100 Messrs. A. Haanner and R. H. Ivy on the 



180. Centropus burchelli, Swains. BurcholFs Coucal. 

 Fairly common. 



187. Centropus superciliosus, Hempr. & Ehren. White- 

 browed Coucal. 



Scarce. 



188. TuRACUS coRYTHAix (Wagler). Loiirie. 



Common in the thickly wooded kloofs. We can find no 

 mention in Sclater's vol. iii. ' Birds ' (Fauna of S. Africa) 

 of any difFerence in the plumage of the young bird. We 

 procured several fully-fledged young birds flying in company 

 with the adults on the 0th January of this year, and noticed 

 the following facts : — They are considerably smaller than the 

 adult, and have the beautiful red colouring only on eight 

 primaries, as against fifteen })rimaries and secondaries in the 

 fully adult bird. The red patches are also very much smaller, 

 being only narrow bands of about one inch in length by a 

 quarter of an inch in breadth on the inner primaries. It 

 looks as if this red colouring-matter spreads as the bird gets 

 older, as we counted red feathers varying in number from 

 8 to 15 on different birds. The bill is dark red — almost 

 black in some specimens. According to our experience, we 

 should not say that rain washes out the red from the living 

 bird. It becomes decidedly paler, but we have never seen 

 it wash out entirely. Several s[)ecimens, both adult and 

 juvenile, were procured on January 8th during heavy rain, 

 and the forest was sodden, but the red colouring seemed as 

 bright as ever. Regarding the theory that the colour can 

 also be washed out with soap and water: this may be possible, 

 but the soap would require to be strongly alkaline. We 

 tried it with " Sunlight" soap, and failed ! In old skins the 

 red fades considerably. The copper content is there, as was 

 proved by a friend — Mr. Ayers, a C-hemist of the Dynamite 

 Factory — who tested some of the feathers for us. 



189. *P(EOCEPHALUS ROBUSTUS (Gmcl.). Red-shouldered 

 Parrot. 



Not common. 



