Coraciidse of the Ethiopian Region. 201 



also found in Southern Arabia, and birds are occasionally seen 

 on the Red Sea/^ 



Mr. Jesse^s notes are as follows : — 



" Iris brown ; legs and feet greenish yellow. Procured on 

 Lake Ashangi by Mr. W. T. Blanford (from whom I received 

 my first specimen), 2nd April, 1868, and at Kokai and Waliko 

 in July. I also observed this bird in the desert, near Amba, 

 in August. Noisy like the other two species; flight peculiar, 

 rolling right and left, the body acting as the pivot. I shot a 

 young bird also in August, without the long tail-feathers, and 

 with the yellow edge to the base of the bill common to birds 

 just fresh from the nest. Plentiful at Kokai and the Anseba.^' 



Mr. Layard (/. c.) includes it in the ' Birds of South Africa,' 

 stating : — " I have received this species from one or two places 

 along the northern border of the colony, also from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Spriugbok-fontein, in Namaqualand, and from 

 Damara Land. In the colony it is looked upon as a great 

 rarity." I cannot help thinking that my friend Mr. Layard has 

 mistaken the species ; for C. abyssinica has certainly not fallen 

 under the notice of Mr. Ayrcs or Mr. Andersson, two good 

 observers, who would not have failed to secure it if it had 

 come within their limits*. 



The description of the above bird is taken from a specimen 

 in my collection from the river Gambia, procured, as have 

 been most of my Senegambian birds, from Mr. H. Whitely, of 

 Woolwich. I have described this example, as it is undoubtedly 

 the finest I have ever seen, and is probably an old male in full 

 breeding-plumage. The typical bird from Abyssinia is pre- 

 cisely identical ; one in my collection, obtained at Waliko by 

 Mr. W. Jesse on the 29th of July, 1868, is in worn and abraded 

 plumage, having evidently been breeding. It resembles in 

 general coloration the Gambian bird above described; but I 

 notice that even the elongated tail-feathers, and the under sur- 

 faces of the rectrices are vermiculated in certain lights. 



* Mr. Layard informs me that he compared his specimens with a bird 

 sent by M. Ed. Verreaiix, but is not certain that the South-African birds 

 had the long tail-feathers; so I have little doubt they really were C. 

 (jarrula. 



