146 mi-scicapid-t;. 



Platyrbjiichus melaiiurhvuehus, i?0M«. et I'ieill. Enc. Meth. ii. p. 835 



f dT). 

 Platyrhynchus desmaresti, Jard. ^- Selhj, III. Orn. i. pi. ix. fig. 2 



Platystira coUaris, Jard. Sr Selhy, III. Orn. ii. Addenda. 



Platystira de.?maresti, iid. I. c. 



Platystira lobata, Swains. B. W. Afr. ii. p. 49 ; id. Monogr. Fly- 

 catchers, p. 187, pi. xxii. ( 2 ) ; Jard. Contr. Orn. 1849, p. 8. 



Platy.stira melanoptera, Hard. Orn. W.-Afr. pp. 93, 272 ; Cass. Pr. 

 Philad. Acad. 1859, p. 50; Hartl. J. f. O. 1861, p. 169; Finsch, 

 J. f. 0. 1869, p. 335 ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1809, p. 189 ; id. P. Z. S. 1870, 

 p. "567 ; Shelley ^- Buckley, Ibis, 1872, p. 287 ; Bocage, Orn. Anyola, 

 p. 195. 



Platystira cyanea, Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 329 ; Sharpe, Cut. Afr. B. 

 p. 44; id. P.Z.S. 1871, p. 610; id. Ibis, 1873, p. 158; Sharpe 

 4- Bouvier, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1876, p. 45 ; Reichenow, J.f. O. 

 1877, p. 22. 



Adult mule. Upper surface deep glossy blue-black, with a very 

 slight greenish shade, inclining to grey on the rump, where the 

 feathers are long and fluffy ; the nape indistinctly mottled with 

 whitish, only seen on disarranging the feathers ; wing-coverts glossy 

 black like the back, the median ones white, forming a distinct bar 

 across the wing; quills greyish black, the primaries outwardly 

 margined with a narrow whitish line, broader and more conspicuous 

 on the outer secondaries, whence it is continuous with the alar bar 

 described above, the inner secondaries glossed with dark green, one 

 or two of the longer ones just tipped with whitish ; upper tail- 

 coverts and tail-feathers glossed with dark rifle-green above, blackish 

 below, all the feathers tipped with white, becoming broader on the 

 outer rectrices, and forming a conspicuous lateral border on the 

 outermost ones ; sides of the face like the upper surface of the body ; 

 cheeks and entire under surface of the body pure white, with a 

 conspicuous band of blue-black across the breast, the flank-feathers 

 long and silky ; tibial plumes black, tipped with white ; under 

 wing-coverts as well as the bases of the primaries white, the small 

 outer-coverts glossy blue-black, with a httle spot of white below 

 the carpal bend of the wing : bill black ; feet (in skin) blackish ; 

 wattle over the eye semicircular in form and bright scarlet in life. 

 Total length 4-8 inches, culmen 07, wing 2-5, tail 2, tarsus 0-75. 



Adult female. Above dusky cinereous, with a slight gloss of 

 greenish, the rump lighter ; (juills and tail as in the male, the white 

 edgings very broad and conspicuous ; chin white ; throat and breast 

 deep maroon, bordered below with a narrow band of glossy black ; 

 rest of the under surface white ; under wing-coverts white, and the 

 wing-lining a little lighter than in the male ; eye-wattle a little 

 paler than in the male. 



Young male. Eesembles the old female in the colour of the upper 

 parts and in having more or less maroon on the throat. As this gra- 

 dually disappears the black pectoral band makes its appearance ; thus 

 Bpecimens are met with in every change of i)lumage as regards the 

 amount of rufous on the throat. Immature birds, however, may 



