174 



MERULIDiE. 



male is grey ; but in the female it is ferruginous, 

 more particularly on the lower part of the back ; the 

 margins of the quill-feathers are the same, the quills 

 themselves being brown : the sides of the head, ears, 

 and fore parts of the neck, the breast and body, 

 are covered by a large patch of black, which extends 

 to the vent j and is margined on each side by a 

 white line, which passes over the eyes and ears, be- 

 comes wider on the sides of the breast and body, 

 leaving the flanks and belly in the male pure white, 

 but tinged with ferruginous in the female : the wings 

 are very short, the coverts are all black, marked by 

 snow-white spots; spurious quills the same : tail length- 

 ened and cuneated ; the middle pair of feathers being 

 more than an inch longer than the outer pair ; those 

 which intervene are progressively graduated : they are 

 all black, with obtuse white tips, except the middle 

 pairs, which are greyish towards their base: tarsi 

 moderate slate-coloured. 



Sp. 3. Fo. brevicauda. Zool. Jour. (Swain.) ii. 148. 



Fo. cinerea, jugulo pectoreque nigris ; scapulis maculis tectrices 



ornantibus albis y Cauda brevissima- 

 Cinereous Ant-Wren, with the middle of the throat and the breast 



black ; shoulders and spots on the wing-coverts white ; tail very 



short. 



Length three inches and a half : remarkable for 

 its short tail : the ground colour both of the upper 

 and under plumage is pure cinereous or slate-grey : 

 from the chin to the middle of the body runs a narrow 

 stripe of black, which widens on the breast : the shoul- 

 der-coverts are pure white, and the greater and lesser 



