Genus POMATOEHINUS. 
Bill long, curved, compressed from the nostrils to the tip, which is entire. Nostrils length- 
ened, the membrane overlapping them. Wings short, rounded, the 6th and 6th quills the longest, 
the 1st about half their length. Tail moderately long, lax, and graduated. Legs and feet stout. 
The tarsus longer than the middle toe, the scutse smooth and large. Middle toe considerably 
longer than the laterals ; hind toe and claw large. 
POMATOEHINUS MELANUEUS. 
(THE CEYLONESE SCIMITAR-BABBLER.) 
(Peculiar to Ceylon.) 
Pomatorhinus melanurus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1847, xvi. p. 451 ; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 
p. 146 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 122 (1822); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 
1853, xii. p. 271 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 301 ; Legge, J. A. S. (Ceylon Branch) 1870-71, 
p. 41; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 447; Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 437 ; Legge, Ibis, 
1874, p. 18, et 1875, p. 395 ; id. Str. Feath. 1876, p. 245 ; Whyte, ibid. 1877, p. 202 ; 
Ramsay, Ibis, 1878, p. 132. 
The Black-tailed Scimitar-Babbler, The Ceylon Pomatorhinus (Kelaart) ; The Gamut-bird in 
Planting-districts. 
Batitchia, Sinhalese, Galle district; Parandeliya, Western Province. 
5 ad. supra rufescenti-bruiinea, pileo obscuriore, fronte et verticis lateribus nigricautibus : tectricibus alarum dorso 
concoloribus : majoribus remigibusque saturate brunneis, extus rufesconti-brunneo marginatis, secundariis latius ; 
rectricibus chocolatinis, rufescenti-brunneo marginatis: striga superciliari lata a basi rostri usque ad nucham 
lateralom producta : palpebra alba ; loris, plumis iiifraocularibus et regione parotica uigris : colli lateribus 
eastaneo lavatis : genis et corpore subtus albis, lateribus et subcaudalibus rufescenti-brunneis : tibiis cinerascen- 
tibus : subalaribus ciiieraseonti-brunueis, axillaribus albis apicaliter brunneis : remi^bus infra biuuiueis, intus 
pallide rufescentibus : rostro flavo, ad basin mandibula) nigricaute : pedibus fusceseenti-schistaceis : iride brunnea. 
Adult male. Length 8-6 to 8'9 inches ; wing 3-5 to 3-8 ; tail 3'5 to 3-7 ; tarsus 1 '2 ; middle toe and claw 0'95 to I'Oo ; 
hind toe 0'6, its claw (straight) 04 ; bill to gajje (straight) 1-13 to 1-23. 
Adult female. Length 8'5 to 8‘7 inches ; wing 3‘2 to 3-6 ; tail 34 to 3-0 ; tarsus 1-2 ; bill to gape (straight) 14 to 1'2. 
Examples vary inter se in size, but there is no constant difierence between low-country and hill birds. Dimensions of 
various specimens are as follows: — d (Karawita hills, Saffragam), wing 3-6, bill to gape (straight) 1’26 ; d 
(Dumbara), wing 3-6, bill to gape (straight) 1-2 ; d (Horton Plains), wing 3-65, bill to gape (straight) 145 : 
c? (Banderawella, IJva), wing 3-61, bill to gape (straight) 1-2 ; d (Borella, Colombo), wing 3-55, bill to gape 
(straight) 1'2. 
The bill varies in length and curvature according to age. 
Iris brownish red, dull red, or reddish brown ; orbital skin and eyehd dull blue ; bill gamboge-yellow, more or less 
blackish from the forehead to a short distance in front of the nostril ; legs and feet plumbeous or greenish plum- 
beous ; feet generally more bluish than tarsi ; claws dusky, pale horn at base. 
Lores, region beneath the eye, ear-eoverts, forehead, and plumes bordering the supereilium above black, fading into the 
dark olivaceous of the head and occiput, the crown-feathers having black shafts ; a conspicuous superciliary stripe 
extending from the nostril to beyond the nape, throat, fore neck, chest, and breast pure white, passing up behind the 
ear-eoverts ; hind neck, upper surface, wing-coverts, flanks, and under tail-coverts ferruginous brown, more intense 
on the back of the neck than elsewhere ; in many examples the feathers on the sides of the neck and chest at the 
