28 



5§ inches ; bill, | ; tail, 2į ; wing, 3 ; tarse, 1 ; centrai toe and nail, f ; 

 hind, less |. 



Sylvianje. 

 Genus Tarsiger, mihi. 



Bill equal to head, straight, subdepressed, feeble, gradually ■widen- 

 ing from the tip ; the upper mandible more than half exceeded by the 

 nareal fosse, and much overlaid by the soft ftontal plumes ; nares 

 broad lunate, forward, apert, shaded by a nude membrane ; tip of 

 bill obtuse, and nearly unarmed ; gape rather wide and ciliated ; 

 ■wings submedial, round rather than acuminate, firm ; fifth quill 

 longest ; 4-6 and 3-7 respectively equal ; alars and caudals wedged 

 and mucronate ; tail medial, rounded ; tarse very elevate, slender 

 and smooth ; toes ambulant, simple ; laterals uneąual, hind rather 

 large ; nails large, slender, simple ; hind largest. Exclusively mon- 

 ticolous ; dwells in low brushwood solitarily, and is much on the 

 ground, feeding chiefly on small ground insects. Makes its nešt on 

 the ground, saucer-shape, of moss, and places it under cover of some 

 projecting root or stone ; eggs verditer. Has much analogy with both 

 the lašt genera, which it represents among the feebler Sylviana, to 

 which it belongs, as they to the Philomelincs. lt differs from the lašt 

 by its feebler, more depressed bill, larger and more membranous 

 nares, and more slender legs and feet ; also by its mucronate and 

 Avedge-tipped alars and caudals. The mucronation allies it to Mus- 

 cisylvia, from which it diifers by its less ample wings and tail, more 

 elevate tarse, and feebler bill. 



Type, T. chryscBus, mihi. — Below the whole body with the entire 

 shoulders, the lo\ver back and greatest part of tail, deep gamboge- 

 yello\v ; superciliary line the šame ; head above, neck and upper back, 

 yello\v-tinted olive ; lores, orbits and ears continuously, centrai 

 caudals and tips of the others black ; alars dusky black, fringed on 

 the lo\ver edges \vith yellovv ; legs fleshy bro\vn ; bill horn-yellow 

 belo\v, dusky above. Female duUer-hued, devoid of the black cheek- 

 mark and superciliary line ; her body above entirely olive-green ; 

 alars and caudals dusky olive. Length, 5į inches ; bill, W ; tail, 2į ; 

 \ving, 2^ ; tarse, 1^ ; centrai toe and nail, -i-| ; hind, j^. 



Genus Ortkotomus, Horsf. 

 Ist subgenus, Ortkotomus. 



Bill sub-certhian, long, slender, inclining to arch, and entire, \vith 

 the base largely exceeded by the nareal fosse ; nares large, membra- 

 nous, free, the aperture lunate-linear and shaded above by a large 

 unarched membrane ; rietus slightly bristled ; ^vings short, bowed, 

 and feeble, but not perfectly rounded ; first four quills conspicuously 

 gradated in a diminishing ratio ; 5—6 equal and longest ; tail mode- 

 rate, narrow, feeble, much-rounded, \vith the two centrai plumes 

 frequently elongated, as in the Bee-eaters ; tarse high, stout, double 

 that of the centrai toe, and strongly scaled ; toes short, unequal, the 

 outer fore longer and basally connected ; the hind large and strong ; 



