48 BUFF-BODIED FLYCATCHER. 
in fact, which induced us, some years ago, to cha- 
racterize the suh-genus Hyliola, the characters and 
affinities of which will he found full}' detailed else- 
where*. For the present, we may remark that it 
has a general resemblance both to the African todies 
( Platystera ) and to the Old World flycatchers 
( Muscipeta J, and yet its bill is so much lengthened 
and compressed on the sides, that it might at first 
be mistaken for a Syleia. It cannot, in short, he 
arranged under .any one group yet characterized ; 
we are yet acquainted with only one example, for 
we feel persuaded that the two birds we shall now 
describe are the sexes of one species. 
The male has all the upper plumage (excepting 
the wing-covers and rump, which are pure white) 
of a deep and glossy blue-black, which parts, in the 
female, are of a deep grey ; the quills are paler, and 
inclined to brownish, hut their external edges are 
glossy. This black colour envelopes the eyes and 
the whole of the ears; it also spreads over the 
shoulder-covers. The feathers of the rump are 
long, soft, and pure white, hut the tail-covers are 
small and glossy black. The under plumage is 
entirely of a pale but clear huff yellow, darkest on 
the breast and lightest on the vent. The female has 
the quills and some of the outermost tail-feathers 
narrowly margined with white. In regard to struc- 
ture, the wings, in proportion to the size of the 
bird, are very long, while the tail, which is perfectly 
even, is proportionately short; the hill is depressed 
* Classification of Birds, vol. ii. 
