DRYMOICA ABERRANS. 



posteriorly ; toes moderately long and rather strong ; claws short, consider- 

 ably curved and pointed ; the claw of the hinder toe the strongest. 



Inches. Lines 

 Length from the point of the bill to 



the tip of the tail 5 10^ 



of the bill to the angle of the 



mouth 8 



of the wings when folded ... 2 4 



of the tail 3 2 



DIMENSIONS. 



Inches. Lines. 



Length of the tarsus 1 J 



of the inner toe 3 



of the middle toe 5^ 



of tlie outer toe 3f 



of the hinder toe 2J 



Male. — Colour of upper surface of head brighter, and the dusky umber- 

 brown stripes or shades on the back more defined and clearer ; in other re- 

 spects the colours are like those of the^ewta/e. 



The only specimens of this species vvliich I have seen, were shot near Port Natal, while 

 perched upon some brushwood which skirted a tract of marshy ground. Before they resorted 

 to the brushwood, they were observed flitting to and fro among strong rushes, as if in quest of 

 their food, which was found to have consisted of insects. 



AUiiough this bird does not exhibit what may be considered all the typical characters of 

 Drymoica, it must, in my opinion, nevertheless be regarded as appertaining to that genus, and as 

 being a species which must be ranked as one of the first in the division which includes the 

 aberrant forms. The species represented in Plates 79 and 80 present characters still more 

 remote from those of the true Drymoica, yet I cannot bring myself to separate them under 

 another designation, inasmuch as I cannot discover any characters possessed by them which 

 render them more distinct from the less perfect forms in the division comprising the typical 

 species of tlie genus, than I can perceive between the latter and the more highly typical species. 

 When the species figured in this number and the preceding are viewed in succession, and when 

 each species is compared with the one which appears naturally to stand ne.\t to it, no such 

 modifications of structure can be discovered as to justify any one of them being regarded as 

 appertaining to a form different from the rest. 



