138 
SK1SCRA. 
as every ornithologist knows, form the tenuirostral 
type of the warblers ; and Seisura holds exactly the 
same station in the genus Rhipidura. Such notes, 
made by mere observers of the facts they commu- 
nicate, are often of the first importance, because 
they are framed without any reference to theories 
or general laws, and thus become the best possible 
evidence in support of a natural classification. 
DISHWASHER FANTAIL. 
Seisura volitans, Hoksf. & Vigors. 
PLATE XII. 
Above glossy blue-black ; beneath pure white, or tinged on 
the breast with fulvous. 
Turdus volitans, Latham , lnd, Omith. Sappl. xli. No. 10 
Volatile Thrush, 11. Gen. Hist. Birds, v. 122. — Seisura vo- 
litans, Linn. Trans, xv. 230. 
According to Mr. Caley, the colonists of New 
South Wales call this bird the Dishwasher, but for 
what precise reason does not appear. It is, observes 
the same writer, “ very curious in its actions. In 
alighting on the stump of a tree it makes several 
semicircular motions, spreading out its tail at the 
same time, and making a loud noise, somewhat 
