COLY. 197 



black tip ; head and neck vinaceous ash-colour ; back, rump, scapu- 

 lars, and upper wing coverts, the same ; upper tail coverts purplish 

 chestnut ; breast vinaceous ; from thence to vent, dirty white ; under 

 wing coverts black ; tail ash-colour, greatly cuneiform in shape, the 

 outer feathers not more than ten lines in length, and white on the 

 outer web ; legs grey. 



Inhabits the Cape of Good Hope. 



2.— WHITE-BACKED COLY— Pl. lxxxvi. 



Colius leuconotus, Ind. Orn. i. 369. Dand. ii. 362. 



' eiythropus, Gin. Lin. i. 842. 



Coliou a dos blanc, Levail. Afr. vi. p. 39. pl. 257. 



White-backed Coly, Gen. Syn. iii. 101. pl. 41. Shaw's Zool. x. p. 6. 



LENGTH twelve inches. The upper mandible white at the 

 base, and black the rest of its length, the under wholly white ; 

 plumage in general bluish ash-colour; the head feathers greatly 

 elongated, and when they are elevated, they form an upright crest, 

 which appears pointed ; the under parts of the body, from the breast, 

 dirty white, near the vent pure white ; the lower part of the back, 

 rump, and under tail coverts purple, with a stripe of pure white the 

 whole way down the middle ; tail very long, cuneiform ; shafts of 

 the feathers, chestnut; the outer ones only one inch and a half; 

 legs stout, of a fine red colour, all the toes capable of being placed 

 forward, as in the Swift ; claws large, hooked, and dusky. 



The female does not externally differ, except in the tail being 

 shorter, and the general colours less vivid. 



Inhabits the Cape of Good Hope, abundant towards the Gamtoos, 

 Bruyntjes-Hoogte, Sondag, and Swartland, among the Caffres, and 

 several places of the interior, to the Buffalo River. The nest is com- 

 posed of flexible twigs, spacious, open, lined with feathers; the 

 female lays five or six rose-coloured eggs ; the note similar to the 

 syllables qui-wi, several times repeated, and the whole band utter it 

 in flight. 



