322 Viscount Walden on the Muscicapa melanictera. 
Parus monachus, Gray, Gen. of Birds, Sup. App. 306. no. 192, 
App. 39. no. 140, 1849. 
Iora nigricapilla, Drapiez, Diet. Class. Sc. Nat. vi. 170, 1840. 
Puhigula aberrans, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1846, p. 287. 
Sglvia atricapilla , Drapiez, apud Blyth, Cat. Mus. A. S. B. 
xxiii. in not., 1849. 
Pycnonotus atricapillus, Blyth, Cat. Mus. A. S. B. 211. no. 
1276; Layard, Ann. N. H. 1854, xiii. p. 125. no. 119 ; Sundev. 
K. Sv. Vet.-Ak. Hand. 1857, p. 40. no. 140. 
Parisoma monacus, Bp. Consp. 259. no. 3, 1850. 
Pycnonotus nigricapillus } Drapiez, apud Kelaart, Prod. Zey. 
112,123, 1852. 
Rubigula gularis , Gould, apud Kelaart, l. c. 
Meropixus atricapillus , Bp. Notes Ornith. 1854, p. 40, in not. 
All the specimens of this bird sent to me had been ascer¬ 
tained by dissection to be those of females; the livery of the 
male, therefore, still remains a matter of conjecture. As we have 
seen, Mr. Blythes first impression was that the state of plumage 
I have described was that of the female of Brachypus rubineus , 
Jerd., from Malabar. He eventually changed his opinion,but upon 
what grounds he has not stated. But while feeling confident 
that this Ceylon bird is not the female of B. rubineus , it is just 
possible that the males may wear a different livery. The form 
attributed by Le Vaillant to the female, and figured by him as 
such, may have been that of a young bird or of a distinct 
species, or, not improbably, it may have been invented for the 
occasion; for my specimens prove that authenticated females 
wear the dress which Le Vaillant has figured as that of the 
male. The female of B. rubineus, Jerd., has not been described 
by any of the Indian ornithologists; neither has the female of 
Turdus dispar, Horsf., been absolutely recognized, for Temminck 
says that the individuals sent to Leyden as the females of that 
species may only have been males in young plumage. The 
description given of them by him leads me to the same con¬ 
clusion. If we judge by analogy, we have no reason to anti¬ 
cipate any difference of plumage in the two sexes of any member 
of the Pycnonotime. 
M. melanictera appears to me to belong to the natural genus 
Rubigula, founded by Mr. Blyth in 1845 (J. A. S. B. p. 576) for 
