ERYTHROPYGIA PEOTORALIS.
brown; the base of lower mandible yellowish ; legs light yellowish brown,
with a flesh coloured tin t; eyes clear Dutch-orange.
F obm, &c.—Figure slender; bill slightly curved ; the culmen blunt and
considerably arched, the degree of curvature in the latter greatest towards
the point; the bill triangular towards base, compressed towards the point;
the sides of mandibles slightly convex ; nostrils small, opening longitudinally
and near to the commissure ; emargination of upper mandible slightly indicated.
Wings rounded, short, and when folded reach a little beyond the base
of the ta il; the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh quill feathers equal and
longest, the third slightly shorter, the second considerably shorter than the
third, and the first about half the length of the longest ones, and broad and
rounded at its point. The secondary and tertiary quill feathers but little
shorter than the primaries. Tail long and slightly rounded at the point, the
apices of the feathers broad and rounded; tarsi moderately strong, faintly
scutellated anteriorly, entire posteriorly. Toes rather slender, the lateral
ones equal in length and considerably shorter than the middle one, rather
longer than the hinder one, the latter is the most robust. Claws slender,
pointed and moderately curved, the hinder claws strongest and longest.
DIMENSIONS.
Inches. Lines.
Length from the point of the bill to the
tip of the tail..................... 6 3
of the bill from the gape ...... 0 8a
of the tail ............................. 3 li
of the wings when folded...... 2 9i
In the female the colours are not
of both sexes is the same, and th
Inches. Lines.
Length of the tarsi ................. 0 11
of the outer toe ............. 0 Si
of the middle toe ........... 0 6«
. of the hinder toe.................. 0 3
iite so bright as in the male. The size
colours are distributed after the same
pattern.
This and the species represented in the next Plate (L.) accord so perfectly in their habits,
organization, and configuration, that no doubt can exist as to their being of the same group ;
but what that group may be is not so easily to be decided. In their manners and habits they
have a remarkable similitude to the S a x ic o la , and their colours are distributed after a like
fashion. The form and character of their individual organs, however, exclude them from that
group. The bill, wings and tail are not those of Saxicolce, and the circumstance of their never^
leaving trees and descending to the ground, also removes them from a genus the species of
which, in many respects, they strongly resemble. They jerk their wings after the same manner
as the Saxicolcu, and they hunt for insects which constitute their food with the same activity.