348 [December. 



with all the feathers having a crimped appearance throughout their length. 

 Plunnage of the rump long and silky. About the size oi Dryoscopus rufiventris^ 

 (Swainson.) 



Dimensions. Total length of skin from tip of bill to end of tail about 8i inches, 

 wing 31, tail 3i inches. 



Colors. Entire plumage above and below brownish black, palest on the quills, 

 feathers of the rump paler at their basis, bill black. 



Hab. Western Africa, discovered by Robert MacDowell, M. D., late of Sierra 

 Leone. 



Obs. This species resembles no other with which lam acquainted. Its rather 

 short wings and tail give it more the general appearance of a Thamnophilus than 

 I have noticed in any other African species. It is peculiar, so far as I know, for 

 the uniform color of its plumage, which is (rump included) black. 



2. Dicrurzis aculeatusy nobis. 



Form. Small, but rather larger than D. Lndwigii, A. Smith. Bill rather 

 long, curved at the tip, toothed and sharply pointed ; wings with the fourth quill 

 slightly longest, but the third, fourth and fifth nearly equal; tail distinctly though 

 not deeply forked. 



Dimensions. Total length of skin from tip of bill to end of tail about li inches, 

 wing 4J, tail 3! inches. 



Colors. Entire plumage black with a greenish lustre, inner webs and under 

 surface of quills pale brownish, bill and feet black. 



Hab. Fazogloa, Eastern Africa. 



Obs. Resembles D. miisicus, Vieill., but is smaller and has the bill longer and 

 much stronger, comparatively ; it is smaller also than D. canipennis, Swainson, 

 which it somewhat resembles in having the light colored webs of the quills, but 

 can easily be distinguished by its shorter wings and tail and stronger bill. It is 

 larger than D. Lndwigii, A. Smith, and differs from all the species here men- 

 tioned in the relative lengths of the quills. Bonaparte is mistaken in making 

 D. emarginatus (Licht.) a distinct species, it is described by Lichtenstein in 

 Verzeichniss, p. 52, and there expressly stated to be the bird figured by Le Vail- 

 lant, p. 167, (which is D. musicus, Vieill.) 



3. Graucalus azureus, nobis. 



Form. Small, about the size of G. hypoleucus, Gould. Specimen now about 

 to be described not in good plumage, ends of quills and tail feathers worn, wings 

 rather long. 



Dimensions. Total length of skin from tip of bill to end of tail about 7i inches, 

 wing 4i, tail about 4 inches. 



Colors. Front, extending to each eye, quills and tail black, entire plumage of 

 other parts light blue, tertiaries tipped with irregular lines of white and black. 



Hab. Western Africa, discovered by Robert MacDowell, M. D., late of Sierra 

 Leone. 



Obs. This species which is remarkable for its color, appears to resemble the 

 bird figured in Voyage au Pole Sud (Astrolabe & Zelee) Ois. pi. 9, fig. 3, which 

 is named in Bonaparte's Consp. Av. " Graucalus Boyeri." It is however, much 

 smaller. I have seen only the specimen now described. 



