Birds of Gainbia. 3^9 



a week apart. At every visit during- the muslvetry season, 

 was a pile of litter under a ventilation slit of about three 

 feet in diameter, and say a foot and a half high, all the work 

 of one pair; that pair could have brought oif no young that 

 year. It was a silly sort of place to choose to start with, 

 and why they went on is quite beyond me. Alark Twain's 

 Blue Jays did spot their mistake in time. 



However he is not a bad bird, and occasionally makes 

 quite a g-ood linguist. He is practically omnivorous and is 

 fond of waiting round cook-houses for scraps. Were he not 

 so common out here I fancy he would be in greater demand 

 at home. This is not a bird one could keep in an aviary 

 in a flock. Even in a wild state, they are given !to desperate 

 combats at the beginning of the breeding season. 



"Whole head, neck, and upiier breast black; lower breast, 

 flanks, sides of abdomen, and thighs rich vinous brown; upper 

 plumage with wing-coverts, secondaries, and tertiaries brown tinge<i 

 with vinous; primaries dark brown with the bases white; tail black- 

 ish, all but the median pair oi feathers hroadly tipped with white " 

 The eyelids, bill, skin about the eyes, and legs are yellow. 

 Leng'th about 10 inches. 



{I'o be continued). 



Birds of Gambia. 



By E. HoPKiNsoN, D.S.O., M.A., M.B. 



(Continned from ^pag'e 311). 



F. ruficollis'. RUEOUS-NECKED MERLIN. 



Range. Tropical Africa. (H.L). 



One of the commonest of om- small grey Hawks. They 

 are nearly always seen in pairs and are bold, active, little beggars;, 

 often raiding one's compound and snatching up a young chicken 

 before one's eyes. Bej^ond this their prey is mainly Doves and 

 other smaller birds. They are commoner ui the Rhun-Palm districts 

 than elsewhere, and here they roost and nest among the leaves of 

 these Palms, livhig apparently in peace and harmony with the 

 big Rhun Pigeons, which haunt the same trees. Their JSTative 

 names are Litchin in Jolofl' and Selingio, or more fully Seling-djuha 

 in Mandingo. Both the names, Litchin and Selingo, are really 

 general names for all the Grey Hawks, but are often also extended 

 (though erroneously) to include other Hawks, such as the Kites. 



The Rufous-necked Merlin is above blue grey narrov/ly barred 

 with black, the quills are black tipped with white. The forehead 

 is whitish, there is a black eyebrow and sub -ocular patch, and 



