APALIS thoracia, 



Gorget Warbler. 



Family Sylviadee. Sub-fam: Sylvianse. Genus (?) Apalis. 



Generic (?) Character. 



General structue of Prinea, but the bill shorter, the plumage more 

 compact, and the outer toe not connected to the middle as far 

 as the first joint. 



Srccinc Character. 



Olive green, beneath yellowish white ; breast with a black collar ; 

 three lateral tail-feathers partly white ; front black. 



Le Plastron Noir. Le Vaill. Ois.d'Af 3 pi. 123. f. I. male. 2. few. 

 Motacilla thoracia. JVat. Miss. 22. pi. 969. 



This is one of the pretty warblers of Southern Africa, 

 discovered by Le Vaillant : it is very common and widely 

 distributed in the interior, but rare near the Cape. Le 

 Vaillant mentions having found a young 1 bird of the Criard 

 Cuckoo, in the pigmy nest of this little species, which had 

 already grown to the size of a thrush : it not only filled the 

 nest, but actually enlarged and destroyed its original shape. 

 Yet still did the foster parents, by a most extraordinary 

 instinct, go on feeding this overgrown parasite, although 

 it was even then more than double the size of themselves. 

 Our figure is of the natural size of the male ; the female is 

 without the black collar. Specimens are in Mr. Burchell's 

 Museum and in our own. 



That this bird is of a tenuirostral type, is almost certain ; 

 seeing that it is an obvious representation of Motacilla, 

 Pachycephalia, Tamatia, Trichas, Charadrius, and many 

 other collared groups : but whether it forms part of !he genus 

 Prinea, or represents the tenuirostral genus between that 

 and Culicivora, is very uncertain. We suspect that this 

 latter station is filled by the Taylor- Wa rblers of India, 

 not one of which is to be found in our publi c Museums. 



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