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This curious Bird was brought from
the Ifland of Ceylon by my worthy friend
John Gideon Loten, Efq; and is now
preserved in the Britifh Mufeum. Briffon
calls it Gobe-mouche Hupe, and fays it is
from the Cape of Good Hope: but his
figure is certainly imperfed, in wanting
the two extraordinary long feathers in the
tail. I believe it is natural for fome Birds
that have thofe extreme long feathers in
their tail to be without them for fix months
in the year. I know it is fo in refpe~t to
the Widdow, or Red-breafted Long-tailed
Filch, figured in my Hiftory of Birds,
P1la. 86. for many of them have molted
for feveral years in London, and have
changed into quite other coloured Birds,
and been without the long feathers for fix
months, when their tails have again ap-
peared. See Briffon's figure, in his Or-
nithology, Vol. II. Tab. xli. Fig. i. and
his defcription, P. 418. Briffon's Gobe-
mIouche Blanc Hupe, P. 414. of the fame
Vol. is certainly the male of the other.
Our countryman Robert Knox, in his
Iliftory of Ceylon, Lond. i 68 i. has briefly
defcribed thele Birds. P. 27, he fays,
Here are frnall Birds, not much bigger
than Sparrows, very lovely to look on,
but I think good for nothing elfe; fome
being in colour white like fnow, and
their tails about a foot in length, and
their heads black like jet, with abtuft
or plume of feathers fItanding upright
thereon. There are others of the fame
fort, only differing in colour, being
reddifh like an orange, and on the head
the plume of black feathers danding
up. I fuppofe the one may be the
cocks, and the other the hens." Albert
Seba has given a bad figure of this Bird.
See Vol. 1. Tab. xxx. Fig. S. This has
the long leathers in the tail. Hle feems
to have repeated a figure of the fame Bird
I


Cet Oi/eau curieux a e'te' apporte   e
l'IJle de Ceylon, par mon digne ami Mr.
Yean Gideon Loten; il elI garde a prefent
dans le Cabinet Britannique. Brz/fon l'ap-
pele Gobe-mouche IHup, et dit gu'il vient
du Cap de Bonne Efperance: mais certaine-
ment lafgure qu'il en donne eJI imparfi7ite,
en ce qu'on ny trouve point les deux plumes
de la queuF, dont la longueur eJt Ji remar-
quable. Ye crois qu'iI eji naturel a' que/ques
Ofeaux qui ont ces longues plumes d'en
manguer pendant fix mois de l'an.     )le
fcais que cela eji arrive a' l'egard de la
Rouge-gorge a' longue queue, fJguree a la
Plancbe 86. de mon Hf/oire Naturelle des
o0 maux: car p'f/eurs O~feaux de cet efpece
ont mues pendant plufleurs anne'es a Lon-
dres, et ont meme entierement change's de
couleur, et ont ette prive's de ces longues
plumes pendant fix mois de fuite, et alors
leurs queues renatyoient avec ces memes
plumes.   Voyez l'Ornithologic de Br.0obn,
Vol. II. Planche xli. Fig. i. et la defcription
qu'en fczit cet auteur a la Page 4I 8. Le
Gobe-mouche Blanc Hupe', decrit cz la Page
414. du meme Tome de Brizbn, efi certaine-
mnent la male de la meme eipece.   Notre
compatriote Robert Knox, dans fon Hf/oire
de Ceylon, publi.'e a' Londres l'an i 68 i. a
decrit fuccintement ces Ofeaux.  Il dit a' la
Page 27, " Ici l'on trouve de petits Oflaux
pzs beaucoup plus gros que les Moineaux,
tres charmants a" voir, mais d'ailleurs
bons a rien que je fache; quellu'uns
de ces O/eaux /ont blancs au corps comme
la niege, et ont des queues longues d'en-
viron un pied, et leurs tetes Jont noires
comme le jayet, avec un plumet ou une
toufe, dont les plumes font drfß/fes fur
la tete.  Il y a plufieurs autres de la
memne eJfece, et dont la feule djy/rence
conjlqe dans la couleur, qui eJf d'orange
rougeatre; ces autres ont aqjzli ue touj
de plumes noires dr&.l'cs fur 1.7 tete. 7*