BROAD-TAILED BABBLER. 2>5 



discovered are from the warm latitudes of the old 

 world; excepting one*, the Donacobius vociferan** 

 which is peculiar to America. 



Independent of the foregoing characters which 

 separate Brac/iipm from Crateropus^ the two groups 

 are almost perfectly alike in the shape of their 

 bills and the formation of their wings and tail. 

 The latter, however, in Crateropus^ is always much 

 larger and broader, while the bill is either entire 

 or very slightly r , instead of very deeply notched. 



The bird now before us is the size of an ordinary 

 thrush, with the bill considerably compressed and 

 perfectly entire; the nostrils are naked, and the 

 rictal bristles reach only to the aperture. The tail, 

 although not very long, is fan-shaped and remark- 

 ably broad, the feathers measuring nearly one inch 

 across. The feet are very large, and the wings are 

 shorter than the upper covers of the tail. 



The whole plumage is of a sepia brown chang- 

 ing to light-grey on the rump, and from the breast 

 downwards, where it is even lighter ; the tail, on 

 the contrary, is almost blackish, particularly towards 

 the end, where it is darker than the wings. The 

 ears, space before the eyes, and tip of the chin, are 

 hoary, or grey- white and unspotted, but all the rest of 

 the head, neck, and throat-feathers are dark brown, 

 with a pale edging, which gives to them a scale-like 

 appearance ; the belly or vent is inclined to white, 

 and the flanks and under tail-covers to buff. The 



* Zool. Illus. ii. pi. 72. See also D. allolineatus, (TOrbigny, 

 pi. 12, a second species. ED. 



