154 
INTRODUCTION. 
group we have the colours blue and green, varied 
by black; but almost without lustre or play of 
colour, and the throat and crown patches in a 
few just indicated ; one or two species also are of 
unobtrusive tints, and in their entire form re- 
mind us of, and in fact run into, the Melipha- 
gidas and Titmouse warblers. In the Australian 
and Pacific groups, black and red are the prevail- 
ing colours, without lustre ; the crown and throat 
patches marked by a difference in the structure 
of the feathers, and the general appearance of the 
birds in many parts allying them to Myzomela. 
Thus, from a portion of the plumage of the birds 
only, and without any assistance from the more 
essential parts of their forms, we could tell with 
nearly certainty to what division of the world the 
■species belonged. The colours which we have been 
mow alluding to are those adorning the male, and 
that in the African birds, according to Vaillant, 
continues only during the breeding season ; so soon 
as the duties of this important period have passed, 
the same author states that they return or moult 
into the unobtrusive dress of the winter or rainy 
season ; and as the time of change again approaches, 
birds may be seen more or less spotted, or in dif- 
ferent stages of advancement towards their most 
splendid state. At the same time also the long 
caudal plumes are shed or lost, these also being 
only of temporary duration, as an adornment in the 
time of pairing and incubation. The colouring of 
the plumage in winter, together with that of the 
