Adult.—General colour above uniform blue-grey, the forehead
and crown slightly mottled with blackish centres to the feathers, the
upper tail-coverts browner with blue-grey margins ; wings black, the
wing-coverts broadly edged with blue-grey, the secondaries with
ashy-grey, paler at the tips of the feathers : primary-coverts and
primaries uniform bla.ckish brown : tail-feathers dark brown, edged
with grey near the base, and very slightly tipped with white: lores
ashy whitish : feathers in front of the eye dusky : cheeks and ear-
coverts dusky grey, the latter slightly streaked with whitish: throat
whitish: sides of neck, breast and sides of body ashy-grey, the belly
and under tail-coverts white : thighs grey : under wing-coverts ashy-
grey, the wing-coverts whitish at tip : quills ashy below with brown
edgings along the inner webs : bill dark brown, the lower mandible
lighter. Total length, 5-5 inches; culmen, 0 '6 ; wing, 2'85; tail,
2-35; tarsus, 0'55.
329. M uscioapa c in er eo la . Speke’s Flycatcher.
Although originally discovered by the late Captain Speke in
Usaramo during his travels in Eastern Africa, the present species
has been met with by Senor Anchieta at Biballa in Mossamedes and
at Humbe on the Eio Cunene. Drs. Hartlaub and Finsch, who have
described the species (Vogel Ost-afr. p. 302), state that it is strictly
congeneric with M. grisola, but that it shows great affinity to several
other African members of the genus which, on account of the prevailing
grey colour of their plumage, are very closely allied the one
with the other, and are not yet satisfactorily proved to constitute
different species. The following is a translation of the original
description :—Above ashy-grey, underneath dull whitish grey, paler
than the upper surface; the wings and tail dusky ash colour, the
inner webs of the quills margined with white, the outer tail feather
with a whitish edging at the tip ; under wing-coverts white; lores
whitish; bill rather stout, blackish, the mandible pale at the base,
“ feet dusky grey: iris brown” {Anchieta). Total length, 5" ; bill,
5 '" ; wing, 2" 9 '" ; tail, 2'" 1 " '; tarsus, 8” 3"'.
Fig. Finsch and Hartl. Vog. Ost-afr. taf. IV, fig. 1.
330. P ogonocichla stellata. White-starred. Bush-Flycatcher.
Muscicapa stellata, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 148.
Victorin procured this species in the Knysna in the months of
June, July, and October, and it has been sent to us from Blanco by
Mr. W. Atmore, who states that it is very scarce in that neighbourhood.
We have received a specimen from the neighbourhood of
Kingwilliamstown, from Lieut. H. Trevelyan. Mr. T. 0. Atmore
has collected several examples near Eland’s Post, and further northward
in the Eastern Transvaal they are more often obtained. Mr.
F. A. Barratt found them common at the Maoamac Gold-fields, and
Mr. Thomas Ayres writes from Lydenburg as follows:—“ These
birds seem to appear in the spring and summer months, when they
become tolerably plentiful, frequenting the thick forest; they are
solitary, or at most in pairs, and in habits much resemble our
Robin.” The sexes, when adult, appear to be perfectly alike, but
the young birds are much duller in colour, and have the white spots
on the throat and above the eye scarcely perceptible.
Adult male.—Above yellowish olive, the upper tail-coverts bright
yellow; least wing-coverts olive like the back, the rest of the
coverts and quills blackish, externally blue grey inclining to silvery
grey on the outermost greater coverts; tail yellow, with a broad
black band at the tip, the outer feather externally blackish for the
terminal half of the outer web, the two centre tail-feathers entirely
black; head dull blue, including the sides of head and entire throat;
lores and feathers round the eye more dusky; above the eye a large
spot of silvery white, a spot of which is also apparent on the lower
throat; rest of under surface of body orange yellow, including the
under wing and tail-coverts ; thighs and outermost of the under
wing-coverts light grey with whitish margins; “ bill black; tarsi
and feet dusky pale; iris dusky” {T. Ayres). Total length, 6‘2
inches; culmen, 0'5; wing, 4’55; tail, 2'75; tarsus, 1*1.
Fig. Le Vaill. Ois. d’Afr. pi. 157.
331. L io pt ilu s nigricapilltts. Black-capped Bush-Flycatcher.
Pycnonotus nigricapillus, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 140.
Le Vaillant found this bird only in the forests of Bruintjes
Hoogte, and even there sparingly. Major Bulger procured it in the
neighbourhood of Windvogelberg. We ourselves saw it near the
summit of the Kat-berg, and Mr. T. G. Atmore has sent us several
specimens from Eland’s Post, Mr. H. Bowker has also forwarded it
from the Transkeian region. Mr. Thomas Ayres writes from Natal: