SUPERB WARBLER. 



75.5 



This highly elegant species is thus described 

 by Dr. Latham, who has also given a figure of it. 

 " The length of this beautiful species is five inches 

 and a half : the beak is black : the feathers of the 

 head are long, and stand erect like a full crest ; 

 from the forehead to the crown they are of a bright 

 blue ; from thence to the nape black like velvet : 

 through the eyes from the beak a line of black : 

 beneath the eye springs a tuft of the same blue 

 feathers ; beneath these, and on the chin, it is of 

 a deep blue, almost black, and feeling like velvet: 

 on the ears is another patch of blue, and across 

 the back part of the head a band of the same ; the 

 whole giving the head a greater appearance of 

 bulk than is natural : the hind part of the neck, 

 and upper parts of the body and tail, deep blue 

 black; the under pure white: wings dusky; shafts 

 of the quills chesnut : the tail two inches and a 

 quarter long, and cuneiform ; the two outer feathers 

 very short : legs dusky brown ; claws black." 

 Inhabits Van Dieman's Land : it varies slightly 

 in its markings, particularly about the head, where 

 the blue patches often become confluent: some 

 have the shafts of the quills blackish instead of 

 chesnut. This bird forms the type of the genus 

 Malurus of Vieillot, possessing the following cha- 

 racters. Beak very slender, straight, entire, and 

 short ; the base ciliated : legs very slender : the 

 outer toes united to the second at the base : wings 

 stout : tail very long and slender. 



