136 Notices and Descriptions of various New [Feb. 



The following three genera are closely allied. 



Sylvania> nobis. General characters of Callene (formerly Cincli- 

 dium, nobis, XI, 181*); but the bill much slenderer and straighter, 

 resembling that of Calliope camtsckatkensis, whereas the bill of Callene 

 more resembles that of Copsychus, and especially Notodela. 



S. phcenicuroides, ( Hodgson), j* Length about seven inches and a 

 quarter, of which the middle tail-feathers measure three and a 

 quarter, the outermost nearly an inch less ; wing two inches and 

 seven-eighths ; bill to gape seven-eighths ; and tarse an inch and one- 

 eighth. Upper-parts uniform dark cyaneous, or deep slaty-blue, less 

 deep however than in Callene frontalis, or Brachypteryx montana ; 

 the lower similar but rather paler, passing into white on the middle of 

 the belly ; the winglet feathers are also tipped with white : tail black, all 

 but its middle pair of feathers ferruginous for the basal half: bill 

 dusky ; and legs brown. Female rather smaller, and wholly brown 

 above, paler brown below, passing to albescent along the middle of 

 the belly ; a slight tinge of rufous, but undefined, at the base of the 

 caudal feathers. Inhabits Nepal. 



Callene (olim Cinclidium) frontalis, nobis, figured in XII, 1010. 

 This form differs from the next in its larger and stronger bill, more 

 developed tail, and the somewhat scale-like character of its plumage; J 

 but in other respects is hardly separable. 



Brachypteryx, Horsfield. The Society having been favoured by the 

 Natural History Society of Batavia with specimens of Br. montana and 

 Br. sepiaria, Horsf., of Java, I am enabled to approximate very closely 

 to the former species (which is the type of this genus,) the Calliope? 

 cruralis, nobis, XII, 933, which merely differs from Br. montana in 

 its somewhat smaller size, the absence of the mass of erect soft blackish 

 plumelets on the forehead, and in the concealed white streak over the 

 eye being continued forward to the nostrils. A second Indian species 

 exists in the Phcenicura major, Jerdon, of the Neilgherries, which, 

 however, is less typical, and has the tail considerably more developed. 

 Br. sepium, Horsfield, pertains to my genus Alcippe, as suggested in 

 XIII, 284, and is very nearly allied to A.poiocephala, (Jerdon), and some 



* The name Cinclidium was pre-applied in Botany to a genus of mosses. 



f Mr. Hodgson refers this bird to Bradyterus of Swainson. 



% Even this, however, occurs on the under-parts of Br. cruralis. 



