126 CHARADMUS CANTIANUS. 



considerably elevated. The bill is shorter than the head, 

 nearly straight, being shortly recurved toward the end. The 

 upper mandible has the dorsal line straight for nearly two- 

 thirds, then convex ; the nasal groove long, the edges toward 

 the end a little inflected, the tip narrow but blunt ; the lower 

 mandible with the angle rather long and narrow, the dorsal 

 line ascending and convex, the sides flat at the base, then 

 convex, the edges a little inflected, the tip narrow. 



The eyes are large ; the nostrils linear ; the aperture of 

 the ear roundish and rather large. The legs are of moderate 

 length, and slender ; the tibia bare for rather more than half 

 an inch ; the tarsus with two anterior rows of scales and six 

 inferior scutclla ; the inner toe much shorter than the outer, 

 which is connected with the third by a basal membrane ; on 

 the second or inner are eighteen, on the third thirty-two, on 

 the fourth twenty scutella ; the claws are very slender, slightly 

 arched, much compressed, acute. 



The plumage is blended, on the upper parts somewhat 

 compact. The wings are long, reaching when closed to half 

 an inch from the tip of the tail, pointed, the first quill being- 

 longest, the rest rapidly decreasing ; one of the inner seconda- 

 ries seven-twelfths shorter than the longest primary ; the ' 

 tail is rounded, with the two middle feathers protruded a 

 little beyond the rest. 



The bill is black, with the base of the lower mandible of 

 a dusky flesh-colour ; the irides are brown ; the tarsi are 

 dusky, the toes darker, the claws black ; the forehead and a 

 broad band over and behind the eyes are white ; towards the 

 crown of the head is a patch of black ; the rest of the head 

 and the hind part of the neck are light brownish- red ; the 

 loral spaces and a band behind the eyes are black ; all the 

 loAver parts, from the bill to the tail, and a band crossing the 

 neck behind, are white ; but there is a patch of black on each 

 side at the bend of the wing ; the upper parts are light 

 brownish-grey; the primary quills and their coverts brownish- 

 black ; the shafts of the former white for more than half their 

 length, the bases and a small part of the tips being brown. 

 The outer secondaries are chiefly white, with more or less 

 greenish-brown, and their coverts are tipped with white ; the 



