CHLOROPETA NATALENSIS.
feathers short, bristly, and rather directed forwards: bristles at the angles of
the mouth long, and moderately rigid. Tarsi moderately strong, anteriorly
scutellated, posteriorly entire; toes rather strong; claws long, slender,
pointed, and considerably curved.
DIMENSIONS.
Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines.
Length from the point of bill to the
base of the tail............... 3 4
Length of the tarsus ...........
outer toe ...........
.......... 1
.......... 0
0 34
of the tail................................. 2 6 middle toe ........ .......... 0 H
bill to the angle of mouth 0 H inner toe ............ .......... 0 3J
wings when folded .......... 3 0 hinder toe.......... . ............. 0 31
The colours of the male not known.
The specimen of which the foregoing is a description, the only one which has come
under my observation, was killed when perched on the summit of a small shrub, on the
margin of a dense thicket near to Port Natal. On opening its stomach, its food was found
to be small insects.
Though I have put this bird forward as the type of a group, I am not satisfied that it
will continue to hold that position when all the species of Muscicapida shall be carefully
re-examined. As the groups are at present constituted, I have not been able to find one in
which our species could, with propriety, be placed, therefore I have considered it wiser to
keep it separate than to place it in one to which it would appear to be but little related.
Were it not that the bill is rather more lengthened than that of the species of the group
M u sd p e ta , the bristles of the gape much fewer, and the plumage very different in character,
it, in other respects, bears a resemblance to young birds of the genus just mentioned.
BBWM