CLIMBING LEAFLOVE. 271 



related to the Jdboteur of Southern Africa, but it 

 differs sufficiently in the structure of its feet to 

 make us believe it is rather a scansorial than a 

 terrestrial bird. In the long bristles of the gape 

 we have one of the characters of the Trichophori, 

 or bristle-necked thrushes, and of Dasycephalus ; 

 while the affinity of this most interesting species to 

 the latter is shown by the frontal feathers being 

 directed forwards, as if to protect the base of the 

 bill. Without this union of the characters belonging 

 both to ~D(isycephalus and Phyllastrephus, the two 

 genera would be dislocated ; with it, their union, in 

 our opinion, may be pronounced perfect. To the 

 scientific ornithologist, in short, this is the most in- 

 teresting bird contained in our volume. 



The chief peculiarity is in the feet ; as the bill, 

 wings, and tail are completely those of the Jdboteur. 

 The tarsus, although it exceeds the hind toe, is 

 comparatively rather shorter than in P. tevrestris, 

 but more robust; the middle toe is also shorter, 

 so that it becomes of the same length as the hind 

 toe, a conformation which at once proclaims its 

 scansorial use. This is further confirmed by the 

 superior strength, curvature, and breadth of all the 

 claws, so that at first sight the bird might be taken 

 for an American Anabates. The rictal bristles are 

 more than half the length of the bill, but the nostrils 

 are nearly naked. The frontal feathers, as before 

 observed, are short, compact, rigid, directed for- 

 wards, and repose upon the base of the bill ; the 

 lateral scales are entire, the anterior nearly so, since, 



