CHLOROPSIS MALABARICUS, (nobis). 

 Malabar Chloropsis, 



PLATE V. 



C. viridis, nitens, fronte aurantio, mento gulaque hyacinthinis, loris juguloque nigris, 

 sub jugulo lunula aurea. Flexuris nitide cceruleis, campteriis hyacinthinis. 



Tardus Malabaricus, Gmel. Syst. ed. 13. ii. 837- — Lath. Ind. Ornith. i. 34-9. 77- 



Yellow-fronted Thrush, Lath. Gen. Syn. iii. 60. 6Q. 



Le Petit Merle de la cote de Malabar, Voyj Sonnerat, ii. 192. 



At is sincerely to be regretted, that our information respecting the habits 

 and manners of exotic species, are in general so meagre and confined ; for it 

 is in proportion to our knowledge of the various interesting facts elucidating 

 their economy, that the scientific naturalist is repaid for the dry detail of no- 

 menclature, or is enabled to make his methodical arrangements in accordance 

 with nature, and the affinities which so beautifully connect the various spe- 

 cies in one continuous and unbroken chain. It is also the detail of these alone 

 that can be expected to create an interest in the mind of a general reader, 

 or of one who has never studied, or perhaps neglects, the artificial systems of 

 ornithological writers. 



Most of our works are in fact either mere descriptions of the exterior 

 markings or colours of different birds, with a list of the synonymes of various 

 authors attached, or, in addition to the graphic descriptions, delineations of 

 the birds themselves. To those of the latter description, where the figures 

 are correct, and the colouring true to nature, the natural history, or picture 

 of the manners and habits of the species, is alone wanting to render them 

 complete, and equally instructive to every class of readers. Such, in a great 

 measure, is Wilson's splendid work on the North American birds, where we 

 find the economy of each individual detailed and set forth in a language which 

 cannot fail to give delight and universal satisfaction. But here the author 

 confined himself to a certain and defined territory, and himself studied each 

 species in its living state, whether as an inhabitant of the forests, the moun- 

 ts) c 



