26 



alar and caudal plumes vvedged and mucronate, and the tail itself 

 either slightly gradated from centre and sides, or cuneate ; legs and 

 feet more suited to walking than in Muscicaps ; tarse smooth and 

 exceeding the mid toe and nail ; toes medial, compressed, unequcil ; 

 hind sometimes large, but not broad ; nails large and slender, or 

 small and more bent. 



The subgenera seem to be three, or Dimorpha, Digenea, and Syn- 

 ornis. 



Dimorpha 

 proper, with long Avings, having the fourth quill longest ; tail broad 

 and gradate from centre and sides ; feet with the lateral fore-toes 

 nearly equal and the hind-toe small, and the nails falcate and short. 



Types, D. slrophiata, monileger and ruhrocyanea. D. strophiala 

 printed apud Indian Review, quod vide. 



D. P monileger, mihi. — Above olive-brown, sordid, save on the 

 vvings and tail ; below diluted and sordid ; frontai zone rūsty ; chin 

 and throat white, enclosed by a black band ; bill black ; legs fleshy ; 

 iris brown. Length, 5g^ inches ; bill, ^ ; tail, 2 ; closed wing caret ; 

 tarse, J-| ; centrai toe and nail, J-į- ; hind, y-|. Sexes alike nearly. 



D. ? ruhrocyanea, mihi. — Above indigo-blue, beiow deep rūsty ; 

 frontai zone, basai edges of tail and vent white ; bill black ; legs 

 fleshy. Length, 4\ inches; bill, -į^; tail, 1|; closed wing, 2| ; 

 tarse; f ; centrai toe and nail, plūs -^ ; hind, -^. Deviates from the 

 type in form of wing, which has first three quills much gradated 

 and fifth longest, and it has the legs, feet and nails of the next sub- 

 genus, 



Digenea, mihi, 

 which diflfers from Dimorpha proper by having the wings shorter, 

 with the fifth or sixth quill longest, the legs and feet longer and 

 slendęrer, and the nails less bent, but larger ; the thumb larger and 

 the nail cuneate. The types are tricolor and leucomelanura. 



D. tricolor. — Above olive-green, passing into ruddy olive-brown 

 as you recede from the head ; below sordidly luteous or fulvous ; bill 

 lilackish ; legs fleshy grey. Length, 4| inches ; bill, \ ; tail, 2 ; closed 

 wing, 2^ ; tarse, less | ; centrai toe and nail, ^ ; hind, ^. 



D. leucomelanura, mihi. — Above saturate slaty, passing to black on 

 \vings and tail ; tail laterally towards the base Avhite, below albescent 

 slaty ; throat pure \vhite ; bill and legs black. Length 5 inches ; 

 bill, i ; tail, 2^ ; M'ing, 2| ; tarse, J-| ; centrai toe and nail, \^ ; 

 hind, ^. 



Passing next to the subgenus 



Synornis, 

 \ve have a medial Museicapan wing, vvhereof the first quill is spurious, 

 the second long, and 3-4 longest. The bill is more exposed at its 

 base, the rictal and nareal hairs are shorter, and the legs and feet 

 are more ambulant, \vith smaller thumb and nails, neither slenderly 

 elongate nor shortly falcate. The type of this form is our Joulaimus, 

 but it is the species \vhereof the malė seems to be Sykes's Saxicola 

 rubeculoides, and the female Gmelin's Muscicapa leucura. 



