502 
POMATOEHINUS MELAKUEUS. 
junction of the white with the brown hue are centred with the former ; quills with the outer webs more olivaceous 
than the back, and the inner webs blackish brown; tail blackish brown, edged at the base with the hue of the 
upper fcail-eoverts, and deepening to blackish at the extremity; there are indications of cross rays on the terminal 
halt, which show plainer beneath ; abdomen rusty olivaceous. In some examples the hue of the nape blends imper- 
ceptibly into that of the hind neck, in others the line of demarcation is plain. 
The above is a description of the generality of examples from the Western Province, the south-west corner of the 
island the Pasdun-Korale hills, and the lower parts of the Peak forests, where a ferruginous hue predominates. 
As this bird ascends from the low country to the hills and to a cooler and drier climate than exists in the south and 
west, the rusty hues gradually vanish, giving way to olivaceous tints; and examples from the upper zone and 
likewise from the Uva patna-district, are clothed as foUows Upper parts, flanks, and wings (that is, those parts 
which in the low country are ferruginous) olivaceous brown, faintly tinged with rusty on the sides of the hind 
neck and on the rump. The same white-centred feathers on the sides of the chest exist in some hill specimens. 
Soft parts Ue same, the legs, perhaps, slightly greener. The most ferruginous birds come from the damp districts 
0 the south, where moist climate and heat are combined; and the gradation from their plumage to that of hill birds 
troni the upper zone is very perfect, a complete sequence being obtainable on going up through the wilderness of 
the Peak from the low-lying portion of Saffi-agam to the Horton Plains. Examples, however, vary in the olivaceous 
character of the brown tints inter se. It must not be supposed that the greenest birds come from the highest 
elevations : a specimen from Totapella, 7800 feet, is very strongly tinged with riistv, and so is another from 
Kandapolla, 6.300 feet, while an individual from Banderawella and another from Diimbara are more olivaceous 
than either. In like manner the ferruginous birds of the Western Province do not vary regularly accordino- to 
elevation, the most intensely-coloured bird in my collection being from the neighbourhood of HiUvmallv BEds 
from the forests of the north are very similar to Central-Province specimens, not in any way partaking of the 
rusty character of those from the south-west. ^ ^ ® 
Uuwara Eiliya, is very ferruginous above, and likewise on the sides of the 
chest and flanks : the head and ear-coverts are not so black as in the adult, and the white of the chest is very much 
contracted, and does not extend so far down upon the breast. The bill is much straighter than in an adult. 
Ohs. 
The difference between the Western-Province and the hill race of this bird (if I may use the term) has been the 
suiject of some attention. Mr. Holds worth was almost of opinion that they merited specific distinction; and 
l^ieut. VVardlaw Kamsay, in his synopsis of the genus Fomatoi-hinm, published in ‘ The Ibis,’ April 1878 has like- 
wise made some remarks on the subject, based on an examination of the specimens (probably a small series) in Lord 
Tweeddales collection; he writes that “the small race which is found at Nuwara Eiliya has the back olive-brown 
without being m the least rufescent, whilst the larger race,” found in the A^^estern Province, “has a few of the 
lateral breast- and flank-feathers partially white or centred white.” But I have shown that the hill race is not 
smaller than the low-country, and that the white-centred feathers exist in both. This latter is, I imamne merelv 
a transition-feature towards' an extended development of the white of the chest. A specimen in uTy collection 
has white feathers ev-en in the wing-coverts and on the hind neck. The example measured by Lieut. Eamsay from 
^ miara Eiliya, with the wing 3-2 inches, must have been a female, which is no smaller than a low-country bird of 
black of the t*ead of the up-country bird with the olivaceous of the hind neck. The same variation in the brown 
mg of these Babblers is to be found m the ease of the smaller relative {Akij^pe nigrifrom) of the present bird 
amerr the“s“tt {Pelhmmm fusdcapillum). The Ceylonese^ ScimitalBabbler t 
h ck on ^ ^®“th-Indiaii species (P. kors/eM) ; this latter is larger, with the wing 3-8 to 3-05; it is not so 
‘ the upper surface and wings, together with the sides of the breast are brnwTii«ti 
o ivaceous ; the white of the chest does not descend further than the upper part of the breast suddenlvnarmwino' 
to a point ; the sides of the breast are black. Lieut. AVardlaw Eamsay, in his above-mentioned synopsis of thi! 
genus, lemarks that our bird is intermediate between F. schistwns and F. monkmus of Java It is unt Ur, 
el..el,. .Med to either to P The J.v„ bird iA difereet tvpe oZ'S;: 
characterized by the sudden contrast between the plumage of the head and back. It has the head and nape dark 
rnTt C 1 '■f ’”“<1 ™ck, together with the scapulars, are 
thtb^f ; the throat, fore neck, and breast are white, and the flanks concoloious with 
the back. Examples from Java, in the British Museum, measure 3-4, 3-35, 3-5 in the wing. The Bornean race 
has been separated by Cabanis, as being smaller than the Javan, and having the secondLes and “ ^0 
race O?’’'"' ' exammed specimens of this species, and believe it to be only entitled to rank as a local 
example measures 3-4o inches in the wing, which exceeds two of the above dimensions of P montanus. 
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