Coraciidse of the Ethiopian Region. 199 



Adult Male. Forehead and a narrow line extending backwards 

 over the eye, white; head and neck brilKant greenish cobalt, varie- 

 gated with a little silvery-white marking on the crown, caused by 

 longitudinal tips to the feathers ; upper portion of the back 

 and scapulars rich fawn-colour ; lower portion of the back, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts deep ultramarine, the latter faintly 

 tinged with cobalt; least wing-coverts rich ultramarine, the rest of 

 the wing-coverts brilliant greenish cobalt ; quills black, both on 

 the upper and underside of the wing, glossed with rich ultra- 

 marine, the basal portion of all the feathers brilliant greenish 

 cobalt, blending on the external web of the primaries with the 

 wing-coverts, which are of the same colour j the secondaries 

 externally greenish cobalt, becoming slightly tinged with 

 fawn, those nearest the back being entirely of this colour, and 

 thus blending with the scapulars ; tail for the most part bril- 

 liant silvery cobalt, the shafts of each feather distinctly marked 

 by a black line, the two middle feathers dull green, rather 

 glossy along the edge of the inner web, and both these feathers 

 are, under certain lights, broadly but indistinctly barred ; the 

 two outer tail-feathers are elongated, all the lengthened part 

 being black, slightly glossed with dark blue, and tipped with 

 white ; chin, and the feathers on each side of the base of the 

 mandible, white; cheeks, ear-coverts, sides of the neck, and 

 entire under surface white, the throat and upper part of the 

 breast longitudinally streaked with lines of silvery white ; bill 

 black ; iris raw umber [Blanford] . 



Hab. North-eastern Africa southwards, from 20° N. lat. 

 [Heuglin) ; Southern Arabia [Heuglin) ; Anseba and Lebka 

 rivers [Blanford) ; Kordofan {Petherick) ; Casamanze, Bissao 

 {Verreaux) ; Gaboon {Aubry Lecomte) ; River Gambia [Mus. 

 R.B. S.). 



Dr. von Heuglin records the following observations in his 

 last work (/. c.) : — 



"The Abyssinian Roller is a very common resident in Southern 

 Arabia, and in North-east Africa southwards, from 20° N. lat. 

 Along the coast of the Red Sea, between Suakin and Massowa, 

 it is found near the sea-shore. In Abyssinia we found it also 

 pretty high up on the mountains ; it frequents the steppes, as well 



