and claws are brown. The rump is of the same colour with the upper parts, and the tail rather more dusky. The front feathers come forward on the bill, and half shade the nostrils, which are covered by a yellowish membrane, the aperture in which is very small and close to the feathers. I have ventured to give this bird the above name, in which I have more confidence, as I herein follow the example of our ablest ornithologist, Dr. Latham. If the Buphaga is unknown in Abyssinia, this must be a new bird; and, though not precisely answering to the generic characters of Tanagra, may as well remain attached to that genus, at least while our present uncertainty about it lasts.[1]
No. 37. Sylvia pammelaina. All-black Warbler.
The length of this bird is rather above seven inches, of which the tail takes up full three and a quarter. The bill is half an inch in length and blackish, the upper mandible inclining a little, towards the point, and having a slight notch near the tip, with a few bristles about the base; but the bill is not sufficiently flattened to refer the bird to the genus Muscicapa. In conformity with the opinion expressed by Dr. Latham, I have ventured to rank it among the Warblers, though by no means convinced that this is its correct place in the system. The whole bird is entirely of a dark blueish black above; the quills and tail inclining more to dusky black; the plumage of the breast has very little of the blueish tint, and the quills and tail, below, are of light dusky colour, the first quill feather being two inches shorter than the fourth and fifth, which are the longest. Legs and claws are of a brownish black.
No. 45. Loxia leucotis. White-eared Grosbeak.
The length of this bird is about four inches and a half. The bill is of a whitish brown colour. The head, neck, chin, throat, breast, belly, sides under the wings, with the under coverts, and lesser wing coverts above, are all black; on the ears is a tolerably large white spot; and a narrow white collar bounds the black at the setting on of the neck where it joins the black, and there is also an upright line of dirty white on each side the breast just before the bend of the wing; the thighs, lower belly, and vent, are also white; the under tail coverts being of a dusky black. The back is of a chesnut colour, as are also the scapulars and greater coverts of the wings, which latter are edged towards the tip with white; the remaining feathers of the wings are dusky, some of the quills being margined outwardly with a chesnut colour. The rump is of a dusky brown hue, edged and tipped with greyish. The tall is blackish brown, and the exterior feather lighter, with the shaft and outer web of a dirty white. The legs and feet are reddish brown, and the claws dusky, the hind claw being a very little bent. Dr. Latham appears at first to have entertained a suspicion that this might be only an
- ↑ I saw vast numbers of them, and they had all invariably a red bill. H.S.
