196 MR. SHARPE ON A NEW GENUS OF TIiMELlIDJi. [Jau. 18, 



coverts and quills ligbt brown, edged with yellowish olive ; tail- 

 feathers light brown, margined narrowly with yellowish olive ; lores 

 and a very faintly indicated eyebrow light yellow, in front of the eye 

 a dusky spot ; cheeks and ear-coverts yellow, mottled with dusky 

 brown 'tips to the feathers; under surface of body yellow, passing 

 into white on the centre of the abdomen, the lower tlanks light 

 ashy brown ; the throat and fore neck streaked with dark brown 

 down the centres of the feathers ; the breast mottled with larger 

 centres of dusky brown ; under tail-coverts dusky brown, with dull 

 white tips ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white washed with 

 yellow, the edge of the wing a little brighter yellow ; quills brown 

 below, whitish along the edge of the inner web. Total length 4'5 

 inches, culmen 0-65, wing 2-0, tail Iv, tarsus 0-65. 



Hab. Fianarantsoa, I\Iadagascar {Rev. D. Cowan). 



A better arrangement of the genus Bernieria and its allies appears 

 to me to be somewhat as follows : — 



u. Culuiiue tarsuui sequante, vel etiam lougiore. 



a'. Eostro brevi, conico, acuto, culmiue hand funiiciilo, 



tomii3 integris NcomLrk. 



h'. Eostro longiore, gracili, ad apicem decurvato et eyi- 



denter adimco Bernieria. 



h. Tarso quam ciilmeu longiore. 



c'. Vibrissis ris ullis, minimis ; fascia parva supra 



nares, difficile invenienda ; tarso integro Mijdacornis. 



(V. Vibrissis maximis, usquo ad apicem rostri productis; 



tarsis integris Xanthoyni.ris. 



t'. Vibrissis paryis, debilibus, baud ultra iiares productis ; 



tarsis iutegris Crosdeyia. 



f. Vibrissis parvis, debilibus, baud ultra uares productis ; 



tarsis evideuter 4-scutatis Oxylabct'. 



The large series of Mascarene Timeliidm now possessed by the 

 British Museum has enabled me to push my studies of these birds 

 much further ; and I find that, as in many other cases of Madagas- 

 car birds, the Timeliidce of the island not only form an isolated 

 group, but are divisible into several genera, of which the compara- 

 tive characters are given above. 



The following is a list of the species comprised under the above 

 headings : — 



1. Neomixis striatigula, Sharpe {vide supra). 



2. Bernieria ^nadac/ascariensis (Gm.). 



3. Mystacornis crossleyi (Grandid.). 

 -1. Xanthomixis zosterops (Sharpe). 

 5. Crossleyia xanthophrys {^\\ax\>e). 



[The Museum now contains four specimens of this curious bird 

 in addition to the original type (described, P. Z. S. \S7^, p. 76, 

 as Oxylabes xanthophrys). Tlie idea has been suggested to me that 

 it is the young bird of some other species ; but I think that this is 

 not likely to prove correct, as one of the specimens before me appears 

 to be a nestling. It is duller-coloured than the adults, more of an 

 olive-brown, the head scarcely darker, and the eyebrow almost im- 



