THE WOODCHAT. 
65 
surface more barred. In size it fully equals the last, 
being from six to six and a half inches in length. 
In some specimens, and perhaps those which 
have attained maturity, and are in full breeding 
plumage, the dark parts of the plumage are nearly 
black. 
In specimens which we possess from Sierra 
Leone, and which do not appear to vary mate- 
rially from those of Europe, we have the dark 
parts very deeply coloured, the pale patches 
tinged with yellowish, and the colour of the head 
and napa of a very deep brownish orange. In 
all respects, however, they seem in complete 
plumage, and not in the intermediate changes 
described by Mr Swainson,* in which state the 
same collection also possessed specimens. 
MERULIDiE. 
From these three birds just described being 
the only British members of the Laniadee, we 
have to pass by a long list of varied forms, 
beautiful in their gradations, to reach the second 
great family of the Dentirostres, where we shall 
find a few examples of the typical group, and 
one of a very curious and interesting genus, the 
only example we possess of the sub-family 
Myotherina. This is the Cinclus aquatints, the 
Dipper, or Water Ousel of British ornithologists. 
* Birds of Western Africa, i. p. 232. 
E 
