1 837.] Indication of a new Genvs of Insessorial Birds. 1 1 1 



smooth. Plumage, soft, simple and discomposed. Wings and tail, 

 short and firm. 5th alar quill usually longest ; two first stronglv, 

 two next trivially, and both sub-equally, gradated up to the 5th. Tail, 

 quadrate, firm, with very long coverts. Tarsi, sub-elevate, very strong, 

 and nearly smooth. Anteal toes basally nect, the outer as far as the 

 joint ; lateral fores sub-equal ; central not elongated ; hind very 

 large, sub-depressed, and exceeding either of the lateral fores. Nails 

 compressed, large, strong, falcate and acute. Tongue, simple, sub- 

 cartilaginous, with bifid tip. Type, Cdtia Nipalensis, nobis. Nos. 

 254-5 of the specimens and drawings apud Zoological Society of 

 London. In order to illustrate the affinities of our bird, I proceed to 

 compare it with Pastor Roseus and with Lamprotornis Spilopterus. 



In Pastor Roseus, as in all the typical Pastors in my possession, the 

 bill is longer than the head, straight, conico-cylindric, and softish 

 towards the base. Its base is angulated, and the plumes of its head 

 carried forwards to the anteal end of the nares, are pointed, glossed 

 and elongated. The ample and pointed wings have the 1st quill 

 rudimentary, the 2nd long, and sub-equal to the 3rd, which is always 

 the longest. The tarsi are considerably lengthened and heavily scaled. 

 The toes have the laterals equal ; the hind rather less, and the central 

 fore considerably elongated. The outer fore toe has a basal con- 

 nexion ; the inner none. The nails, though large and by no means 

 blunt, are neither curved nor acuminated in any special or significant 

 degree. In Lamprotornis Spilopterus the wings are precisely similar 

 to those of Pastor Roseus. The bill of Lamprotornis — which is scarcely 

 longer than the head, uniformly sub-arched and not angulated — so far 

 agrees with that of our Cdtia. But its base is depressed, whilst for- 

 wards it has only a slight compression and sub-cylindric outline. It 

 is, besides, sharply pointed, saliently notched, and its trenchant fine 

 tomiae are deeply interlocked. 



Carry these peculiarities a little further and you have the bill of 

 Chloropsis, the birds of which genus further agree with Lamprotornis 

 Spilopterus almost entirely in the nature of their food, and the struc- 

 ture of their tongues- and stomachs. 



On the other hand, the harder, blunter, more solid and compressed 

 bill of Cutia, united as it is with a simple tongue, a subtrituratino- 

 stomach, and a diet consisting of hard seeds and hard insects, would 

 affine our bird to Pomatorhinus and its allies, but for the scansorial 

 feet. In Lamprotornis Spilopterus the nares are still round and short, 

 though there he somewhat more approach to a nude, membranous 

 tect than in Pastor Roseus. In Lamprotornis, the lower tarsi, rather 

 than the structure of the feet, seem to indicate less terrestrial habits 



