PUFF-BACKED BUSH SHRIKE. 241 



whole of its family. All the Bush-shrikes, as their 

 ; generic name implies, have the feathers on the hack 

 unusually long and very soft ; hut in the one now 

 under consideration, these characters are developed 

 in a most singular way. When the feathers on the 

 back are raised, as they occasionally are, by the 

 bird itself, they seem to form a semicircular tuft of 

 the most delicate and beautifully white down, ex- 

 actly resembling that of the swan, and as if that 

 part of the body was protected by an artificial tip- 

 pet. When in a state of repose, this singular 

 appearance completely vanishes, and the feathers 

 repose on each other as in an ordinary bird. 



The abolition of topical or barbaric names by so 

 many of our best modern ornithologists induces us 

 to suggest that of Mollissimus, as at all events pre- 

 ferable to Cubla, derived, we suppose, from the 

 Hottentot language, but which conveys no meaning 

 whatever to European ears. 



The male and female are differently coloured. 

 The first has the upper plumage black, glossy on 

 the head, ears, neck, and interscapulars ; but brown 

 on the wings and tail; on the lower part of the 

 back the feathers are white, those on the surface 

 having a grey tinge ; the scapulars, with the mar- 

 gins of the wing-covers and quills, are dingj^- 

 white ; upper tail-covers and middle feathers deep 

 black, the rest brown ; the whole of the under 

 plumage is white. 



In the female there is no black whatever. All 

 the upper plumage is light grey, palest on the rump, 



