lix
half the length of the feathers, of a bright steel blue, dusky beneath. Theunder tail coverts are of the same colour as the tail. The length of thebird is eight inches and three quarters; the bill being an inch long, consi-derably bent, and black.
No. 29. Tanagra eryihroryncha. Red-billed Tanager.
In size and manners, in the arrangement of the feet, and the generalcolour of the plumage, this bird strongly resembles the African Beefeater,but the form of the bill is manifestly different, being three quarters of an inchJong and of a bright orange red, strong in shape, but not straight or square.The upper mandible is convex, a little inclining at the point, with no notch,but the edges are a little protuberant at the base below the nostrils, thelower one being flat at the sides and having an angle on the lower side.The general colour of the plumage on the upper parts, the throat, andneck, is a heavy olive brown shading off at the ends of the quills into dusky,except in some of the primaries, the ends of which are of a lighter brown, andthe lower parts of a brownish yellow. The tail appears rounded in shape,the feathers being somewhat pointed, but there is no rufous colour on theinner margins. The legs and claws are brown: the rump is of the samecolour with the upper parts, and the tail rather more dusky. The frontfeathers come forward on the bill and half shade the nostrils, which arecovered by a yellowish membrane, the aperture in which is very small andclose 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 ourablest ornithologist, Dr. Latham. If the Buphaga is unknown in Abyssinia,this must be a new bird, and, though not precisely answering to thegeneric characters of Tanagra, may as well remain attached to that genus,at least while our present uncertainty about it lasts.*
No. 87. Sylvia pammelaina. AU-black Warbler.
The length of this bird is rather above seven inches, of which the tailtakes up full three and a quarter. The bill, is half an inch in length andblackish, the upper mandible inclining a little,towards the point, and having* I saw vast numbers of them, and they had all invariably a red bill. H. S.