154 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [voL. 48 
BLEDA Bonaparte 
Bleda Bonaparte, Rev. et Mag. Zool., Feb., 1857, p. 50 (type, Dasy- 
cephala syndactyla Swainson). 
Xenocichla Hartitaus, Orn. Westafr., 1857, p. 86 (type, Dasycephala 
syndactyla Swainson). 
Chars. gen.—Resembling Alophoixus, but throat feathers not 
lengthened ; nuchal hairs short (less than 20 mm.), much branched : 
tarsus about equal to exposed culmen; height of bill at base not more 
than one-third of exposed culmen; gonys strongly ascending; bill 
longer and more compressed, the culmen straight except at decurved 
tip ; nasal operculum more evident. 
Description.—Tail about nine-tenths of wing; throat feathers not 
lengthened ; tarsus scutellate; wing about 4% times the tarsus; ex- 
posed culmen and tarsus about equal; head not crested ; nuchal hairs 
short (less than 20 mm.), much branched; rictal -bristles long, reach- 
ing about half way to end of bill; bill large and stout, decidedly com- 
pressed, higher than broad at base and at anterior edge of nostrils, 
the height at base about equal to one-third of exposed culmen, but 
sometimes less; culmen straight, except of course at decurved tip; 
gonys strongly ascending, the angle conspicuous; maxilla with but 
one subterminal notch; nostrils rounded oval, somewhat operculate, 
chiefly posteriorly ; frontal feathering not extending beyond hinder 
edge of nostrils; nasal bristles long and rather numerous. 
Type.—Dasycephala syndactyla SwAINsON. 
As here constituted, this is a fairly well defined group, and by 
reason of the structure of the nostrils much more nearly related to 
Trichophorus, Alophoixus, Idiocichla, and Thescelocichla than to 
several other groups that have, like the two latter, often, if not 
usually, been considered congeneric. 
The species here included in this genus are: 
Bleda syndactyla (Swainson). 
Bleda eximia (Hartlaub). 
Bleda xavieri (Oustalet). 
Bleda multicolor (Bocage). 
THESCELOCICHLA’ gen. nov. 
Chars. gen.—Similar to Bleda, but rictal bristles weak ; bill shorter, 
not so stout, its height less than its breadth at base, but more than 
one-third of exposed culmen; culmen curved at least on distal two- 
thirds; gonys almost horizontal; tarsus about 114 times exposed 
culmen. 
19écKxezoc, mirabilis; «/y27, turdus. 
