fo the Cape Verde Islands. 81 



6. CORVUS UMBRINUS Suild. 



It is very interesting to have found this species on the 

 Cape Verde Islands^ for it was generally supposed that the 

 bird referred to by Dohrn as C. corone would prove to be 

 C. tingitanus (see Irby, ^Ibis,' 1874^ p. 264). C. umbrinus 

 does not appear to have been recorded from any country 

 nearer than Egypt. We found this species on nearly every 

 plain, and also to a certain extent in the valleys. On 

 February 25th we discovered a nest ready for eggs on a 

 ledge of rock close to the sea and about thirty feet up. 

 Locusts form the chief food of these birds, and they hunt 

 for them in a most systematic manner. On several occa- 

 sions I had the opportunity of watching them on the war- 

 path. A party gets together and straightway sets about 

 circumventing a portion of ground that is likely to hold 

 locusts. Then a certain number spread themselves out like 

 the cordon system of outposts, while the remainder, with 

 quick strides^ beat up the ground towards the locusts, which 

 jump forward — the majority becoming the prey of the birds 

 drawn up in line, who, carrying out the principle of " share 

 and share alike," act in their turn as the skirmishers of 

 the next beat. Three specimens were obtained (one a pied 

 variety). / 



7. Sylvia conspicillata.. 



Spectacled Warblers are found in fair numbers on the 

 higher ground, but never in the valleys. They resort a great 

 deal to the acacia-trees, from the tops of which they rise 

 up perpendicularly into the air, uttering all the while a 

 chattering song, resembling that of their close congener 

 Sylvia cinerea. Three specimens were obtained. 



8. Sylvia atricapilla. 



Blackcaps were numerous in every valley and in full 

 song. Besides insects, they feed on the orange blossom as 

 well as on the fruit, in which they peck big holes. 



9. Sylvia atricapilla gularis subsp. nov. 



This resident form of Blackcap diifers from S. atricapilla 

 in that both sexes have chin and upper throat umber-brown. 



SER. VII. VOL. IV. G 



