400 INSECTIVOILE. 



markings of the plumage give it a fiercer aspect than any of 

 the others. The bill and feet are dusky, inclining to black ; 

 and the irides dark hazel, with a ring of reddish-orange 

 margining the orbit of the eye. From the bill to the nape 

 there extends a prominent band of white feathers, which are 

 pointed, and stand half erected, hiding anteriorly the nostrils 

 and basal part of the bill, and more or less tinged with rose 

 colour towards the nape, and less or more marked with grey 

 or dusky at the tips. Below these there is an arch of black 

 feathers, pointing upwards, which extend from a little before 

 the eye to the nape, where they meet, and the black con- 

 tinues on the anterior part of the shoulders, and along the 

 middle of the back, in a line gradually diminishing in breadth. 

 Around the eye, a radiated patch of white, narrow between 

 the eye and the gape, but extending, with pointed feathers, 

 backwards on the cheek, downwards on the side of the neck, 

 and forwards to the throat, till it blends with the white upon 

 that and the breast. The feathers on the throat are rather 

 produced and pointed, and some of them marked with grey or 

 dusky on the points. The sides of the back and the scapulars 

 are pale rose red, with some of the feathers margined with 

 white, and others with black or dusky on the central parts. 

 The quills are black, and the secondaries black or dusky, 

 margined with white. The white on the throat and upper 

 part of the breast passes into pale ash grey, which is more 

 or less blended with pale rose colour, especially on the flanks, 

 but partially along the whole of the under part, as far as the 

 under tail coverts. The tail, which is as remarkable for its 

 straightness as for its length, has the four middle feathers 

 entirely black, and longer than fche rest, and the others mar- 

 gined with white on their outer webs, and white at the tips, 

 excepting the two next the black ones, which are white at 

 the tips only. 



The sexes very much resemble each other in their plumage, 



