276 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on the 



I have examined, have these in each case dull plain 

 brownish grey or grey-brown. They are Chalcopelia afra 

 and Turtur cajncola (figs. 24, 25). 



It is the same when we come down to genera. We have 

 considered some such cases incidentally already. Another 

 is that of Chloropeta. The mouth of C. batesi, its finder's 

 only aberrant Flycatcher, resembles that of C. natalensis 

 (figs. 9, 33). Again, his Pycnonotus (P. gabonensis) has a 

 white-flanged deep-red mouth. That of P. layardi (figs. 15, 

 38) may not be quite so deep or the flanges quite so white, 

 but the two mouths are evidently not dissimilar. Mr. Bates' 

 description of the mouth of the Green Bulbul (Phijllostrophus 

 simplex) — flesh-red, and the swollen margin of the gape pale 

 yellow — is even more like ouv Pycnonotus. His Colius nigri- 

 collis has a yellow, very conspicuous tongue in a slaty-black 

 mouth, whicli must, therefore, much resemble that of Colius 

 striatus minor (fig. 17). Plain yellow with paler flanges is the 

 mouth of Cinnyris venustus niassa (figs. 22, 23) at Chirinda, 

 and whitish-flanged plain orange was that of Mr. Bates' 

 Cinnyris minullus. 



These instances might be added to, but they are sufiicient 

 to suggest, (1) that most of the resemblances occurring 

 between nestlings' mouths are due to aflfinity; and (2) that 

 the mouth-patterns of nestlings may, as Mr. Ingram has 

 suggested, "prove of some small taxonomic value." But 

 I would add, they should be used with the caution that 

 coloration always demands. That it is very necessary here 

 is shown by the existence of exceptions. 



The two species of Chloropeta I have mentioned, "have," 

 in Mr. Bates' words, " the inside of the mouth and the 

 tongue orange, and the tongue has a pair of black spots 

 at the base — a character found in no other nestling Fly- 

 catcher." And it is, as we have seen, a Wai'bler character. 

 Similarly, the Hedge-Sparrow has a Warbler tongue. The 

 English Skylark's tongue (fig. 30), black-tipped, is not 

 unlike that of Locustella in its spotting, and the tongues 

 of Motacilla rail and M. lugubris are, Mr. Ingram tells 

 us, like those of Sylvia — or is it that Sylvia has varied 



