The elastic and inelastic proton scattering excitation functions were measured from a 204 Hg target at bombarding energies from 14.0 MeV to 16.4 MeV, and at scattering angles of 30.5°, 125°, 149.5° and 165°. The elastic scattering data show T = 45 2 , l = 4 resonances in 205 Tl at 14.72 and 15.43 MeV, an l = 2 resonance at 15.81 MeV, and another possible l = 2 resonance apparently at 16.5 MeV, which is near the upper limit of the experiment. The inelastic scattering to the first excited 2 + state does not exhibit sharp distinct resonances at the first three of these energies, whereas evidence for a strong resonance structure is found corresponding to the 16.5 MeV elastic resonance. The elastic data are analysed to yield resonance parameters: E res , Γ total and Γ p for each resonance. The observed splitting of the g 9 2 and d 5 2 strength interpreted in terms of the structure of 205 Hg based on the particle-core coupling model.