250 



breast, and passing into a dull white on the belly ; vent and 

 under tail-coverts brilliant king's yellow ; legs, toes and 

 claws black. The whole length of the bird seven inches and 

 a half ; the wing, from the anterior joint to the end of the 

 longest quill-feather, three inches and a half; the first quill- 

 feather very short, about one inch in length ; the second 

 three-quarters of an inch longer than the first, but shorter 

 than the third : the fourth feather the longest in the wing ; 

 the tail very slightly forked. 



The birds constituting the genus Pycnonotns, regarding 

 the present species as its type, are not very nearly allied to 

 the Thrushes ; and modern ornithologists generally keep 

 them in a separate family or sub -family, which according 

 to usage should apparently take its title from Temminck's 

 genus Ixus * (commonly but inaccurately spelt Ixos) as the 

 first belonging to it that received a name. The group con- 

 tains a good many species, inhabiting various parts of Africa 

 and Asia, and among them are the Bulbuls so celebrated in 

 eastern song. One species, P. barbatus (Desfontaines) the 

 7. obscurus of Temminck is found in North-west Africa and, 

 as is said, in Spain ; while it has been stated (Zool. s.s. 

 p. 228) to have occurred in England. It may be easily dis- 

 tinguished from the present bird by wanting the yellow vent. 

 Three "Palestine Nightingales" which were no doubt ex- 

 amples of P. xantliopygius (recently asserted by Drs. Finsch 

 and Hartlaub to be identical with the widely spread African 

 P. niyricans) are said by Thompson (B. Ireld. i. p. 154) to 

 have been obtained for the aviary of the Zoological Garden 

 at Dublin. This species differs from T. capcnsis by being 

 more slate-coloured above and having the abdomen white ; 

 but the fact of its introduction to Ireland as a cage-bird 

 suggests a possible explanation of the extraordinary occur- 

 rence of Dr. Burkitt's example near Waterford. 



* This group, established in 1825, was no doubt intended (Recueil des 

 Oiseaux, livr. 64) to be identical with the Pycnonotns of Kuhl, with whose views, 

 though then unpublished, Temminck was clearly acquainted ; but as he selected 

 for the type of the former a species which is usually and justifiably considered to 

 be generically separable from that of the latter, the two names do not clash, and 

 there seems to be no reason why both should not stand each in a restricted sense. 



