TEXT OH ERYTHRORHYHCHUS
TEXTOR ERYTHRORHYNCHUS.—S m i t h .
A v es.— P la t e LXIV. (M a l e »)
T. brunneo-niger; pectoria latcribus plus minusve albo yariatis; remigibus primariis versus basin albis ;
rpstro flavo-rubro; oculis rubro-aurantiis.
Longitudo corporis cum capite 5 unc. 4 lin. ; caudee 4 unc.
Bubalornis Niger, Smith, Rep. of Exped. App. page 52, 1836.
CoLOUR.r—The head, the upper and under parts of the body, the last half of
each primary quill feather, all the secondary quill feathers and the tail,
blackish-brown ; the first half of each primary quill feather white, and the
outer vanes of a few of those nearest to the secondaries margined with the
same colour almost to their points. Bill light yellowish-red, clouded with
shades of purple-red. Legs and toes yellowish brown, the former tinted with
yellowish red ; claws livid umber-brown. Eyes dark brown.
F orm , &e.—Head rather small. Body robust. Bill strong, conical, and
pointed, very like that of a typical Ploceus; the culmen slightly arched, and
entering between the feathers of forehead, flattened at base, anterior to
nostrils rounded; nostrils nearly circular, and without membranous edging ;
the commissure of bill slightly waved. A few short rigid bristles at the angles
of the mouth. Wings rather short and rounded, when folded they reach to
nearly the commencement of the second-third of the tail, the first quill
feather is narrow, and about an inch and a half in length, the third, fourth,
and fifth are longest and nearly equal, the second and sixth equal and
slightly shorter than the fifth; the secondary quill feathers about half an inch
shorter than the longest primaries. Tail rather long, and slightly rounded at
the point. Tarsi robust, distinctly scutellated anteriorly, entire behind ; toes
strong and rather short, the outer and inner ones nearly of equal length, and
a little shorter than the middle one, hinder toe stronger than the fore ones ;
claws strong, short, slightly curved, and blunt at the points.
DIMENSIONS.
Length from the point of the bill to
[aches. Lines.
Length of the tarsus ............
Inches.
1 2 i
of the bill to the gape......... 0
of the wings when folded...... 4 of the inner toe ........ 0
of the tail......................... 4 0 of the hinder toe........ 0