Capt. J. H. Speke on Birds collected in the Somali country. 243 



these birds in company, nor had he ever been able to approach 

 them sufficiently near to observe any peculiarity in their method 

 of feeding. A few hours brought us to an eminence, from which 

 we could see the plains of Salami and San GeronimOj now burnt 

 up by the sun. Very little rain falls here after the middle of 

 October, and the only sign of vegetable life is the beautiful gi'een 

 of the Sugar-cane, and the ' Nopales,' or plantations of Cactus 

 {Cactus cochinellifer) , for the breeding of the cochineal insect. I 

 was glad to get back to my comfortable quarters in the Convent 

 of San Geronimo, where I am now scribbling, and appreciated 

 more keenly than ever the good taste of its founders, and my own 

 particular luck in having access to such a harbour of refuge. 



In concluding these notes, I may remark that it was quite clear 

 that these birds were preying upon the bees ; and that to me it 

 appeared equally clear that their mode of seizing them was with 

 the foot, by which the insect was conveyed to the mouth, because 

 this alone could explain the actions of the foot and mouth as 

 above described. 



San Geronimo, Guatemala, 

 March 30th, I860. 



XXIX. — On Birds collected in the Somali countnj, Eastern Africa. 

 By Capt. J. H. Speke, F.R.G.S. 



(Plate VII.) 



]\Iy friend Mr. Blyth of Calcutta has given a Report on the col- 

 lections which I made during my expedition into the Somali 

 country in the winter of 1854-5, in the twenty-fourth volume 

 of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. The following 

 are some additional notes upon the species of birds of which 

 I obtained specimens. The nomenclature is nearly the same as 

 that adopted by Mr. Blyth. 



Tour of the 36 birds of which I obtained examples have even- 

 tually proved to be new to science, namely Amydrus hlythii, Not- 

 auges albicapillus, Passer castanopterus, and Sypheotides humilis. 



1, P(EOCEPHALUS RUFIVENTRIS (Riippell). 



This is the only species of Parrot I observed in the Somali 

 country ; but it appears to have a wide range, for I found it 



