Back, wings, and tail dark blue, lower parts blackish blue : “ wing 10-75 inches {MM). 
P. beUus, Gould. Hab. Western Australia. 
Char. Like P. cyanocephalus ; chest paler blue ; legs and feet grass-green : wing 10-o inches. 
P. calvus , Vieill. Hab. Malay Peninsula, Malay Archipelago, and Pacific isles. 
Char. Face and chin black ; shoulders of wings greenish blue ; back olive-green ; breast deep blue : wing 8-0 to 
9-4 inches. An example from Samoa has much less of the bright blue along the shoulder of the wing than one 
from Fiji ; but both measure alike in the wing 8-5 inches. 
P. ccelestis, Swinhoe. Hab. China. 
Char. Like P. poliocephalus, but with a white rump, 
captivity, perhaps a partial albino.] 
[A 7 .B. Seems to be a doubtful species, described from a bi/d 
P. cMoronotus, Vieill. Hab. Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius. 
Char. Back green ; wings blue ; chin blackish ; flanks and breast bluish purple. 
P. poliocephalus. The subject of the present article. 
in 
P. eclwardsi. Hab. Cochin China, Siam. 
Char Resembles P. poliocephalus, but is brighter blue on the chest, not so grey about the head ; back, breast, and 
flanks violet-blue ; wing 10-75 inches. 
P. pulverulentus, Temm. Hab. Philippines. , 
Char. Head and breast greyish blue ; back and tail reddish brown ; wings blue : wing 9-5 inches. 
P. alleni, Shelley. Hab. Egypt. 
Char. Like P. veterum, but much smaller : wing 5-8 inches. 
