William Vincent Legge

“ In December, 1871, I met with a pair under similar circumstances, in forest, on the low hills of the south-west, not far from Galle. They were flushed from some low bushes in the jungle and flew, with short flights from tree to tree, one after the other, uttering a much harsher and louder cry than that of the female just alluded to. I procured both birds, the male with dark brown iris and the female with a pure white. The sexual organs in the male birds in both instances were well developed, and there was no appearance whatever of immaturity about their plumage. ”

“ On the other hand, with regard to the iris, there is no doubt whatever that in the female it is pure white, and in the male dark brown. In both cases that have come under my notice as I have shewn the birds were pairs, and in the adult state. Every naturalist knows how the eye changes in many immature birds notably in Raptores, but in the case of Phaenicophaus pyrrhocephalus, the difference of colour above noticed is undoubtedly due to sex and not to age. ”

“ The tail of the male is imperfect, the bird being in moult, but the longest existing feather is one of the uropygials and is an old feather, and the short outermost feathers are nearly half inch shorter than the corresponding ones in the female. ”