On the Species of the Family Coliidse. 307 



XXXI. — Review of the Species of the Family Coliidae. 

 By Captain G. E. Shelley, F.Z.S. 



The Coliidse form a very distinct family, not closely allied to 

 any other, but may, I think, with advantage be retained next 

 to the Musophagidae until some more suitable position be 

 definitely fixed for them. Their anatomy is principally 

 known to me by the following papers : — Murie, Ibis, ] 873, 

 pp. 262-280; (iarrod, P. Z. S. 1876, pp. 416-419,- Forbes, 

 Ibis, 1881, p. 24. This family, which is confined to Africa, 

 consists of eight species, including four or five more or less 

 well-marked races. They are all referable to the one genus 

 Colius, Briss. Orn. iii. 1760, p. 201<, type C. capensis. The 

 minor divisions proposed by Bonaparte — Rhabdocolius for 

 C. sty^iatus and its allies, and UrocoUus for C. erythromelon — 

 present no definite characters. 



The Colics are all fruit-eaters, live in small bands, frequent 

 thick bushes, and, when disturbed, fly straight to some neigli- 

 bouring covert. Owing to their peculiar structure, they 

 place themselves in the most extraordinary attitudes when 

 they rest or scramble amongst the boughs, and they roost at 

 night in tightly packed companies for warmth, generally, if 

 not always, with their feet above their heads. Their nests 

 are cup-shaped and placed in thickish bushes at a few feet 

 from the ground, and some if not all, of the species, frequently 

 add green leaves to the interior of their nests during incuba- 

 tion. The eggs are rough, rather obtuse ovals, and generally 

 white. 



In life the dark portions of the bill are blue-grey, but 

 become black in the dried skins, and the legs, which are red 

 in life, fade to buff. The bare skin round the eye and the 

 pale portions of the bill in C. macrourus and C. erythromelon 

 are bright red in living specimens, while in all the other 

 species, I believe, the bare skin is slaty black and the pale 

 portion of the bill buff" or huffish horn-colour. 



There are now examples of three species of this genus living 

 in the Zoological Society's Gardens. They are admirably adap- 

 ted for cage-birds, being active, bold, and apparently hardy, 

 and the quaintness of their attitudes is interesting to watch. 



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