18 IRElSOKIDJi. 



Adult male. Upper surface glossy metallic green, with a shade of 

 bronze on the back ; posterior portion of the crown and nape shaded 

 with steel-blue ; lower back and upper tail-coverts purple or blue- 

 black, edged with dark copper ; wings steel-blue, the primaries and 

 primary-coverts greener, the latter tipped with white ; lesser coverts 

 darker blue and broadly edged with coppery ; a band of white crosses 

 the primaries beyond the middle, consisting of a large spot on the 

 inner web and a small one on the outer (the latter absent in the 

 three or four outer quills) : the shafts blackish ; tail purplish, with 

 violet reflections above, greener beneath, the middle pair of rectrices 

 unspotted, the rest with a transverse slightly oblique subterminal 

 white bar more or less divided by the dark shaft ; under surface glossy 

 metallic green on the breast and anterior portion of the abdomen ; 

 throat aud chin glossy steel-blue ; lower abdomen and under tail- 

 coverts black, with a tinge of purple ; under wing-coverts steel-blue. 

 Total length about 14"5 inches, wing 5-4, bill from gape 2-45, tail 7 

 to 9, tarsus 0-9. 



Adult female. Similar to the male in colour, but with a shorter, 

 straighter bill, the primary wing-coverts more widely tipped with 

 white: "bill and feet scarlet; iris dark hazel" (y. E. BucMey). 

 Total length about 13"5 inches, wing 5-2, bill from gape 1'75, tail 

 7-8, tarsus 0-9. 



Young. Differs from the adult in having a black bill, the upper 

 surface dusky black with a purplish or bi'onzy gloss, especially on 

 the head, and sometimes with rusty-brown feathers on the crown 

 and throat ; under surface dingy black, with hardly any gloss, this 

 colour appearing first on the throat ; distal half of the primary- 

 coverts white, the alar speculum being thus larger than that of the 

 adult female, and much larger than that of the male. 



Hah. Africa, from Angola and Mombasa southwards. 



a, b. Ad. sk. Mombasa (Itev. J. Wakefield). Sharpe CoU. 



c, d. Ad. sk. Mombasa (Handford). Rev. A. F. Buxton 



[P.]. 



e. 9 ad. sk. Mainland opposite Mombasa, Dr. J. Hildebrandt 



Aug. [C.]. 



f. Ad. sk. Dar-es-.Salaam. Messrs. Moir [P.]. 



g. Ad. sk. Dar-es-Salaam {E. C. Buxton). Shelley Coll. 

 h. Ad. sk. Mamboio {Sir J. Kirk). Shelley CoU. 

 i,j. Ad. et juv. Ugogo {Sir J. Kirk). SheUey Coll. 



sk. 



k,l. Ad. etjuv. Usambara Moimtains {Sir J. Shelley Coll. 



sk. Kirk), 



m, n. Ad. etjuv. Makalaka Country {Dr. Brad- Shelley Coll. 



sk. shmv). 



o. 5 ad. sk. 1st Makalaka Kraal, Zam- W. E. & C. G. Dates, 



besi Road, March 30 {F. Esqrs. [P.]. 

 Oates). 



p. $ ad. sk. Tati, Matabele-Land, Jime 26 W. E. & C. G. Oates, 



{F. Oates). Esqrs. [P.]. 



q. Juv. sk. Rnstenburg. F. A. Barratt, Esq. 



[P.]. 



