Birds of Si. Thomas' Island. 97 



St. Thomas since 1893. Before that date tlie bird does not 

 appear to have been taken on the ishmd. It is probably 

 very locally distributed, as Signor Fea in 1900 failed to 

 obtain specimens, 



Boyd Alexander remarked that this species was not 

 numerous near Sao Thome and was to be found frequenting 

 waste land. 



6. *Pyroinelaiia aurea. 



Fyromelana aurea (Gniel.) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1886, p. 354, 

 pl.ix. fig. 2 : id. Birds of Africa, iv. 1905, p. 79 ; Salvador!, 

 Orn. Golfo d. Guinea, ii. 1903, p. 30 ; Bocage, Jorn. Sci. 

 Lisboa, 1905, p. 82. 



a,h. S S ad. (Nos. 81, 82). Zalma. l.ii.09. 



c. S ad. (No. 113). „ 7.ii.09. 



d,e. S 6 ad. (Nos. 111,112). „ 10.ii.09. 



The Golden -backed Bishop-bird is apparently very 

 plentiful on the island of St. Thomas. The series obtained 

 by Alexander are all males in beautiful breeding-plumage. 

 It is remarkable that, though males are frequently obtained, 

 the females are rarely met with. In fact, up till 1912, when 

 Mr. Willougliby P. Lowe obtained a single female of this 

 species at St. Paul de Loanda, I am not aware that an ex- 

 ample had ever been secured. The female which Mr. Lowe 

 collected I described in 'The Ibis.' 1912, p. 232. 



Very little is known with regard to the range of this 

 species. St. Thomas is the only island in the Gulf of 

 Guinea upon which it is to be found. The type is supposed 

 to have come from Benguela. Sitigle specimens have also 

 been obtained from Gaboon, the Quanza Biver, and St. Paul 

 de Loanda. St. Thomas would ajjpear to be the true home 

 of P. aurea^ where, however, Alexander writes " It is not 

 common, frequenting marshland and the vicinity of planta- 

 tions." 



7. *Q,uelea erythrops. 



Queleaerytlirops (Hartl.) ; Salvador!, Orn. Golfo d. Guinea, 

 ii. 1903, p. 29; Bocage, Jorn. Sei. Lisboa, 1905, p. 81; 

 Shelley, Birds of Africa, iv. 1905, p. 117. 



SER. X. VOL. III. H 



