BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



lateral margins straight to the tip ; the gonys rather long, 

 and ascending ; the gape furnished with long slender bris- 

 tles ; the nostrils basal, lateral, rounded, and exposed; 

 wings moderate, with the third quill nearly as long as the 

 fourth and fifth, which are nearly equal and longest ; tail 

 more or less long, and rounded on the sides ; tarsi slender, 

 rather short, longer than the middle toe, and covered in 

 front with scales that are slightly divided ; toes rather short, 

 with the outer toe longer than the inner ; the hind toe rather 

 long, and armed with a long and slightly-curved claw. 



267. Platyrhynchus Capensis, Smith; z, s. 



A, PI. 27. 



MALE. Top of head black, with a narrow yellow frontlet ; 

 upper parts yellowish-brown, inclining to green, each feather 

 with an oblong umber-brown stripe along its centre ; under- 

 parts, dirty- white, with narrow, longitudinal, greyish-brown 

 streaks ; head large and broad ; bill depressed, very wide at 

 the base, narrow at the tip, and hooked. Total length, 

 5" 10'" ; wing, 2" 11'" : tail, 2" IT". 



Dr. A. Smith, who found this species, did not notice it beyond the 

 forests which exist upon the South-East Coast, towards Delagoa Bay. 

 It chiefly affects brushwood, and feeds on insects, seizing small 

 Lepidoptera, &c., even when on the wing. 



Genus PLATYSTEIRA, Jardine and Selby. 

 Bill more or less long, broad at the base, and depressed, 

 with the culmen straight at the base, and then curved to tho 

 tip, which is emarginated and hooked ; the lateral margins 

 straight, and the sides compressed to the tip; the gonys long 

 and ascending ; the gape furnished with moderate bristles ; the 

 nostrils basal, lateral, covered by a membranous scale, and 

 partly by the frontal plumes and bristles ; wing moderate, 

 with the third quill nearly as long as the fourth, fifth, and 

 sixth, which are equal and longest; tail more or less long, 

 and rounded at the end ; tarsi longer than the middle toe, 

 and covered in front with broad scales ; toes moderate, with 

 the outer toe longer than the inner, and the hind toe long ; 

 the claws moderate, curved, and acute. 



268. Platysteira Peltata, Sunde. ; ofvers. 



Vet. Ak. Forhandl., p. 195. 



BACK, cinereous ; below white ; breast with a narrow black 

 band ; rump whitish ; back of head blackish ; tail-feathers 

 black, the tips and the external pair white. Length, 5", 

 Kaffraria (Wahlberg). JN T on vidi. 



