488 Description of a new Subgenus, 



than the Cubla *, to which species they bear such a resem- 

 blance, that, at first sight, they have been mistaken by several 

 persons, to whom I have shown them, for that species. 

 Their larger size, however, as well as the form and size of the 

 bill, at once points out the difference between them and the bird 

 described by Le Vaillant. The principal characters that dis- 

 tinguish these birds from Malaconotus are, that the bill is 

 broader, and the culmen is also broad, smooth, and rounded, 

 which gives them so great an approximation to the species of 

 the Australian genus Cracticus of authors, that they might 

 be considered an intermediate link between the Malaconoti 

 and that genus. If it were not for these characters, these birds 

 would be placed with the Malaconoti ; but I think them of 

 sufficient importance to form a distinct division. 



The general colour of this species is very like the Cubla, 

 except that it possesses a greater gloss of blue on the back ; 

 and neither the wing coverts nor the tail feathers are mar- 

 gined with white. When young, both colours are tinged with 

 sepia-brown. 



The dorsal patch of milk-white down is of a most beau- 

 tiful soft texture, and in a greater quantity than in the Cubla. 

 This tuft Mr. Swainson has described f , in the latter species, 

 in the following terms : — " When the feathers on the back are 

 raised, as they occasionally are, by the bird itself, they seem 

 to form a semicircular tuft of the most delicate and beauti- 

 fully white down, exactly resembling that of the swan, and 

 as if that part of the body were protected by an artificial tippet. 

 When in a state of repose, this singular appearance com- 

 pletely vanishes, and the feathers repose on each other as in 

 an ordinary bird." The purpose of this tuft of down has 

 not, I believe, been detected by ornithologists. 



I find that Mr. Swainson, in his work on the Birds of 

 Western Africa, has proposed, with his usual readiness, to 

 alter the name of Ciibla, by which the bird has been known 

 for many years, on account of the word being the native 

 name, and, therefore, deemed by him " barbaric," to the 

 more, I presume, elegant word, mollissimus, in reference to the 

 softness of the down on the back ; which name, however, 

 would be more suitable to the one now described, in which 

 that character is more fully developed. 



But Mr. Swainson is not aware that the bird of Western 

 Africa, which he has described as identical with that of the 



* Le Vaill. Ois. d'Afr., pi. 72. 



f Birds of Western Africa, Nat. Libr., vii. 341, 



