OBERHOLSEjR : GRAND AUDAS 407 



— does it resemble the Turdidae. It is, so far as we recall, the only- 

 passerine bird, excepting members of the Hirundimdae, that has such 

 a remarkably long wing tip, which is produced by its relatively short 

 secondaries. By this and its other external proportions, it is one of the 

 most distinctively characterized of the families of Passeriformes. In 

 some respects, particularly those of its bill and booted tarsus, it recalls 

 some of the Sylviidae, and also some of the Brachypterygidae, as Oates 

 has already suggested,^ but from the latter family it differs in its rela- 

 tively short gonys (compared with the length of the exposed part of the 

 mandibular rami), less turdine shape of the bill, relatively short tarsi, 

 long second and third primaries (beginning from the outermost) rela- 

 tively short first primary, long wings, and long wing tip. It is, more- 

 over, probably more nearly related to the Turdidae than to the Bra- 

 chypterygidae, though not closely to either. Nor is it in any sense inter- 

 mediate, since it differs in many of the same respects from both these 

 families. It might be considered a highly specialized offshoot from the 

 turdine stem, although the determination of its exact affinities must 

 await the examination of its anatomy, which we confidently predict 

 will serve to emphasize still more strongly its external peculiarities. 



The only species in this new family is Grandala coelicolor Hodgson. 



* Fauna Brit. Ind., Birds 2: no. 1890. 



