toes short and strong; claws slender, curved, and pointed, the claw of the
hinder toe longest and strongest.
DIMENSIONS.
Inches. Lines. Inches. H U
Length from the point of the bill to Length of the tarsus......... ]0 £
the tip of the t a i l ............ 4 5 of the inner toe . . . . . . . 0 3
of the bill to the angle of the of the middle toe . . mouth............................ H 0 «i of the outer toe . . . 3 of the wings when folded. . . 2 - i j of the hinder toe . . . 2f
of the tail............................ 1 11
F em a le .—Head the same colour as the back; in other respects the colours
of the two sexes are the same.
This bird occurs in various situations in the interior of the Cape Colony, and is usually
found among brushwood or upon dwarf trees. It feeds upon small insects, and in quest of
those it is to be seen flitting from branch to branch with great rapidity. As compared with
many of the other “species, it may be considered as rather a rare bird, and it rarely happens
that more than one or two specimens are procured in any given locality which it is known to
inhabit.
A v e c.— P late L X X I I I .— F ig . 2. (M a l e .)
D. capite cerviceque supeme pallide castaneis, brunneo-strigatis; ihterscapuliis dorsoque profunde
brunneis, pinnis flavo-brunneo marginatis; rectricibus brunneo-rubris .pallide castaneo-marginatis;
partibus inferioribus pallide flavo-brunneis; rectricibus brunneis externe castaneo-marginatis,
plumarum apicibus pallide flavo-brunneis; rostro livido-brunneo; pedibus rubri-flavis; oculis
castaneis.
Longitudo e rostri apice ad basin caudee 2 unc. 5 lin .; caudee 2 unc. 8 lin.
CoLOURi#T-The upper parts of the head, and the upper and lateral parts of
the neck, bright chesnut-brown, the two first variegated with umber-brown
stripes, one along the centre of each feather; interscapulars, back, and tail
coverts liver-brown, each feather edged on both sides with pale wood-brown;
lesser wing coverts umber-brown, broadly edged and tipped with pale
broccoli-brown. Primary and secondary quill coverts, and the tertiary quill
feathers, liver-brown, and distinctly edged externally with pale wood-brown ;
primary and secondary quill feathers light brownish red, edged with chesnut-
brown. Under parts pale wood-brown, the throat lightest, and inclined to
white. Tail feathers light umber-brown, margined externally with pale
chesnut-brown, and broadly tipped with dull wood-brown; behind the light
points each feather is marked with a circumscribed liver-brown blotch, which
is much darker than the general colour of the feather, and is most readily
seen on the under surface of the tail. Eyebrows and sides of the head wood-
brown. Bill horn-coloured, the lower mandible lightest; legs and toes pale
buff-orange ; claws horn-coloured. Eyes deep chesnut-brown.
F orm, &c.=Figure rather robust; tail moderately long and graduated;
bill slightly curved, triangular at the base, compressed towards the point,
culmen considerably arched, wings rounded, and when folded reach over the
first third of the tail; the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth nearly equal and
longest, the second rather shorter, and nearly equal in length to the
secondary quill feathers ; the first about half the length of the third, and very
narrow. Tarsi robust, anteriorly scutellated, posteriorly entire; toes rather