I have described below a very small pale coloured bird, probably a female, or an 

 extreme variety. 



Ohserv. The sexes appear to differ but little, according to authors, and I have not had 

 an opportunity of examining a female, or a young bird, the dimensions of those I have 

 seen, do not assist in the determination of the sex. 



One specimen (No. 6.), in Capt. Shelley's collection from Somali, is a very 

 striking instance of the extreme variation in a species ; in this one, the white of 

 the head and lower parts are strongly tinged with pale salmon ; the back, wings and 

 tail are pale earthy-brown, with the edges of the feathers nearly white ; the white 

 speculum is merged into the pale brown of the primaries, and all the quills white ; 

 the red on the shoulders, rump, upper-and lower tail-coverts, less brilliant ; bill, legs 

 and feet blackish. 



The colour of the upper parts in many of the other specimens are varied with 

 new feathers, which are always darker than the old and worn ones, some of these very 

 old feathers, have completely lo.st the fine broad whitish edges, and the new primaries 

 are quite as black as those in T. Boehmi. 



Several of them are tinged on the breast with a dirty reddish brown substance, 

 which can be removed, this must be obtained while the bird is in search of food, 

 either in Ant hills, or on the ground. 



The present species was first made known to science by Major Harris, 

 who obtained it at Slioa in Abyssinia, and the figure appeared in the first 

 part of Gray and Mitchell's ' Genera of Birds,' published in 1844, 

 "without a description, but in the following year Kiippell gave a good 

 description and figure of it, in his ' Systematische Uebersicht der Vogel 

 Nordost-Afrika's,' 1845. Since then it has been brought home by many 

 travellers from Abyssinia and East Africa. 



Respecting its habits, nidification and distribution, we are indebted to 

 several German travellers, who have of late years greatly increased the 

 knowledge we possess of the Avi Fauna of the country inhabited by this 

 bird. 



Herr Th. von Heuglin says, " In the stomach we found insects, berries 

 and Durah (African MilletJ. "We received it in winter and spring from 

 the Upper White Nile, viz., from the territories of the Kidj-negroes, from 

 Ohbo and the Belinian. Living sociably hke Textor alecto on cattle 

 pastures with isolated trees and thickets, in the neighbourhood of rain 

 beds, and is no less hvely and talkative than its relations of the same tribe." 



