MALACONOTUS atio-coccineus. 

 BurchelVs Shrike. 



Generic Character, &c. See PI. 71. 



Specific Character. 



Black, beneath crimson: lesser wing covers banded icith ivhite, 

 greater covers and lesser quills icitli a broad, while, lon- 

 gitudinal stripe. 



Malaconotus atro-coccineas. Burchell, Zool. Jonrn. I. p. 461. 

 PL 18. 



Mus. D. Burchell. 



Among the few Ornitholos^ical subjects which that 

 accomplished traveller, Mr. Burchell, has yet published 

 from his vast collections of African Zoology, is the charm- 

 ing bird here figured. It was discovered near Litakoon, 

 the principal town of the Bachapins, a nation never before 

 known to Europeans. Its principal range is between lat. 

 27. 20. and 29. 10. S. on the meridian of 24. E. " To a 

 traveller," continues our friend, " wandering through the 

 airy groves of the Transgaripine^ the sight of these Lanii, 

 flying from branch to branch above his head, and dis- 

 playing their fine colour in all its brilliancy, suddenly 

 arrests his steps, and claims his admiration. Viewed in 

 such a position, little of their black colour is seen, and they 

 then appear to be entirely scarlet." 



A most beautiful analogy may be traced between the 

 two principal groups of the Bush Shrikes, and those of the 

 Ant-thrushes. The genus Malaconotus corresponds to the 

 Pittae, in being restricted to the old world, in the vivid 

 colours of their plumage, and the connexion, in the typical 

 species, of the two outer toes. In Thamnophilus and 

 Myothera, both American groups, the colours are uni- 

 formly dark ; and their resemblance in structure is so close, 

 that no author has yet pointed out their distinctions. 



76. 



