284 Mr. R. B. Sharpe on the 



Head very deep cobalt, a little brighter over the eye, and the 

 superciliary feathers minutely spotted veith white, developing 

 into a narrow white eyebrow above the eye and over the ear- 

 coverts j lores, cheeks, and ear-coverts deep black ; back of the 

 neck and upper part of the back chestnut-brown ; lower portion 

 of the back grass-green, somewhat tinged with olive on the upper 

 tail-coverts ; wing-coverts bright grass-green, the outer row of 

 the greater coverts w^ashed with cobalt ; primary coverts black ; 

 quills black, becoming brown towards the tip, white at the base 

 of the inner web, and the basal half of the outer web of all the 

 primaries, except the external one, white, showing a conspicuous 

 alar bar; the secondaries towards the extremity washed with 

 grass-green, the outermost with a slight tinge of blue towards 

 the base, and the innermost tinged with olive-green like the 

 scapulars ; all the tail deep cobalt, except the two middle fea- 

 thers, which are olive-brown ; entire throat creamy white, on 

 each side bordered by a triangular patch of cobalt-blue feathers ; 

 sides of the neck beyond this blue patch rich bay; breast and 

 flanks bay, duller on the latter ; centre of the belly and under 

 tail-coverts creamy white, the latter marked with brown ; under 

 wing-coverts whitish tinged with buff; bill black; feet fleshy 

 brown. 



Hab. Madagascar {E. Newton, Crossley). 



Messrs. Roch and Newton (/. c.) give the following note : — 



" It was getting dark as we approached Alanamasaotra on our 

 journey up, when we saw several of these birds run across the 

 path ; one of them was shot by Dr. Roch. On our return we 

 saw one again ; but it was only in the dusk of the evening. It is 

 singular that such a brightly coloured species should only appear 

 at nightfall, as it would seem alone to do. They have a very 

 peculiar manner of jerking their tails when they alight on a 

 branch. So far as we observed, they always keep very near the 

 ground, and are probably ground-feeders." 



Of this species M. Grandidier observes (/. c.) : — "This bird 

 lives in the forests, being found generally on the ground and 

 solitary ; it has very little strength in its flight, and only perches 

 on the lowest branches." 



Mr. Crossley, who sent home a good many specimens of this 



