318 zooLoor. 



The toes of Colius are very different from those in 

 other Scansorial Insessores, and even from those of the 

 Plantain-eaters. Both the outer toes are reversible to a 

 certain extent, but the third toe appears very rarely to 

 be reversed, and even the fourth is quite as frequently 

 turned forvvard as backwards. 



As a species Colius leucotis is barely separable from 

 the South African C. striatus, Gm. The whitish ear- 

 coverts are often ill-marked; and although the general 

 tinge in the Abyssinian bird is slightly more rufous, the 

 difference is very trifling. The principal distinctions are, 

 that the wing in C. leucotis is about -g-inch and the tail 

 1 inch longer than in C. striatus, that the former is more 

 distinctly striated at the back of the neck than the 

 latter, and that it has the rump also transversely striated 

 with rufous lines, which is not the case in C striatus. 

 Also in C. leucotis the crest is situated further back, and 

 the earthy-brown feathers of the forehead occupy a larger 

 space than in C striatus. The feet in the latter, too, 

 appear to be dark brown. 



50. Colius macrourus, L. 



C. aenegaknsis, Gm. Syst. Nat. p. 842. — Eiipp. Syst. Uebers. No. 

 318.— Ferr. et Gal. No. 47.— Lefebvre, p. 122. 



Iris crimson inside, violet passing to greyish without. 

 Naked skin around the eyes and the lores deep red. Legs 

 purplish red. Upper mandible red, except the tip, which 

 is black, as is the whole of the lower mandible. In 

 young birds the iris is brown, bill greenish yellow with 

 the tip whitish, skin around the eyes dusky : the blue 

 feathers of the nape and the long tail are both wanting. 



