LUSCINID/K 85 



slender ; the toes varying in length, with the outer one more 

 or less united to the middle toe ; claws curved and acute. 



The Sub-Family, MALURIN^S, or Soft-tailed 

 Warblers, 



have the bill moderate, more or less slender and straight, 

 with the tip of the upper mandible curved, and sometimes 

 emarginate ; the sides compressed ; nostrils basal, and placed 

 in a membranous groove, with the opening exposed ; the 

 wings short, and rounded ; the tail more or less lengthened, 

 and rounded ; the tarsi generally long and slender ; the toes 

 more or less long, and always slender, with the outer toe 

 united to the middle one at the Ijase ;. the third toe long, and 

 armed with a strong claw. JzJvt ki IM'^iP^jAj ""* 



Genus DRYMOIci/Swain. 1 / 



Bill entire, short ; rictus bristled ; wings very short, and 

 rounded, the three firfct quills equally graduated, the fourth 

 and fifth longest, the primaries hardly longer than the other 

 quills ; legs pale ; the lateral toes equal ; tail graduated ; 

 the feathers obtuse. 



145. Drymoica Textrix, Smith, z. s. A, PL 



74, f. 1 ; Sylvia Textrix, Vieil. ; Le Pine-Pine, Le 

 Vail, PL 131. 



UPPER parts of head and neck, interscapulars, back, and 

 shoulders, umber-brown, variegated with white and clear 

 yellowish-brown ; sides of head and neck, dirty yellowish- 

 brown, with small umber blotches ; wing- feathers brownish- 

 red, edged with pale wood-brown ; chin and throat greyish 

 white, indistinctly mottled with light umber-brown; breast 

 and belly pale senna-yellow, mottled with umber-brown 

 spots; flanks and vent, pale yellowish-brown, also spotted. 

 Tail very short, and slightly graduated, two centre- feathers 

 brownish-red, the rest umber-brown, all edged with wood- 

 brown, and the three outermost ' broadly tipped with white. 

 Length, 4"; wing, 1" 10J'" ; tail, 1" I 1 ". 



This bird is abundant throughout the western end of the colony ; 

 but not having any friend collecting for me in the eastern, I cannot 

 speak as to that division. Near Cape Town it is very common, fre- 

 quenting open plains covered with low scrub, or marshy places in 

 which reeds grow. It climbs about these in a very clever manner, 

 apparently sliding up and down ; when pursued, it drops to the tangled 

 herbage at the foot of some bush, and cannot be induced to quit its 

 hiding-place. It often hovers in the air at a moderate height over the 

 bushes, uttering its ringing, metallic cry of " pinc-pinc-pinc," jerking 



