HARTLAUBIUS AURATUS 



Genus II. HARTLAUBIUS. 



Bill black, slender and rather long, as long as the tarsus, culmen slightly 

 curved; nasal apjrture rounded and situated in the forepart of the nasal- 

 groove, with a posterior rather than a superior membrane. Wing longer 

 than the tail ; primaries, one small, not reaching beyond the primary coverts 

 and is shorter than the culmen : three and tour longest. Tail square, with 

 the centre feathers slightly the shortest ; tarsi, feet and claws black, the 

 latter rather strong and curved. 



Type. 



Hartlaubius, Bp. C. R. xxxvii. p. 830 (1853) H. aurata. 



The genus is confined to the Island of Madagascar and comprises only 

 one species. 



Hartlaubius auratus. 



Tardus auratus, P. L. S. Miill. S. N. Suppl. p. 140 (1776) Madagascar. 

 Turdus madagascariensis, Bodd. Tabl. PI. Enl. p. 32 (1783). 

 Hartlauijius madagascariensis, Milne, Edw. and Grand. Hist. Madag. Ois. 



i. p. 311 ; Atlas, ii. pis. 115, 113, B. figs. 3, 116 (1879) ; Sharpe, Cat. 



B. M. xiii. p. V20 (1890) ; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 579 (1896). 

 Acridotheres gracilirostris, Drap. Diet. Class, vii. p. 152 (1841). 

 Madagascar Thrush, Lath. Gen. Syn. ii. pt. 1, p. 68 (1780). 



A(]ult male. Entire head and throat uniform dark brown, remainder 

 of the neck and the back rather paler brown shading into glossy green 

 towards the ends of the tail-coverts ; tail blackish brown washed with a 

 green gloss strongest on the centre feathers, outermost web on each side 

 broadly margined with white; least and median wing-coverts brown, the 

 latter slightly glossed with green and with some white next to the bend 

 of the wing; remainder of wing dusky black with broad white edges to 

 most of the primaries, the outer quills with glossy blue edges like the 

 greater wing-covert excepting the inner one which shades into the brown 

 of the scapulars and has a green gloss on the inner web ; a small coppery 

 bronze patch on the greater coverts; under wing-covert and portion of 

 the inner webs of the quills while ; sides of lower throat, front of chest 

 and the Hanks rufous shaded brown ; centre of chest, abdomen and 

 under tail-coverts white. "Iris brown; bill and feet black" (Grandidier). 

 Total length 7'7 inches, culmen 0-75, wing 4-2, tail 3 0, tarsus 85. 

 Autouzil Bay (Verr.). 



Adult female. Differs from the male in the dark parts being of a 

 more uniform dull brown, with a very slight greenish gloss on the tail, 



