526 PASSERIFORMES CHAP. 
a greenish gloss; while barring occurs occasionally in the cocks, 
and much more commonly in the hens, where the tints are duller, 
the grey lighter, and the hue in some cases brown or even rufous. 
The Mascarene Oxynotus is almost unique among Birds in having 
the males of the two species alike, the females very different. 
Shaft-streaks on the feathers are fairly frequent; two species of 
Lalage have a chestnut lower surface, and one the rump similar ; 
while Symmorphus is either brown above and whitish below, or 
black and white with buff rump and under parts. Campechaera 
is green and golden-yellow in both sexes, but shews some black, 
white, and grey as well; Zobotus is olive-yellow with dark green 
head and throat, orange-chestnut rump and breast, greenish tail, 
and an orange lobe at the gape. Pericrocotus is usually black, 
adorned with lovely scarlet, crimson, orange, or yellow markings, 
and with a httle white, but two species lack the brillant tints, 
and others replace the black by brown or grey; the females 
in this genus usually have yellow where the males have red, 
though they also shew red in two cases. Three African species 
of Campephaga vary from the ordinary grey or blackish colora- 
tion in being glossy bluish-black, with scarlet, orange, and yellow 
shoulder-patches respectively, and one in being steel-green, with 
purple face and neck, and stzel-blue lower surface. In these 
forms the females have yellow markings. Finally, Graucalus 
azureus 1s azure and black, with a shade of cobalt. 
The restless and active members of this Family are generally 
seen in small flocks in wooded country, gardens, orchards, and 
hedge-rows. They are found up to an altitude of ten thousand 
feet throughout the Ethiopian, Indian, and Australian Regions, 
and even reach Amurland; Graucalus inhabits all three Regions, 
but Ozynotus is peculiar to Mauritius and Reunion. The flight 
is easy, undulating, and strong, though of brief duration; while the 
birds hop and frisk about the branches, or move briskly from tree 
to tree, as they examine the crevices of the bark or the leaves, and 
occasionally pluck the fruit. They may occasionally be noticed 
darting to the earth to secure caterpillars; of which they are ex- 
tremely fond, or sallying into the air after insects, like Fly- 
catchers. Pericrocotus is said to hang to the boughs like a 
Tit ; Pteropodocys lives chiefly on the ground. The mellow and 
lively notes are of a whistling or twittering nature, varied by 
jarring sounds; but all the species are rather silent. The nest, 
