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ORIOLE BABBLER. 



Craferopus onofa/es, SWAINS. 

 PLATE XXXL 



Olive ; beneath yellow ; white and neck with a black hood ; 

 the feathers edged with silvery white, and scale-like. 



THE singular bird we are now to describe is verj 

 common on the "Western Coast of Africa, but seems 

 never to have been found in any other region*. Its 

 structure is so peculiar, that we cannot at present 

 venture to offer any definite opinion on its actud 

 position in the family. It certainly has a closer 

 affinity to the Babblers than to any other group of 

 thrushes, but whether it forms part of that circle, 

 or enters among the Orioles, is very doubtful. It is, 

 indeed, with much hesitation that we retain it under 

 the generic name of Crateropus, for its slender and 

 lengthened bill is altogether peculiar. It seems inti- 

 mately related to Donacobius, the only representa- 

 tion of the Babblers in the New World. But for its 

 feet, it might be taken for a Meliphaga, while its 



* We possess six or seven specimens of this bird (or at 

 least, so far as we can judge from Mr. Swainson's drawing 

 and description, one very closely allied) from Southern 

 Africa. They were received from different collectors, and 

 either one or two specimens from Dr. Smith W. J. 



