1871.] MR. R. B. SHARPS ON BIRDS FROM MADAGASCAR. 319 



lores and cheeks greyish white ; entire back black ; wing-coverts 

 black, a few of the lesser ones tipped with greyish white, the greater 

 ones externally margined with white towards the tip, forming a very 

 broad alar bar ; one of the feathers slightly tipped with rufous ; 

 primary coverts black ; quills blackish, the primaries externally 

 margined near their base with fulvous white, merging into grey ; 

 two of the dorsal secondaries externally margined with white ; tail 

 grey for the basal and black for the apical half, all the feathers tipped 

 with white ; a collar round the back of the neck and the under sur- 

 face of the body grey, becoming white on the throat and lower abdo- 

 men ; thighs grey ; under wing- and tail- coverts white. 



Another specimen is very similar to the one above described, but 

 has all the fore part of the head greyish white, the shafts of the 

 feathers only being marked with black ; the collar round the neck 

 and under surface of the body are clearer grey ; and most of the 

 secondaries are edged with white, some of them very conspicuously. 



This species must be some little time attaining the full plumage. 



49. Vanga rufa. 



Artamia rufa (Gm.); Hartl. Faun. Madag. p. 48 (1861); A. 

 Newt. P. Z. S. 1865, p. 835 ; Verr. in Vins. Voy. Madag. Ann. B. 

 p. 2 (1865). 



Pachijcephala rvfa, Schl. & Poll. Faun. Madag. Ois. p. 86, pi. 26 

 (1368). 



" Saralalan." 



This bird appears to me to be a small species of Vanga, differing 

 only in the bill being a little less compressed. It certainly is not a 

 true Pachycephala, in which genus Professor Schlegel has placed it ; 

 nor is it an Artamia, as it differs at once from this genus by the 

 position of the nostrils, which in Artamia are placed far beyond the 

 plumes and are unprotected ; whereas in Vanga the nostrils are 

 thickly protected with bristles, and are placed at the base of the 

 frontal plumes. The shape of the bill also in the two genera is 

 quite different. 



Family Ploceid^e. 



50. Foudia madagascariensis. 



Foudia madagascariensis, L.; Hartl. Faun. Madag. p. 55 ; Roch 

 & E. Newt. Ibis, 1862, p. 275; E. Newt. Ibis, 1863, p. 350; A. 

 Newt. P. Z.S. 1865, p. 836; Verr. in Vins. Voy. Madag. Ann. B. 

 p. 2 (1865); Grand. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1867, p. 388; Sharpe, 

 Cat. Afr. B. p. 62 (1871). 



Ploceus madagascariensis, Schl. & Poll. Faun. Madag. Ois. p. 109 

 (1868). 



Several specimens in Mr. Crossley's last collection. 



Family RalliD;E. 



51. PoRZANA PYGM.EA. 



Porsanu pyymceu (Naum.); Haiti. Faun. Madag. p. 81 (1861); 



