_Sylvicola pharetra._—+Mihi.+
[43] Length 5⁴⁄₁₀ inches, expanse 8 (nearly), flexure 2¹¹⁄₂₀, tail
2, rictus about ⁶⁄₁₀? tarsus ⁷⁄₁₀, middle toe ⁵⁄₁₀. Irides hazel;
beak black above, suture and lower mandible grey; feet purplish
horn, with pale soles. Head, neck, back, less coverts, chin, throat
and breast, mottled with black and white, each feather being grey
at the base, and black, bounded on each side by white, at the
tip. The black preponderates on the upper parts, the white on the
breast, where the black spots take arrow-headed forms. Wing-quills
and coverts black; the first primaries have the middle portion
of their outer edge narrowly white, and those from the third to
the seventh inclusive have a more conspicuous white spot at the
basal part of the outer edge. The secondary greater coverts are
tipped outwardly with white, the medial coverts more broadly; and
these form two bands, but not very notable. Plumage of rump and
tail-coverts unwebbed, brownish-grey. Tail-feathers black, with
paler edges, the outmost two or three tipped inwardly with white.
Sides, thighs, and under tail-coverts grey, with indistinct black
centres. Belly greyish white.
This is another species, of which I have but a single specimen. It was
shot on the 9th of February, in Bognie woods, on the top of Bluefields
Peak. I know nothing of its manners, but that it was engaged, as
Warblers commonly are, hopping on trees, and peeping for insects. The
specimen was a male. Its general aspect is like that of the Black and
white Creeper, but it may be distinguished at once by comparison; the
colours in _that_ being distributed in greater masses, and disposed in
broad stripes; in _this_, in small mottlings, or thick spotting, which
difference is especially observable on the head. The beak, also, though
partly shot away in my specimen, is decidedly that of a _Sylvicola_.
+Fam.+—MUSCICAPADÆ.—(_The Flycatchers._)