OSCINES. 7 



Adult Female. Above yellowish olive green, mottled on the front and 

 sides of the head with yellowish ; beneath yellowish, with broad olive green 

 edges to the feathers. Total length 5 inches, culrneu 0'5, wing 3, tail 1"5, 

 tarsus 08. 



Immature Male. Very similar to the adult female, but with a large 

 bluish green eye-wattle. 



The Yellow-breasted '' Asity " of the north Sakalava 

 people is confined to the north-western portion of Madagascar. 

 Here it replaces the last species, which appears to be much 

 the commonest of the two, and in habits closely resembles 

 that bird, but its note seems to differ as it is described, 

 by M. Grandidier, as being a little cry of " chit-chit," but of 

 course this may be only its alarm note and not its true 



Suborder II. OSCINES. 



The Oscines are well represented in the Ethiopian Eegion by nearly 1500 

 known species, or more than half tbe Avifauna of that region. 



The difficulty of drilling the Oscines iuto a line does not arise, solely, 

 from the large number of species, but also from tbe great affinities the species 

 show to one another. 



To divide this mass of birds into apparently natural groups, I select a 

 few of the characters of the Song Thrush, Turdus musicus, thus : 



1. Does not swallow food during flight: — excludes Hirundinidce and 

 Artami. 



2. Euns and feeds on the ground : — excludes Nectariniidce, Promeropidtz, 

 Zosteropidm, Parklce, Certhiidtz and Muscicapidm. 



3. Feeds both on the ground and in trees : — excludes Motacillida and 

 Alaudidce. 



4. Bill not conical or Finch-like : — excludes Fringillidce and Ploceida. 

 The style of plumage of the nestlings is the character upon which I 



have divided the great central mass of the Oscines into four divisions : Corvi, 

 Lanii, Sylvia and Turdi. 



KEY TO THE SECTIONS. 



a. Do not feed entirely during flight, the wings 

 being shorter and less powerful, the tarsi and 

 feet generally stronger and the gape less 

 wide. 



