OXYNOTUS NEWTONI 229 
island where the original forest is left ; but I fear that before 
many years, when its haunts have disappeared, it also will 
vanish. It is a very silent bird, and not often heard except 
in the breeding season, when it has a cry which reminds me 
of that of the Nuthatch (Sitta cesia). Its other note is harsh 
and, though not so loud, is not unlike that of a Jay (Garrulus 
glandarius).” 
Colonel Manders states that this bird is essentially insecti- 
vorous and that he has himself seen them catching mantis, and 
has found beetles and moth-wings in their stomachs. He 
was told that the bird is now very rare and verging on 
extinction. 
There are five examples in the British Museum collection, 
three males and two females. One is from Edward Newton’s 
collection, the others were collected by Bewsher. 
Oxynotus newtoni. 
Oxynotus newtoni, Pollen, Ibis, 1866, p. 278, pl. 8 Réunion; Schlegel 
and Pollen, Faun. Madagas. p. 83 (1868). 
- Lalage newtoni, Sharpe, Cat. B. M., iv. p. 102 (1879); Shelley, B. 
Afr. i. No. 687 (1896). 
Adult male. Resembling O. rufiventer but rather smaller; above ashy 
grey, clearer and more plumbeous than in O. rufiventer, below paler greyish 
ashy, a little paler on the centre of the abdomen and white on the under 
tail-coverts but the throat not so white as in O. rufiventer. In other respects 
it resembles O. rufiventer. Iris brown, bill and feet bluish (Pollen). Total 
length 7-5, culmen 0°60, wing 3:80, tail 3-4, tarsus 0°90. 
Adult female. Very different from the male or from the female of O. ruji- 
venter; above rich sepia brown, rather darker and more ashy on the head, 
slightly paler on the rump; least wing-coverts and inner secondaries like the 
back, other coverts and the quills dusky brown, the latter edged with dirty 
white; tail as in the male but the centre feathers more tinged with brown ; 
below, including the sides of the face and neck, dull white marked with 
numerous narrow dull black transverse bars ; under tail-coverts white and 
unmarked. Soft parts asin the male. Wing 3:9, tail 3:5. 
June, 1912. 16 
