EFLABES PTILOGENYS. 
(THE CEYLON MYNA.) 
(Peculiar to Ceylon.) 
Gracula ptilogenys, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1846, xv. p. 285; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S, B. p. 108 
(1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 125 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. ISat. Hist. 
1854, xiii. p. 216. 
Eulahes ptilogenys, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 299; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 18^2, p. 40o , Legge, Ibis, 
1874, p. 25. 
Er. Temj>leton's Myna, Kelaart ; The Blaclc Myna in the planting districts. 
Mal-Jcaivada, Sinhalese, SafFragam ; Selalaheniya of the Kandyans. 
Ad. supra viridescenti-niger, purpureo varius ; pileo et facie kterali velutinis nigris : corpore subtis toto virideseentb 
niero pectore magis purpurascente : alis caudaque nigns vmdi vel purpureo extus lavatis, primanis ^ -/ 
albo notatis fasciam alarem couspicuam formantibus, primario seeundo intiis tantum notato : rostro aurantiaeo, 
acl busiu. nigro : pcdibus pallido ilavis : irid© albii : cfl>ruiiculis fiavis. 
Adult male and female. Length 10-75 to ll'l inches ; wing 5-9 to 6-2^ ; tail 2-5 to 3-0 ; tarsus 1-3 to 1-4; middle 
toe 1-1, its daw (straight) 0-4 ; bill to gape 1-6. Lappets 0-9 inch in length, 0-7 in breadth, springing from each 
side of the nape, and meeting at the base in old birds. 
Iris (male) greyish white, dappled with brown, (female) white or yellowish white ; bill orange-red, with the upper 
mandible black from gape to nostril, and the lower for nearly half its length ; legs and feet gamboge-yellow ; 
claws blackish ; lappets rich yellow. i . j' 
Entire plumage glossy black, with strong metallic reflections of purple on the head, hmd neck, upper back, breast, and 
thighs, and of greenish bronze on the back, wings, and belly ; across the wing a white bar, extending from the inner 
web of the 2nd to the outer web of the 7th quill, and in some specimens only to the 6th. 
Young. Birds of the year have the iris quite brown ; bill with more black about the base, and not so long as in the 
adult ; lappets smaller and ividely separate at the base ; lower parts faintly edged with greyish. In this stage 
they breed. 
Ohs. I record the colour of the iris in the adult female as ivUte because I have found it so in all specimens I have 
shot ; I believe Mr. Bligh has obseri'ed the same to be the ease. AVhether the eye of the male becomes white with 
ao-e I am unable to say ; I have always found greyish or brown tints in it, and they are usually in the form of 
dots or stipplings. The fact of the eye in the young bird being browm augurs strongly in favour of a change 
eventually to the same colour in both sexes ; and it may be that I have not succeeded in getting a fully-aged male. 
The subject is worthy of consideration at the hands of my readers. 
Distribution. The Ceylon Myna is chiefly confined to the mountains of the Kandyan Province, the 
southern ran^-es, and the subsidiary high forests on the south bank of the Giiidurah and the northern'portions 
of the Kukul Korale which are continuous with the Singha-Kajah or “Lion- King” forest. On the eastern 
and southern slopes of the central zone I have never found it below 1500 feet; hut this is by no means the 
case as regards the western slopes lying between Maskeliya and Pelmadulla, through the eontiuuous forests 
of whieh it descends into the low country, and spreads over the Three Korales, as well as the Kuruwite and 
perhaps the adjoining borders of the Rayigam Korales, wherever there is tall forest. It is tolerably common 
about Avisawella, which is nearly on the level of the sea; and in that neighbourhood I have procured it as fai 
seawards as the twenty -eighth mile-post from Colombo. Mr. C. Byrde, of the Ceylon Civil Service, infoi-ms 
me that it breeds yearly at Avisawella; and I found it nesting myself in the timber-forests of Mr. Charles 
de Soyza’s estate, Kuruwite. In the main range and on the Nuwara-Eliya plateau it is more abundant in 
the cool season than at other times ; but it does not appear ever to cross the Totapella range to the upland 
of Horton Plains, as T nowhere observed it in the mossy forests of that region. 
