LUSCINIDJE. 93 



vent a marked brown ; tail-feathers, with the exception of 

 the two centre, marked with an obscure band before their 

 white tips ; bill black. Length, 4" 2'" ; wing, 1" 9'". 



" Builds among stalks of high weeds in Natal." Ibis, Vol. 2, p. 208. 

 I have not seen it from the Cape Colony. 



163. Drymoica ObSCUra, Sunde. ; Ofvers. Kongl. 

 Vet. Ak. Forhandl., p. 103. 



BACK, dusky-grey, much marked with brown ; head rufous ; 

 forehead considerably, and back of head obscurely, marked 

 with brown ; belly dirty white ; sides grey. Length, 5|". 

 Kaffraria : (Wahlberg) non vidi. 



164. Drymoica Ourvirostris, Sund. ; Ofvers. 



Kongl. Vet. Ak, Forhandl., p. 104. 



HEAD and back yellowish-grey, with black markings ; belly 

 yellowish- white ; middle of belly and throat almost white ; 

 tail-feathers fuscous, tips yellowish-grey. Length, 6". 



Zaffraria (Wahlberg). Natal (Ayres) Ibis, Vol. 1863, p. 323. 



165. Drymoica Thoracica, Gray ; Sylvia Gut- 



turalis, Boie ; Saxicola Thoracica, Licht. ; Molacilla, 

 Thoracica, Cuvier, Vol. 1, p. 438 ; Apalis Thoracica, 

 Grill., 1. a, p. 31 ; Sylvia Thoracica, Shaw, Vol. 10, 

 p. 562 ; Le Plastron Noir, Le Vail., PL 123. 



GENERAL colour above, ashy-grey, tinted with olive-green, 

 except on the tail ; chin, throat, and under parts whitish, 

 tinted with rufous-brown, deepest on the vent ; a black 

 collar extends across the chest, and a black mark from the 

 bill to the eye ; tail graduated, the outermost feather nearly 

 all white, the second white at the tip, the third at the tip 

 only ; two tufts of black hair like feathers, from the basal 

 half of the back of the head ; eye light-yellow ; tarsus flesh- 

 coloured ; claws brown ; bill black. Length, 5" 3'" ; wing. 

 2" ; tail, 2" 4'". 



Le Vaillant found this bird in abundance after crossing the " River 

 of Elephants " as far as the tropics ; also on the bank of the Orange 

 River, aud in Kafirland, He states that they always went in couples, 

 male and female, breeding in November and December. The nest is 

 placed among grass or low bushes ; the eggs are six in number, and of 

 a reddish white. The male has an agreeable song. I procured speci- 

 mens in considerable numbers at Plettenberg's Bay (on the southern 

 side of the colony), in the wooded ravines and deserted gardens in 



