TITE FAUNA OP EQUATORIAL AFHTOA. 295 



The beautiful Guinea-fowl {Numida plumiferd), discovered, by 

 M. Du Chaillu, is not found in tie forests near the sea-shore, but is 

 first met with, as he afterwards ascertained, about fifty miles east of 

 Sangafcanga. 



" It is very shy, but marches in large flocks through the woods, where the 

 traveller hears its loud voice. It utters a kind of " quack," hoarse and discordant, 

 like the voices of other Guinea fowls. It avoids the path left by travellers ; but its 

 own tracks are met everywhere in the woods it frequents, as the flock scratch and 

 tear up the ground wherever they stop. It is strong of wing, and sleeps by night 

 on the tops of high trees, a flock generally roosting together on the same tree. When 

 surprised by the hunter they do not fly in a body, but scatter in every direction. 

 Thus it is a difficult bird to get, and the natives do not often get a shot at it." 



Another very remarkable bird is the Phasidus niger — remarkable 

 as being the nearest approach, in the ^Ethiopian Fauna, to anything 

 like a true Gallus or Phasianus. The typical form of the Gallina- 

 cecd in Africa is the Guinea-fowl, Numida, near which also must be 

 placed the singular type Agelastes of Temminck. But Phasidus 

 seems really, not only in structure but in habits, to come nearer the 

 true Galli, and its plumage forcibly reminds one of GallopJiasis Hors- 

 fieldi and its allies. 



" When," says M. Du Chaillu, " I saw the Phasidus niger for the first time in 

 the woods, &c. I thought I saw before me a domestic chicken. The natives have 

 noticed the resemblance too, as their name for it shows : couba iga, signifying wild- 

 fowl. 11 7 ild they are, and most difficult to approach; and also rare even in the 

 forests where they are at home. They are not found at all on the sea coast, and do 

 not appear until the traveller reaches the range of fifty or sixty miles from the 

 coast. Even there they are so rare that though I looked out for them constantly, 

 I killed but three in all my expeditions. They are not gregarious, like the Guinea- 

 fowl, but wander through the woods, a male and one, or at most, two females in 

 company. They are very watchful, and fly off to retreats in the woods at the 

 slightest alarm." 



Another remarkable type, for the discovery of which we are in- 

 debted to M. Du Chaillu's exertions, is the Alethe castanea, of which 

 we find the following notice (p. 273.) — 



" Hunting in the rear of the village, on the 15th, I shot a curious bird, the 

 Alethe castanea—a, new species. It is said by the natives to have a devil in it — 

 for what reason I could not discover ; probably for none. But its habit makes it 

 singular. They fly in a small flock, and follow industriously the bashikouay ants 

 in their marches about the country. The bird is insectivorous; and when the 

 bashikouay army routs before it the frightened grasshoppers and beetles, the bird, 

 like a regular camp-follower, pounces on the prey, and carries it off. I think it does 

 not eat the bashikouay." 



In conclusion we must advert to the fact that the French collec- 

 tors, Franquet, Aubry-Lecomte and Fosse, are also entitled to great 

 credit for the discoveries they have made in the Zoology of the 

 Gaboon. The numerous new species and splendid specimens which 

 have been received, from time to time, by the well-known house of 

 Verreaux in Paris have, we believe, been mainly the product of these 

 diligent collectors. 



Dr. Franquet's exertions have furnished the materials upon 



VOL. I. — S. H. E. 2 Q 



