Birds of Guzaland. 403 



the soles of a more delicate coral-red. In non-breeding 

 males the scarlet o£ the bill may be darker^ and the upper 

 surface of the tarsus and toes dusky crimson, or brown- 

 madder. This applies, too, to the feet of the female, the 

 bill of which is dusky carmine, completely dusky along the 

 commissure, at the base, along the ridge of the culmen, and 

 at the tip. Thirteen of these Kingfishers, measured in the 

 flesh, averaged 9*2 inches, with a range of from 9 to 9'4. 

 The sexes do not appear to vary in this respect. 



179. CoLius sTRiATUs MINOR. Eastern Speckled Mouse- 

 Bird. 



Colius striatics minor Reich. Vog. Afr. ii. p. 208. 



Colius striatus Swynnerton, Ibis, 1907, p. 285. 



Singuni : '' ludhlazi.^' 



Rh., P. I found these birds in considerable numbers during 

 September 1906 in the Chikamboge Valley, attracted by the 

 berries of three species of Lippia with which the valley 

 abounds. I have shot a breeding male as late as May. In 

 1906 they attacked my peach-crop in August, when the 

 fruits were still quite small and hard, usually in a flock of 

 from twenty to thirty individuals, and did great damage, 

 leaving quantities of bare stones attached to the twigs. 

 Fortunately they have the habit when alarmed of congregating 

 together in small groups, so that several can be brought down 

 at one shot. Shooting them wholesale, however, does not 

 frighten them in the least ; we killed upwards of fifty in 

 comparatively few days, but the numbers in the flock always 

 remained fairly constant, fresh birds appearing from the 

 veld to fill the gaps. On August 17th we reduced the flock 

 to three birds, but within three days it had again increased 

 to thirty-five. I examined the stomach-contents of all that 

 were killed and only in a single instance did I find anything 

 but fruit, wild or cultivated, the exception being a larva 

 which had doubtless been swallowed accidentally in the 

 fruit. I have also found green leaves in the stomach. In 

 an immature male the upper mandible was pale greenish, 

 its point, and the whole of the lower, brown. It measured 



