219 Miscellaneous. 
pennaceous in structure. The only difference between the two 
species appears to be in the depth of the dark margin, or its entire 
absence in mature specimens of H. flavigastra. In Swainson’s descrip- 
tion of the type the rump is given as pure white; but it is not so in 
our specimen. ‘The pennaceous dark border is nearly as deep as in 
H. violacea; so that this character cannot be relied upon asa distine- 
tion between the two species. 
In his ‘ Ornithology of Angola,’ p. 190, Prof. Barboza du Bocage 
acknowledges the receipt from M. Anchieta of one specimen of H. 
violacea. The description is that of a bird with a large amount of 
white on the wing. The description does not resemble the type 
specimen of Verreaux, but is much more nearly like H. flavigastra, 
Swains. 
Depending on this description, R. Bowdler Sharpe gives it in his 
‘Catalogue of the Birdsin the Collection of the British Museum,’ in- 
stead of that of Verreaux, and, in consequence, considers H. violacea 
a doubtful species. 
With the privilege of examination of the type, and of comparing 
this with the Du Chaillu specimen and the descriptions of Verreaux, 
Strickland, and Hartlaub, it seems impossible to suppose that the 
specimen sent by M. Anchieta to Prof. Bocage was that of a true 
violacea, but was either H. flavigastra or a form intcrmediate be- 
tween the two. 
The striking differences between the two species are :—the blue- 
black plumage in the upper parts in flavigastra, and the violet-black 
of violacea ; the broad bands of white on the wing of the former, 
and the concentrated spot on that of the latter; the darker shade of 
the underparts in flavigastra ; and the white thighs of the one and 
the black of the other, together with the larger size of violacea. 
They also inhabit different regions—flavigastra belonging to the N.E., 
of Africa and Senegambia, while violacea is found southward from 
the Gaboon to Benguela in West Africa. 
Swainson points out the general resembance of Hyliota to the 
African todies of the genus Platystira, and to the Old-world fly- 
eatchers of Muscicapa, with a bill so much lengthened and compressed 
on the sides that at first sight it might be mistaken for a Sylvia. 
It also agrees with Muscicapa and Cryptolopha in having the 
base of the bill broad and depressed as far as the nostrils and then 
compressed to the extremity, the bill being so much lengthened in 
Hyliota that it becomes the tenuirostral form of the group to which 
it belongs. 
The glossy blue-black plumage, white wings, and buff throat are 
in unison with related flycatchers. By the rump-feathers Swainson 
detects an analogy with the caterpillar-catchers of the Ceblepyrine. 
In Hyliota the sexes differ remarkably in colour, as they do also 
in Platystira, such difference not being the rule in the family of the 
Muscicapide. Hyliota agrees with the flycatchers in general by its 
small and weak feet and its syndactyle toes, the outer being con- 
nected with the middle as far as the first joint. The wings and 
tail are those of Muscicapa, in which group Hyliota is placed by 
ornithologists.—Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad.,. June 12, 1883, 
p. 129. 
