Genus — LALAGE. 
Lalage Boie, Isis, 1826, heft x., col. 973 (October). 
Type (by monotypy) ... ... ... ... T urdus orientalis Gmelin 
= T urdus niger Forster. 
Erucivora Swainson, Fauna Bor. Amer. Birds, 
p. 483, “ 1831 ” = February 1832. Type (by 
monotypy ) . . . ... ... ... ... ... T urdus orientalis Gmelin. 
= T urdus niger Forster. 
Small Campophagine birds with long thin bills, long wings, long rounded 
tail and long thin legs and feet. 
The bill is long, as long as the head, thin, almost laterally compressed 
when contrasted with those of the preceding genera, the culmen keeled but 
little basally expanded, the nasal groove small but exposed, the nostrils 
appearing as small circular holes free from the frontal feathers ; rictal bristles 
obsolete. 
The wing has the first primary very short and narrow, less than one-third 
the length of the second ; the second to fifth primaries form the tip of the wing, 
the fourth longest, the third little shorter not much exceeding the second 
which is a little longer than the fifth ; the secondaries are comparatively rather 
long. 
The tail is long, about three-fourths the length of the wfing, the feathers 
rather broad and the shape a little rounded. \\ 
The tarsus is long, nearly twice as long as the culmen, scutellate anteriorly 
about four broad scutes being recognisable and bilaminate posteriorly ; the toes, 
long and thin of the usual Campophagine formation. 
Coloration : sexes different and apparently a seasonal change takes place. 
Adult breeding male, black above, white below, the rump and back grey and 
the upper wing-coverts white forming a bar. The female is brown above, fawn 
with small cross-bars below, the rump faintly barred and the wing-coverts 
are only edged fighter, no bar being formed. In the non-breeding state the 
male seems to take on the female plumage, which the young also bear. 
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