270 MUSCICAPID^. 



Adult. General coloxir blue-grey, the forehead slightly streaked 

 with brown shaft-lines ; least wing-coverts grey like the back, the 

 greater coverts and bastard wing blackish externally, edged with 

 ashy whitish ; primary-coverts blackish, externally dull grey ; quills 

 blackish, the primaries margined with dull grey or greyish white, 

 the secondaries with purer white ; tail black, the lateral feathers 

 tipped with white, more broadly towards the outermost, which is 

 almost entirely white, excepting the extreme base, which is obliquely 

 brown, the penultimate feathers also white for nearly the whole of 

 the outer web : lores whitish, extending to the fore part of the eye, 

 round which is a circlet of whitish feathers ; sides of face and of 

 neck uniform bluish grey, the fore part of the cheeks whiter ; chin 

 white ; rest of under surface of body dull bluish grey, the centre of 

 the abdomen and under tail-coverts white ; thighs dusky grey ; 

 under wing-coverts white, as also the inner web of the quills ; bill 

 black in skin, the lower mandible browner. Total length 5-7 inches, 

 culmen 0-45, wing 2-7, tail 2-6, tarsus 0-7. 



Obs. I have never seen an example of the species from Gaboon 

 (P. melanurum, Cass.), but I cannot distinguish it by the description 

 from Senegambian examples. One of the latter specimens in the 

 Museum has the under tail-coverts fulvous, as is the case in Cassin's 

 description. 



Hab. Western and Xorth-eastem Africa. 



a. Ad. sk. River Gambia. R. B. Sharps, Esq. 



b. Ad. sk. Casamance, Senegambia. M. Verreaux. 



c. Ad. St. Casamance, Senegambia. M. Verreaux. 



3. Parisoma layardi. 



Parisoma layardi, Hai-tlavb, Ibis, 1862, p. 147; Layard, B. S. Afr. 

 p. 115, no. 214; Gray, Hmul-l. B. i. p. 236, no. 3413; Gurney in 

 Anderss. B. Dam. Ld. p. 78 ; Sharpe, ed. Layardh B. S. Afr. p. 334, 

 no. 319. 



Stenostira schistacea, Heugl. Orn. N. O.-Afr. p. 433, note. 



Adult male. General colour above rather dark grey ; the least 

 wing-coverts uniform with the back ; rest of the wing-coverts aud 

 quills blackish externally, washed with grey ; the primary-coverts 

 and primaries margined with white on the outer web rather conspi- 

 cuous!}' ; tail black, the outermost feather obliquely white for the 

 terminal third and along the outer web, the next feathers slightly 

 white at the tip ; lores duU whitish ; feathers in front of the eye 

 dusky blackish ; ear-coverts uniform grey, duller than the sides of 

 the neck, which are also grey ; chin and throat white, the latter 

 distinctly streaked with black ; centre of the body white, the flanks 

 and sides of the body grey ; under tail-coverts whitish, with dusky- 

 brown bases to the feathers : thighs brown ; under wing-coverts 

 dusky grey, the edge of the wing white ; quills ashy brown below, 

 with white edgings along the inner webs. Total length 5 inches, 

 culmen 0-45, wing '2-bb. tail 2-3, tarsus 0-8. 



