DESCRIPTION
Of a female, killed at Carlton House, in July 1827.
C o l o u r of the whole upper plumage blackish-grey, except the head and tail, which
are pitch-black, and the inner webs of the quill feathers, which are blackish-brown. The
cheeks, and the whole under surface of the body, with the wing linings, are deep bluish-grey;
the under tail coverts brownish-red. The insides of the quill feathers are clove-brown,
and the tail beneath is blackish-brown. The bill pitch-black, and the legs very dark
umber-brown.
F o r m .— Bill compressed towards the point, with a rather acute ridge; cutting mar-
gin of the lower mandible slightly curved towardslthe point, and minutely notched on
each side of its tip ; there are some strong hairs at the angle of the mouth. The wings are
short and round, being more than two inches shorter than the tail; the fifth quill feather is
the longest; the fourth nearly equals it; the, third and sixth are rather more than aline
shorter; the seventh is a quarter of an inch shorter than the sixth ; and the succeeding ones
become gradually shorter, the tenth being nearly an inch shorter than the fifth ; the second
is equal to the eighth; and the first (or spurious feather) is scarcely half the length of the
second, and more than an inch and a half shorter than the fifth. The outer webs, from the
third to the sixth inclusive, are sinuated ; the two last very obliquely. The tail is much
rounded, the exterior feathers being ten lines shorter than the middle ones. The plumage of
the body and head has the barbs very much detached.
The male differs very little from the female in the colours of its plumage; but in the young
the red tint of the under tail coverts is scarcely discernible.
Inch1 est L1ines. o0 i3o£ 0 4£ 0 4
Length from the tip of the bill to the end ofIn ches.
the tail . . . . . . 9 „ of the tail . . . . . 4
r'' j, of the folded wing . . . 3
,, of the bill along its ridge . . 0
,, of the bill from the angle of the mouth 0
Dimensions.
Lines. Length of the tarsi
„ of the middle toe
j, of its claw
„ of the hind toe .
,, of the hind claw
FURTHER REMARKS ON THE ANALOGIES OF THE MERULIDÆ.
So many important and interesting considerations crowded upon our attention
while investigating the natural affinities of this family, that, in our desire not to
be diffuse, we have unintentionally omitted one of the most curious set of analogies
belonging to the J\Icrulida, and therefore too important to be passed over in
silence. All systematists who have mentioned the B r achy pus (Chloropsis) *
Malabaricus, (Jardine and Selby,) or the Verdin icterocephale of M. Temminck,
describe it as having a filamentous tongue, and as sucking the nectar of flowers.
This consideration, no doubt, influenced the intelligent authors of the Illustrations
o f Ornithology to refer this very beautiful group (which they have the undoubted
merit of first characterising) to the Meliphagidas. Now even supposing that the Chloropsides (the true representatives of the P itta,
among the Merulidce,) are really nectarivorous, it by no means follows that their
actual affinities lie among the Meliphagidai; since groups which represent any
given order or tribe in their own circle, invariably present us with some one or
more characters indicative of such analogies; in many instances, indeed, these
analogies are so strong, that the best zoologists have been deceived into the belief
that they were real affinities. Nothing, perhaps, will illustrate this peculiarity
better than a comparison of the Merulidas with the tribe of Tenuirostres.
HSuIb- f»a HmilWies ot~ Families of
MERULIDÆ. ANALOGIES. TENUIROSTRES. t
Merulince f T he most *n their resPec^ e circles : 1 T rochilid2e.
J wings, in the one (typically), strong and >
Myotherince. [ pointed, in the other feeble and rounded. ] Cinnyrid^.
Brachypodinoe; Feet short, strong; hind toe much lengthened;
wings and tail rounded. M eliphagidæ.
* This is another striking instance of the defective information on systematic ornithology under which the authors
of the Planches Coloriées appear to labour. In a recent number of their work we find this group given as new to
science ; whereas it had been named and characterised “ at least four years before.” See Jardine and Selby s Illustra-
tiofn sI no fm Oerrneiltyh oinlotigmy,a ptianrgts o iu. ra indde av,i .u pon a former occasion (Zool. J ourn., . . . 1., 479), on the circular affinities of this tribe,
we looked to the Nectarinidce of llliger as the subtypical group. Analysis has fully confirmed this view ; but as the
typical genus is Cinnyris, we now apply that name to the whole. There will be no danger of confounding the Cinny-
ridce of Mr. Vigors with ours : the contents of the two groups are almost totally different.
2 C 2